Re: Lilies
- Subject: Re: Lilies
- From: S*
- Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 10:28:57 -0800
Has no one answered this? I can't say about crinums in particular, but we
had a discussion on the list about lilies in pots fairly recently -- I
think it was late last summer and the subject line might have actually been
"Lilies in pots", if you want to look it up in the archives. Several
people, including myself, mentioned that they had had MORE success with
lilies when growing them in containers rather than in the ground. In my
case, I think it's because I water containers more regularly -- most of my
plants in the ground are more drought-tolerant than the lilies I've had.
As far as pot sizing, for large lilies like the oriental hybrids, I
generally put three bulbs in a four-gallon pot. Or in a five-gallon pot,
and then you have room for something else to keep the lilies company. I
think it's pretty hard to make an ATTRACTIVE container arrangement that
includes lilies -- at least where I live, the foliage is always scruffy:
slug-bitten before blooming, and then gradually declining after
bloom. Last year, though I put a young passiflora in with three of the
oriental ones. It grew a lot faster than expected, climbed the lilies'
stalks and then made a big bushy 'flag" off the top of the taller
one. Very helpful for distracting the eye from the lily foliage after
they'd bloomed, and they didn't mind the crowding. But still not in the
'attractive' category -- more like the non-ugly :-).
Seems like it's usually recommended that you mix your potting soil
half-and-half with sand for lilies, to give them better drainage. Sand
makes a very heavy pot! I'd suggest using something like perlite
instead. When I repotted mine last spring I used mostly perlite and
homemade compost (my compost is very heavy because my soil is
clay-y). They liked that a lot, and I think it will last them a couple years.
Well, I've rambled on long enough. Good luck, and happy gardening,
-- Susannah
At 10:18 AM 3/10/2002 +0000, bettemct@tiscali.co.uk wrote:
>Hullo there, hope you will forgive introducing another subject on which I
>would love some advice. Have acquired some crinum bulbs and would love
>to grow them in a pot. Has anyone any cultivation advice? I also grew
>some Casablanca last year - and wildly underestimated the size of the pot
>for them, so generally speaking any advice on lilies in pots?
