Black Beauty and Scherazade are absolutely my two favorite late blooming lilies. White butterflies is my favorite early bloomer, also takes the prize for longest blooming. This year the first blooms opened on June 8th and the last bloom dropped on July 18th. I like mine separated in clumps by variety. My favorite sources are The Lily Garden & B & D Lilies. I've heard very good things about Buggycrazy and plan to try some bulbs from there this fall.

For early season lilies I actually prefer the LA Hybrids. I get the best clumps from these & the individual flowers (kind of waxy looking) last the longest for me. Most of the ones I have are no name pastels, but Kiss Me Kate (very good spreader) is a magenta-red. Oklahoma is a nice melon that I am very fond of & South Pacific is a creamy white one that spreads well.

Trumpets (I especially like the yellow ones like Anaconda Golden Sceptor & Copper King), the Regal lilies & Pink Perfection Strain do well for me a little later in the season. Orienpets, such as Touch, Honeymoon, & Sonora have done well also in mid-season.

Later bloomers that do well for me are pretty much restricted to Black Beauty, and the occasional odd oriental that might spread a bit, most don't for me. White Henryi is one that is always in bloom for me at the same time as Black Beauty, late July to mid-August generally.

I'm in Zone 6, NY, and Scheherazade is winning for the latest blooming for me. I have a couple that are in full swing now, are tall and gorgeous, and will likely keep flowering for another couple weeks. Anastasia is supposed to be one of the latest blooming varieties - I have them for the first time this year, and they opened before Scheherazade. I'll have to see what happens next year after they are well established. Not sure about the earliest - seems to differ each year. I have most of my bulbs from The Lily Garden and White Flower Farm.

Hi Amoc,
Lilium Speciosum, one of the species "parent's" of Oriental hybrids is just about the latest blooming lily that's also winter hardy.

My Stargazer have been done for a while for me now (they bloom mid-July for me), my Scheherazade are just finished, my Black Beauty are very close to finished, yet my Speciosum have not even opened yet - though they look like they will start soon. Black Beauty, like many of the late lilies is a Speciosum cross (L. speciosum var. rubrum x L. henryi).

Journey's End (AKA Summer's End) blooms late and it was my understanding that it is the latest Oriental hybrid (I don't have this lily). Not surprisingly its also a Speciosum cross, ('Phillipa' x L. speciosum 'Gilrey' cross). However, The Lily Garden has some Oriental's they note bloom in mid-late August.

They have a bloom time chart on their website. But use it with a "grain of salt". Horticultural zones are defined by how cold winter gets (NOT how hot summer gets). My experience is that with Maryland's hot summers my lilies bloom earlier here than in Northwest areas with the same zone. Use the chart as a *relative* bloomtime guide, and then it's pretty accurate.

The very latest lily I've found is the species lily, Lilium Formosanum. (If anyone knows of any later lily please send it in!) However, because it blooms late and naturally has a small bulb, it's not generally winter hardy in the colder zones (much lower than 6-7). You could try it in zone 5 if you found a warm sunny spot for it. The problem isn't that the bulb can't handle winter freezes, but that it doesn't have time to build back up after being depleted by blooming before it goes dormant in the Fall (stopping photosynthesis).

The safest bet for you is probably Speciosum, it has a number of varieties, "Rubrum" (colored like Stargazer) and "Album" which is white. "Uchida" is a superior selection of "Rubrum". In addition, this lily is more shade tlerant than most and is a real butterfly magnet! These three varieties are all readily available both from inexpensive suppliers, (Van Engelen - John Scheepers) and the moderate (Brent and Becky's, The Lily Pad). More unusual varieties like "gloriosides" can also be found if you look around the web a bit.

-Helen

Here is a link that might be useful: Bloom Time Chart

Helen, thanks for posting, your information is always so helpful. And thanks Amoc for your question, it's one I always find interesting, whether it's about bulbs or perennials or blooming shrubs.

Helen, I haven't had much luck with Speciosums, Rubrum or Album, here in my garden. Do they need any special conditions? Anything I can do to help them along a bit, besides trying to find a dry spot? I remember getting some bloom in year 2, not the 1st year, which surprised me, but no return in year 3. Any ideas? I assume the bulbs may have been too small the first year & rotted the 3rd winter.

Because the speciosums are late blooming they may not have had an adequate amount of time for the stems and leaves to "ripen" after bloom, before frost. At least that tends to be the main problem in zone 4 with them and with many of the orientals. Since the foliage feeds the bulb, if it doesn't have time to ripen, the bulbs don't increase and eventually disappear.

Hi Leslie,

Hostaholic is right, late bloomers become more difficult the farther north you go. Different sources give different zone info. but Speciosum should be good to zone 5 - if a little borderline.

To increase your odds, try to buy larger bulbs - so if they have an early winter one year they have enough stored energy to tide them over to the next. I'd also plant them in the sunniest spot I could find (but protected from wind). Even though Speciosum is generally more shade tolerant than most lilies, in a cold zone you need them to get every day of photosynthesis they can before going dormant. Also, be sure to deadhead them immediately after bloom - the bulb doesn't need any extra energy drain.

All the other things that make a bulb "happy" become more important when you're on the edge of its tolerance. While my general philosophy with lilies is "plant 'um and leave 'um", in this case I'd baby them a little. Provide good loamy garden soil and weakly fertilize with azalea fertilizer (they like mildly acidic conditions) and spray for aphids - which seem to love them as much as the butterflies!.

I'd also recommend getting the "Uchida" version of Rubrum. I bought some last Fall from The Lily Pad and they are significantly better than the straight Rubrum that I had in the same garden, (stronger plant, more buds, and larger blossums). Of course I still have my other Rubrum - since they're all lovely!

-Helen

Thanks Helen & hostaholic2, I think I'll give them another try.

I agree with Black Beauty and Scherazade as being the last lilies to bloom in my garden. It's always neck and neck with them as to which has the aboslute last flower. This year it was Scherazade.

The first ones to bloom are LA's. I have an LA (don't know the variety) that bloom with the last of the iris, so that's about May 20.

1st lily bloom: May 20

Last Lily bloom: July 31

That's about 10 weeks of lily bloom.

My earliest is Lollipop, which I love - usually mid-late June. Unfortunately, the lily beetles love that type best of all my lilies. Black Beauty and Speciosum Rubrum are probably my latest. Henryi is also late and it is such a great plant.

This was in interesting thread - I did not realize the limitations of late season bloomers. Good to know instead of wondering what I am doing wrong.