I have a lily explosion, and no husband on the weekend (he's going backpacking with a friend, I don't have the heart to try to get him not to go) to drive the truck to market in addition to my van, so it looks like I'll have to make two trips to market. That means getting up at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday. Maybe I just won't even bother going to bed Friday night. I'm sure enjoying the explosion, though. Most of my Asiatics and Asiatic-and-whatever-hybrids bed is blooming. Two different yellows (one of them is the HUGE Golden Tycoon), two different reds, a pink, a white, a bright orange, and the two-tone Centerfold, about 50 of each color, plus some of the Orientals in the greenhouse, predominantly Chambertin and Dizzy, are all going off at once. Steve, can I borrow your sister-in-law? I could provide a good ten hours of therapy for her, and some Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Patty, I don't grow Jade any more either. Just too small and the color isn't all that great. Ditto Peach Passion. But I love Lemon Aura - it's one of my standbys. Maybe it likes this climate. Isn't Bashful cute? Fast, too! I'm growing it for the first time this year and will grow it again next year. It is as fast as Peach ProCut here, and faster than the lemon and orange ProCuts. I like the Peach ProCut also; this is my first year for that, and I'm impressed by size, color, and speed. I'd better get busy washing buckets, or I'll run out of time for harvesting and arranging tomorrow. It's going to take awhile to wash enough buckets for all those lilies! Jeanne

We are VERY close, mandolls. I live on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, just across the river from Minneapolis/St. Paul, zone 4A. I planted the lilies last fall and they did very well this year. I took the photos about a week ago, just before they went down for the season, but hadn't gotten them posted. They bloomed about the same time as my pink "Mona Lisa" lilies. The daylilies are still going strong.

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

Beautiful! What a gift you have!