ahhh, lilies! my favorite flower. until the red lily beetle arrives. but there's a way to deal with them (more later).

as for which lilies to choose: all are lovely, but i am partial to asiatic and oriental. both are easy, want full sun and good soil. you may wish to cage the bulbs with hardware cloth when you plant to prevent critters from eating them. lilies will pull themselves down to the level underground that they prefer, but do plant them as instructed.

the asiatics do not have a scent, but the orientals smell fabulous -- you can smell them across the garden!

to deal with the horrible red lily beetle, get some Bayer Rose and Garden systemic spray (blue bottle). apply when it's NOT breezy and when beneficial insects are not in the immediate area. this will work like a charm for about 2 to 3 weeks, then re-apply.

the beetles are about 1/2 inch long, bright red, no spots. if they show up in spite of your efforts, they are difficult to catch as they fall straight down when disturbed and land on their backs, so their black bellies are hard to see in the dirt. i put one hand very carefully under the leaf it is on and catch it , then crush it. its larvae are utterly disgusting, as they hide inside their own excrement and look like blobs of poop (which they ARE!). you can scrape them off and crush underfoot but it's a very nasty job. use a utensil, not your fingers, LOL!

good luck -- i'm glad you will grow these for your granddaughter. have her choose some from a catalog! the photos are drool-worthy.

forgot to say that Scheepers is a good supplier, and thelilygarden.com is also.

Thank you Roxanna, especially the fragrance alert! Her mom, my daughter, has a real problem with strong floral scents, so I need to let Lily know that she needs to pick from the Asiatic ones, if she wants to cut any to take home. She has the catalog, and is practicing her letters by copying the names of the ones she likes onto a piece of paper for me.

that's so cute about Lily writing out the list of ones she likes! good for her. enjoy your lilies together!

Not to bias you, but I think you need some of each-only way to be sure which ones you really will enjoy. Great idea to have her help pick them, we all need to push new gardeners along.

i agree with you, jaco -- both kinds for the original poster's garden will be nicest! she can just make certain that the Orientals are not taken home to mama.

and, speaking as a former florist, cut your lilies when they are still mostly in bud, to last longest in the vase. they will open beautifully.

Actually, daylilies are not even lilies at all. They are Hemerocallis not Lilium. :)

Oriental, Trumpet and Orienpet lilies are very strongly fragrant. I love them but when I was a florist many customers complained about them. If your daughter is sensitive to strong fragrance just do the Asiatics.

Thanks to you all! The lilygarden catalog came, and oh my gosh, I may need to get more than three varieties....
I had assumed that they should be planted in clumps, based on the Scheepers catalog selling in groups of 5. But Lilygarden offers individual ones....
So designing how to place them now becomes a bigger challenge. I had planned to make three clumps of five, picking just three different lilies. I have more than 20 linear feet in back of the daylily border that runs along the driveway; the rose garden rises up the slope to the back door in back of that border. The back of the border is easily breached, the mulch starts in that border and just flows up the slope. So taller lilies, in back of the daylilies (oops, hemerocallis..) would not block the sight line to the roses. But I don't think I want a row of "lily soldiers".
Also, at right angle to the border is the deck, which is a story high at the driveway and angles up to ground level at the back door. There is trellis between the deck and the ground, and a few roses against it, but lots of room against the trellis, conveniently in the sunniest spot, for perhaps a few of the taller types....
Oh dear. Rose the Monkey on my back is about to be joined by her sister Lily.....

personally, i think true lilies of any type look better if planted in clumps of at least three of the same kind. remember that asiatics will bloom before orientals, and are usually shorter, generally. depending on your budget, you could alternate clumps of asiatics/orientals to extend the bloom in that part of your garden. and, yes, "soldiers" are rather horrible (as are tulips done that way!) and best avoided! clumps will look more graceful and give a bigger imact, too.

since your deck trellis is so tall, one lily you might check out is 'Pink Perfection' -- it is a trumpet style and will grow around 6-7 feet tall eventually (lilies are often shorter their first year). i had one that was over 7 feet tall last summer, and i have the photo to prove it (i am just 5 feet tall) but sadly lost it over this past winter. darn critters! the stem of this lily was extremely stout and thick, but i did stake it just to be sure.

oh, one other thing to be aware of -- you may find after planting lilies that a bright red beetle shows up to defoliate them and lay eggs under the leaves. if this happens, i recommend using (carefully and not on a breezy day or when bees are present) a fabulous systemic called Bayer Rose and Garden Spray. bright blue container and it works like a charm to get rid of those horrible beetles -- one application lasts about 4-6 weeks, then you need to re-apply. trust me, this works!