Gardening with Lilies, Alaskan Style

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Gardening with Lilies, Alaskan Style
1/20/08

Gardening in Anchorage, Alaska with two seasoned Alaskan gardeners. You can explore the different parts of these English cottage-style gardens or catch up on the latest Alaska gardening news. You will find tips on growing English delphiniums, roses, lilies, verbascums, and many other plants, including fragrant varieties. Here, you will see many stunning photos from this truly Alaskan garden.

Should you have any questions or comments you can e-mail me here David Goodgame


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Gardening with Lilies, Alaskan Style
Today's hybridizers are offering us lilies that come in a wondrous assortment of colors and sizes. In our garden we grow many types of lilies. These lilies fall into two distinct groups: those that are very fragrant and those that are not fragrant(but more tolerant of our Alaska winters).

Fragrant Varieties:

Not Fragrant Varieties:

Oriental Lilies Who can resist the exceptional fragrance of the Stargazer Lily. It is a wonder of nature to behold, albeit with a little help from its hybridizer.

The oriental lily Arena(above), is a lily of unquestionable fragrance and beauty. Although oriental lilies are somewhat borderline hardy here in our zone 3-4 garden they have faired well next to the warmth of the house and since this garden bed gets a good deal of sun it is the first garden bed to thaw, thus ensuring an early start for these traditionally late blooming bulbs.



Another method of growing these scent-filled bombs is to grow them in pots and move them to a choice location. I like to group Arena lilies together by putting the pots in a large plastic Whiskey barrel near to where visitors can sit and enjoy their intoxicating fragrance.

When growing these in pots mix in some sand to aid drainage as these types of lilies can easily rot when constantly damp.

Some of my favorites include: Arena(above), the large white Casa Blanca, Dizzy which is white with large crimson bands and spots, and Bergamo a pink oriental that has yellow and red bands in the center.

Many bulbs can be purchased quite inexpensively at your local Wal Mart, Costco, or Lowes, or you can order bulbs online from a reputable source such as the web sites listed below.  

Sinfonia Lily
Sinfonia Lily

Trumpet and Aurelian Lilies Trumpet Lilies are very fragrant too, and seem slightly hardier here than the Oriental lilies. These lilies, when established can get quite tall, so they look good at the back of the border by the house. There are now some available whereby the flowers face upwards instead of downwards. Some of the newer cultivars are just gorgeous. Check out Sinfonia or Chorister at the Lily Garden or click on the other links for some awesome bulbs.

Trumpet Lilies

Orienpet Lilies Orienpet Lilies are a cross between Oriental lilies and Trumpet Lilies. These crosses are like orientals but larger. They seem to exude vigor, and come in a myriad of colors. Again the lily garden has some worthy plants to seek out: Silk Road, Pizazz, and Scheherezade(pronounced shuh hair ruh zard),


Trumpet Lilies

Asiatic Lilies: Asiatic lilies are the hardiest in my Anchorage garden, but alas, not fragrant. However, they are still some exciting plants to grow such as the deep red, almost black, Black Jack and the pure white Navona. There are Asiatic lilies that look like they have been sprinkled with stardust, where no two flowers are the same. Latvia and Suncrest are two examples, so too is the new Columbia Platt lily, Lemon Stardust.

Asiatic lily, Black Jack
Asiflorum Lilies - Asiflorum lilies or LA Hybrids as they are often called , are a cross between asiatic and easter lilies. They have large waxy flowers and can get tall like the trumpet lilies. These LA hybrids seem incredibly vigorous and those huge waxy flowers are a jaw dropper. My all time favorite is the peach lily shown below. It just seems to thrive here. I am always growing the plants by the house then moving them to the Back Border leaving just a few bulbils by the house to start the process all over again.


Asiflorum/LA Hybrid Lily

For a wide selection of LA hybrids you can go to the www.lilynook.com. If you order any lilies from the Lilynook you will have to pay a $15 dollar phytosanitary fee since the Lilynook nursery is in Canada, but I think this slightly extra cost is well worth it since you have such a varied selection of LA hybrids to choose from.


Latvia Lilies

Here are links to where you may purchase some of the lilies mentioned above:
http://www.thelilygarden.com
http://www.thelilynook.mb.ca
http://www.bdlilies.com

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