Some gardeners find lilies difficult to grow. But according to Richard Hyde of H. W. Hyde & Son (Great Pavilion, G21), whose lilies won a Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show this week, it's simple - just give them the right soil. All like good drainage, but some like acid soil and some like alkaline soil. It's that simple.
And looking over the exhibit this morning I found that in addition to the easy-to-grow double ‘Candy Floss', which I wrote about before the show began, they have quite a range of other new varieties on show. Unlike ‘Candy floss', they're all singles - and, I have to say, all the better for it. I just like the clean look - especially when the flowers are as large as these.
Picking up Richard's mention of soil, ‘Flashpoint', for example, insists on alkaline soil but what a stunning flower! Huge blooms in deep sultry red with a neat cream edging - in a container by the front door they'd be stupendous. ‘Gizmo', in pure white with a green heart, is also good on limey soil.
For acid soil - and either soil is easy to achieve in a pot simply by using the appropriate compost - there's ‘Bacardi' in deep red, ‘Dark Sensation' in red with a white edge, ‘Frankfurt' in deep yellow. ‘Jetamie' in rose pink, and ‘Joop' in yellow. ‘Starburst', as you can see from the picture, is especially dramatic with large white flowers, each petal with a central yellow flash which turns to red towards the tip and with an attractive delicate spotting.
Richard Hyde, who put the Gold Medal winning exhibit together told me: "When looking for new lilies to introduce I like to choose those which are attractively marked - in the rest of Europe they prefer plain colours, but British gardeners like intensively marked flowers. And I also look for a good strong stem and tolerance of virus diseases."
These new varieties can be ordered at the show or will be available on the H. W. Hyde & Son website after Richard has had a day's rest at the end of the show!