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Liliums - the luscious ladies of the Summer Garden.

Add a little glitz and glamour to your garden by planting some luscious liliums now. There`s a variety of styles to choose from and they`re all wonderfully easy to grow. Amongst our favourites are the Asiatics, Orientals and Christmas Lilies. And now there`s also the new LA liliums to drool over!

Asiatic Liliums

Asiatic liliums are one of our all time favourite bulbs. They`re as tough as old boots, provide a bounty of blooms for vases, are adaptable, easier- than-you-can imagine to grow and wonderfully tolerant of searing Australia`s hot, hot Summers. But wait! There`s more! They come in a wide range of brilliant colours from startling red to soft and pretty pink which means they can be used to create eye-popping pockets of colour (see image at right) or gentle waves of soft and pretty cottage colours.
Asiatic Lilies have more advantages in that they`re great in pots and and can be planted anytime between May and October. It`s no wonder we`re addicted to them!

We sell two different collections of these wonderful lilium lily bulbs - (or request a mailorder catalogue here)

Oriental Liliums

Oriental ladies are amongst the grandest and most ornate of all bulbs! They produce spectacular blooms which ooze elegance as well as a wonderfully heady fragrance and yet they`re tough, hardy and a joy to grow! Despite their exotic nature these lilies are surprisingly tolerant of neglect, heat, cold and even wind (despite their grand height). Follow this link to purchase Oriental Lilium lily bulbs

Christmas Liliums

Christmas Lilies have been in cultivation for centuries and once you`ve grown them you`ll understand why: They`re addictive. It`s impossible to resist their waxy white trumpets and lovely fragrance. These classic flowers are wonderful in the Summer garden where they shimmer during the day and glow as twilight turns to dusk. Christmas Lilies come in two heights: The shorter variety (Romero) is only to 40cm tall which makes it wonderful for growing in pots. The taller variety (Snow Queen) is a lot taller at 80cm and makes a grand impression in the garden. Follow this link to purchase Christmas lily Liliums

LA Liliums

LA liliums are the newest form of Lilium and originated as a “happy accident“ resulting from a breeding programme in Holland. Originally Christmas Lilies (Longiflorum) were being cross bred with Asiatic lilies with the aim of creating a wider colour range of Christmas lilies. However, the result was a lily which was more similar in appearance to the Asiatics but with larger blooms, softer colours and stronger stems. These Lilies are also available in the LA Liliums department

Great hints for using Liliums in the Summer garden

A dense clump of liliums - for colour impact

Lilies are the beautiful and effective way to fill any gaps in the Summer garden with vivid colour without disturbing the more permanent plants.
Here are some useful tips for getting the best display from your lily bulbs this Summer:

Plant dense clumps of bulbs for the biggest colour impact
Position your clumps of lilies in amongst Summer flowering perennials so that once the lilies have finished, the neighbouring perennials will expand to fill the resulting void and neatly hide the post-flowering foliage.
Try using different colours to create different effects. Bright & contrasting
colours creating exciting focal points whilst soft pastel colours can be used to create pretty cottage garden effects.
Plant the fragrant lilies (notably Orientals and Christmas) close to where you relax in the garden or by a frequently used pathway. This way you`ll be sure to appreciate their fragrance

What lilies love:

Lilies, despite their gorgeous looks are very hardy and for this we should be very grateful to the 20th century hybridizers who took these once temperamental and unpredictable prima donnas of the garden and turned them into strong, vigorous, disease resistant and adaptable garden beauties.
Today`s thoroughly modern lilies are highly adaptive and tolerant of a wide range of conditions but, for best results they require:

Well drained soil. If lilies are left to languish in soggy soils they have tendency to rot.
Lilies love their heads in the sun and their feet in the shade (so plant in full sun and mulch the soil to keep the roots cool)
Lots of food: To produce such colour and drama, feed your bulbs at planting and again after flowering.
Moisture: Lilies don`t like to be allowed to dry out so, if you`re buying bulbs you should plant them ASAP to avoid them drying out. If you can`t plant them straight away keep the bulbs cool and moist by packing them in damp wood shavings or slightly damp peat moss in a plastic bag.

You can also get more information by visiting our growing guides!

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