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.

TJ - as said ... in nature the bulbils would drop naturally around the parent plant and take care of themselves without any human intervention. 1. If you have a yard - and aren't balcony gardening - and since they're already potted, bury the pot up to the rim so you won't lose track of where they are. 2. Maryland winters aren't cold enough for any extended period so a sunk pot doesn't need any extra protection. They survive here in Minnesota at 30 below for weeks on end and sprout in planters, cracks in the wall and just about any place they land. 3. Don't keep watering - they'll rot. The bulb has everything it needs. 4. Don't expect any growth this season. Next season, the sprouts will look like shiny, lanceolate blades of grass and do best in full sun. The second season they'll look like spindly little lily plants. 5. Planting them shallowly (just barely under the soil) directly in the ground would have been best since then they wouldn't have to be moved. They'll be a bit delicate for a few years and it'll be easy to break the stalk away from the bulb in handling.

"As others have stated, your top picture is a true lily (tigridium) from a bulb and the stem has leaves growing on it, with bulblets at the leaf axis. Also note the recurved petal and spots. I have a double one. Plant those bulblets and they will bloom in about 2 years." Yes, that is pretty clear now. I don't know all that much about lilies, have never attempted to grow any before. "the second picture could be the daylily Flore pleno, flower lookes like it is stacked, probably with green leaves? Daylilies (hemerocallis) have their leaves growing from the ground from rhyzomes. There is also a variegated leaf Kwanso, with the same double flower, but its petals have a very waddy center, like a peony. Their clumps are very spreading-- not tight, neat clumps like Stella deOro." The leaves on this one grow what I describe as fountain-like, from the ground; it does belong in the daylily forum; I just lumped them both together here. I didn't think it looked like the other sample posted, that one has more petals and is just different. Since everything is such a jungle where it is currently growing, I'm not exactly sure how it would grow in less crowded conditions. I just thought it was pretty and don't usually care for orange lilies or the so-common ditch lily we have all around here. I didn't notice any variegated leaves. "the problem is you CANNOT use it for hybridizing-because it is the species of daylily that has 3 sets of chromozone, and will not interbreed with either the DIP hemerocallis (1 double set of chromozone) or the TET hemerocallis (2 double sets of chromozone). Since the 3 sets of chromozone are not divisible by 2, it usually won't set seed with other daylilies. and remember that when hybridizing double daylilies, the pod parent must be the double. Go to the daylily forum to get more info about them." I don't care that it is no good for hybridizing, but that is interesting information. I've no interest in hybridizing anything at this point, especially that one, just hope they transplant successfully and spread out some but not so much as to become invasive and crowd out other lilies I hope to grow. Hybriding would be fun, but the results are too unpredictable, I'm a little more interested in old roses, and I wouldn't want to throw out baby plants. I want to control the lilies I do plant by purchasing or being given certain particular ones I like. If they happen to cross naturally, well I may or may not be happy about the results of that. Thanks much for the input. It's kind of daunting trying to figure out how I will pull all this together. I can't plant too many at once, too much work. These particular ones look like they won't be too fussy if I don't damage anything while transplanting them, which like I said before, I will wait until fall (cooler for me) even though one poster said I could do it now. If I get to feeling too pressured, can I go and collect some of those bulblets and try them instead of digging the bulbs? When would be the right time for that? It looks like it might be easier but would probably take longer for mature lilies. At this point I have to be realistic because I've bitten off more than I can chew for one growing season. In July and August, I am not going to be able to do much other than basic maintenance and watering because of the heat, although sometimes we get a short break. We have a two-day one now, but it is still pretty hot out. Thank you and everyone else who has been so helpful about these lilies.

We have done nothing about the Red Lily Leaf Beetles. The first year or two I hand picked them and grew tired of doing that. So I dug up my one patch of Casablanca Lilies in the fall and hosed off the root ball to see if I could get rid of the next generation because I was moving them anyway. That didn't help at all. I moved them and I am pretty sure they found them again that same season. For the past three years, I just didn't have time to pay any attention to them. I look every once in awhile to see if they are still there and they are. The foliage has some holes. But my native lily and a lily that is supposed to not be bothered by the Lily Leaf Beetle, Black Beauty, seem to not get much attention from them. Pretty sure they have also started munching on our Solomon's Seal too. Then this spring, something interesting happened. I have seen an Oriole pair, climbing into the Solomon's Seal and hopping around in there. I have a feeling they are eating the beetles. At any rate, I am going to let them alone and see if somehow the garden can figure out it's own solution. Right now there is a shrub in front of the CasaBlancas and that is hiding the foliage with the holes in it, and the buds are developing just fine. I would actually rather dig up my bulbs and throw them away then to use a chemical in the garden to get rid of them. That wasp activity is very interesting, HSEternal. pm2