Complete gardening newbie - bought some asiatic lilies - help!

18 years ago

Hi,

I am a complete and total newbie. My yard is, sadly, a blank slate. Huge lot, sunny, 1 medium-sized oak tree, flat as a pancake. It has a lot of potential, but when we bought this house last year, the previous owners had lived here for 13 years and never done a *thing* to improve the yard. I'm learning little by little, trying to slowly put in a couple of trees, shrubs, flowers, etc.

So I bought 5 asiatic lillies the other day from a good nursery. They are about 2 or 2.5 feet tall and alrwady have buds. A couple have started blooming. I have a few questions:

1. How far apart from each other should I plant the 5 lillies?

2. I plan to kill the grass by smothering it with wet newspaper, then add soil on top the paper, plant the lillies, and cover the soil with cedar mulch. Then, I'll add edging to define the bed. Does this sound like a decent idea?

I have a couple friends who have planted lillies without amending the soil or anything and they have done great, so I was planning on just putting them in the ground.

3. Are Oriental lillies much harder to grow than asiatic? I like asiatic, but I **looooovee** Oriental lillies. They're my favorite type of flower, and I'd love to grow some.

4. If I made a bigger bed, would it be possible to plant the lillies towards the rear of the bed and start some zinnias from seed in the front of the bed?

(Again - complete newbie here - I have NO idea if I will be able to grow zinnas from seed put directly in the ground, or if they can be planted near lillies. My goal was to have the lillies blooming now, and the zinnas bloom after the lillies have finished for the season, later in the summer.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you for any help you can give me.

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Comments (4)

kdjoergensen
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
1. How far apart from each other should I plant the 5 lillies?
ANSWER --->
Plant them about 1 foot on center, e.g. each stem planted about 12" apart. I like to plant them in a small group instead of a line, so the figure 5 on a dice is what you are looking for, or 3 lilies behind 2).

See this picture (if you do not see a picture in your email, go to gardenweb and look on the posting)

2. I plan to kill the grass by smothering it with wet newspaper, then add soil on top the paper, plant the lillies, and cover the soil with cedar mulch. Then, I'll add edging to define the bed. Does this sound like a decent idea?

ANSWER ----> Yes, but dont cover the lilies with the newspaper.

I have a couple friends who have planted lillies without amending the soil or anything and they have done great, so I was planning on just putting them in the ground.

ANSWER --> YES THIS CAN BE DONE, BUT THE LILIES LOVE RICH ORGANIC SOIL, SO MIXING IN A BAG OF COMPOST (AVAILABLE IN BAGS AT GARDEN CENTERS) INTO THE PLANTING HOLE IS A VERY GOOD IDEA AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. DIG A HOLE 12" DEEP AND AMEND THE SOIL WITH A 3-4" LAYER OF COMPOST. AFTER PLANTING, WATER THE LILIES IN WELL BY WATERING DEEPLY FOR A LONG TIME.

3. Are Oriental lillies much harder to grow than asiatic? I like asiatic, but I **looooovee** Oriental lillies. They're my favorite type of flower, and I'd love to grow some.

ANSWER --> THEY ARE BOTH EASY TO GROW. ORIENTALS WILL BLOOM LATER AND DO NOT MULTIPLY AS PROFILICALLY, BUT CAREWISE THEY ARE JUST AS EASY TO GROW AS ASIATICS. WHY NOT BOTH ??

4. If I made a bigger bed, would it be possible to plant the lillies towards the rear of the bed and start some zinnias from seed in the front of the bed?

YES, BUT ZINNIAS GROW FAST AND MAY OVERTAKE THE LILIES. ALSO LILIES NEED TO REMAIN WITH GREEN FOLIAGE TO IMPROVE THE BULBS FOR NEXT YEAR AFTER FLOWERING. YOU CAN NOT JUST SMOOTHER THEM WITH ZINNIAS.

WHY DONT YOU PLANT GROUPS OF ZINNIAS AND GROUPS OF LILIES. THE GREEN STEMS WILL BE NICE ACCENTS.

ZINNIA SEEDS YOU CAN JUST DISTRIBUTE AND PRESS INTO THE TOP OF THE SOIL (BEST IF YOU AMEND WITH COMPOST IN THE TOP FEW INCHES). KEEP THE AREA WELL WATERED UNTIL THE SEEDS SPROUT. THEY WILL GROW FAST IN WARM SOIL. WHEN THE ZINNIAS ARE 6-8" TALL AND HAVE SEVERAL SETS OF LEAVES, PINCH (OR CUT) OFF THE TOP. THIS WILL MAKE THE ZINNIAS BRANCH OUT AND BECOME FULL WITH MANY MORE FLOWERS.

I think your idea of zinnias and lilies are good.

Here are a mix of orientals and asiatic lilies from my garden. Again, if you can not see the pictures in your email, go to gardenweb and look up your post.
TaraL
Original Author
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Seriously, I feel so much better now! I will update later with how it goes. Beautiful pictures, by the way!
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cnid
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
KDJ - that was such an incredible series of pictures. I needed that today! Except I shorted out my keyboard from drool!!

TaraL - I have had great luck with asiatics - they grow anywhere but do better when the soil is nicer. I am not sure what zone you are in but the asiatics do better for me than orientals. I get very nice flowers on the orientals, and they survive, but they are much shorter than the heights on the packages, and I suspect the flowers are smaller than in more gentle climates. If your property is flat without a lot of shelter, lilies are great. Mine handle any kind of cold in winter. Have fun. I bet KDJ's photos have you drooling too!

cnid
grumpygardenguy
18 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Are those this years photos only lilies blooming in my yard are Easters. Mine do have stalks and buds tigers have bud sets just now showing, but slow as they are will be weeks before they open. Is it a fertilizer thing or what, being as how i'm in the south shouldn't mine bloom before New York, as mine surely started growing before hers.