Re: ailing lily
- Subject: Re: ailing lily
- From: b* s*
- Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 11:49:16 -0700
Dear Joe,
That's facinating and does seem to be what's happening with my lily. No
wonder I never see that variety around here. The ones I do see, which seem
to flourish in Berkeley, are those with the thick, heavy looking leaves and
pink or yellow flowers. I liked mine because it was white and the foliage
blended in better with the rest of my garden.
What would the appropriat climatic factors be? Colder winters, maybe?
Barbara
>Barbara, et al:
>
> I've tried for years to grow asiatic and oriental
>lilies in various California gardens (San Diego, SF
>Bay Area, L.A.), never with success. As you've
>experienced, theyve always "gone down hill" after the
>first year or so.
>
> My theory is that they just don't get the
>appropriate climatic factors to encourage them to
>stick around. Much as we experience with so many
>eastern and northern "hardy perennials" we try here --
>after a decent show the first year or two, they, too,
>go downhill.
>
> There is another theory, however. Even when I
>lived in northern and eastern climes (where they
>should have done better), most modern hybrid lilies
>STILL didn't stick around long. I've heard something
>about a latent virus or the fact that these bulbs are
>highly susceptible to virus infection. The virus is
>not blatantly symptomatic; the plant simply loses
>vigor and gradually declines. I did, however, have a
>few species and older hybrids which didn't fit that
>category.
