The Lilium

They are fantastic flowers - large beautiful flower with long stamens (though this can lead to some staining of furniture etc), which always provide a fantastic show whether in a bunch or an arrangement with other flowers and greenery, or just on their own.  They are so picturesque and dramatic.

Recently I bought a bunch of delightful pink ones (see photos) which lasted nearly two weeks before the petals faded and with the old leaves started to drop.  Sad, but they don't last forever.




I don't know where I found the information, but somewhere about that time I read about them online. The article stated that they were easy to grow, loved living in pots and it was the right time to plant them.  I suspect while the information was correct at the time of publishing, it was a little late by the time I saw it.  Undaunted though I headed for Bunnings on another excursion looking for something else, and decided to see if Bunnings had any Lilium bulbs for sale.  I found some - rather sad, almost neglected on a shelf.  There were a few there, but I chose two and took them home.

After reading the instructions and learning again that I was a bit late in the season, I decided to plant them anyway.

For a few days they looked shocked and near death.  One bulb showed no sign of life!!

However, undaunted I visited them every day, added water when I felt they needed it and waited.  Soon new growth appeared.  The "dead" bulb took a while, but it now is flourishing.  Will I get flowers?  I don't know.

At the moment though it looks promising as all four bulbs look health and the green leaves are pushing onward and upward.




There are instructions here for growing them from Tesselaar in Victoria, Australia.  Tesselaar have a wonderful Tulip Festival each year - which I attended in 2012.  Just awesome. 
The first bulb to produce foliage


Two bulbs in the left pot are pushing upwards, and the other pot has the flourishing bulb, and the near dead one is showing signs of life.  :)

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