LILIES - RHS Lily Group

European and Middle Eastern lilies
With the Middle Eastern and European lilies, I have had moderate success.
Lilium bulbiferum var. croceum grows and spreads very well, and so does
Lilium pyrenaicum to a certain extent. However, both these species have for
unknown reasons started declining in recent years, growing much shorter and
rotting away.
Likewise, Lilium martagon and L. candidum tend to rot very easily unless
perfect drainage is provided. Lilium martagon seems to enjoy warm sunny sites
rather than half shady and moist ones, where growth can often be destroyed by
what seems to be fungus.
Lilium carniolicum was unfortunately very sensitive to rotting, and even
though perfect drainage was provided, my two bulbs rotted after a bit more than
one season, not having flowered or produced any strong growth.
The two bulbs of Lilium monadelphum that I acquired five years ago
characteristically sulked for a season, producing no above ground growth, and
then rotted away the following season. Lilium pomponium, a very nice rarity
from the south of France seems to enjoy growing in full sun in the very well
drained acid bed together with the USA lily species which I will talk about later
in the article.
Lilium callosum and L. pseudotigrinum from Russia do very well. Both seem
to enjoy fairly open, sunny sites, with excellent drainage and not too much
water. Lilium pseudotigrinum, a recently discovered species from Russia, similar
to tigrinum but with slightly larger and differently shaped flowers, is also a very
tolerant lily, standing strong storms, heat and rain.
Lilies from India, Taiwan and Vietnam do well overall. They seem to like the
warm summer temperatures, as long as they can get enough water, in order
not to dry out. Lilium formosanum pricei can be very ephemeral, the bulb only
flowering for one or two seasons, but when it does grow, it does so very well,
and has no problems growing in a medium sized clay pot in full sun. Lilium
nepalense likes wandering along with its stolons for a very long time before
emerging, often in mid to late May. (I once had to dig up a bulb of Lilium
nepalense and replant it when I discovered that, after having wandered sideways
for about 30 cm it had started to grow downwards, in a large wooden pot. I
thought that had it been able to continue growing this way, it would probably
never have found its way out!
Lilium primulinum burmanicum seems to be very sensitive to summer
dryness, and unless a very cool, half shaded, moist spot is provided, it often dries
out. I also tried Lilium majoense one year, but with little success. The bulb grew
a small 15 cm stem and then rotted the following winter. Since then, I have had
moderate success with it. In 2006 I had a L. majoense bulb from Chen Yi which
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