Hi Marcella, I would be interested in a trade. I have Oriental Lilies, but they are getting ready to bloom, so would be hard to dig out right now. I have Madonna lilies that are getting ready to go dormant, I also saw that you are interested in Monarda (beebalm) I have Raspberry Delight that I could offer. Let me know if interested. Thanks. Marc

My Lilium candidum took a few years to settle in before looking good and blooming. Then they bloomed well for about 5 years. At that point they got so overgrown they pushed themselves out of the soil and stopped blooming, so I divided the original clump. I re-planted most of them all over the place, and gave the rest to friends. It's been two years now, and I've seen no blooms yet. I expected that. Probably next year they will decide to bloom. Phosphorous isn't a problem--I have clay soil that is very high in phosphorous (I tested, several times), okay in potassium, and perpetually needs nitrogen. I also have asiatics and roses in the same beds doing well. I believe it's simply because that's the way Lilium candidum *is*

Hi Reilly, You can buy it from The Lily Garden now. They also have other immediate epigeal seed for sale (Lankongense, Pumilum, and Regale and possible others). Also the North American Lily Society (NALS) has their seed sale in the spring - and toward the end of the sale makes seed available to non-members. My L. Candidum were grown from NALS seed which had "Cascade" strain available that year. My lilies have some ripening seed pods now. Botrytis got many of them. Unfortunately Candidum, while virus resistant (hence it may be a virus carrier) is fungus susceptible and I didn't get to them fast enough with my antifungal spray. But each pod produces a lot of seed so while I will donate most of them to the NALS sale I'm sure I can spare some in a month or so when they are done ripening. There is no reason you can't start them now in pots and bring them inside during the winter so they can get a super long first season. I accidentally did that last September when seed pods I brought inside after a rain got warm for too long and germinated. I potted them up and waited to put them outside until the following spring and they are still on my porch going strong. My e-mail link on "My Page" is active so feel free to contact me. -Helen

Well-grown you should hope to see a few flowers the 2nd season after sowing seed. A well-drained spot is best, somewhat dry towards the end of summer (a plant from the mediterranean after all). If your climate is very hot a little shade keeps their foliage going for longer but I certainly remember clumps back in the UK which were in full sun. My experience of bought-in bulbs is that they are often only just at the edge of flowering size - no stem simply means too small a bulb in my opinion. The stress of lifting & selling (they have only a short dormancy which is why you'll see them sold earlier than the main run of lilies) can leave them sulking a season or two. Provided the bulb is still there (one advantage of shallow planting is that your finger can flick away the soil to see), patience is all that's required. The virus susceptibility is more of an issue. More virus-tolerant than one would like, so that they'll go on growing without actually turning-up their toes when infected (lots of the old clones wouldn't set seed & thus were propagated exclusively vegetatively so they obviously can survive a long time after infection). Most people suggest growing it as far away from other lilies as possible and starting with seed-raised (& hence virus-free) stock. You might think of regularly renewing them from seed or even growing a sacrificial plant of longiflorum within the clump to test for virus as McRae suggests. Best of Luck.