Looking at pics, it looks like the Landini is a maroon color with narrower petals. Hover your cursor over the Landini Pics HERE and I think you will see a pretty 'true' pic in the second pic from the left. The Purple Prince doesn't look to be all that purple. Note the 4th pic from the left (at this time anyway) of Purple PrinceHERE. I imagine that is a fairly true pic.

New to these myself, my best Stargazer was a nursery purchase with two stalks. Guessing it went 18-20" but made a nice porch accent in a 12" tall pot. (Bulbs went to mush over the winter in the pot.) I started some small Stargazer bulbs last year, box-store cheapos "Color in a Bag" sound familiar? Anyway they all grew and each bloomed a ragged, mis-shapened flower (again potted and with minimul care). As mentioned above, they were very late to bloom. I was satisified considering the minimal investment. Popped those in the ground for the winter with higher expectations for this season? Just my experience, hope it helps. ~Wes

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.

Just picked this up. It's pink with a white center. Height listed on the box is 24", which would make it a pretty short asiatic. But a very useful height for the foreground. Googling it to copy its information onto my computer file, I see it listed as a LA lily at Brent & Becky's Bulbs, not an asiatic. Height listed as 30 to 36." A few other sites list it as an asiatic. I had wanted this to plant in front of a grouping of Orienpets and an LA. Partly to start the season with a similar color and earlier bloom time, also for the shorter height. FWIW, all my LA's (I only have a few) are quite tall, way more than 36": more like 5 feet (60"). Whether this kind of height is typical for LA's I do not know. Before I plant this, does anyone know if it is really an asiatic or an LA? When does it bloom for you, with relation to your other lilies? Thanks.