My Garden

Tree lily

Last post 17-07-2009 9:29 AM by bigsusan55. 8 replies.

• 06/07/2009 10:08 PM
  Girty Fergal Location: Midlands Joined on: 05 Jul 2009 Posts: 18	Reply | Contact Hi I bought a bulb of the internet about a month ago. I duly planted it and nothing happened...should I be watering it ? keeping it dry?..... is there every chance it's dead by now. Please someone tell me it will be OK I pent a lot of money. Because I love them

• 06/07/2009 10:18 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact  Water will help it to grow, you should have been sent the growing instructions with the bulb when you bought it. sue1002

• 06/07/2009 10:30 PM	In reply to
  Girty Fergal Location: Midlands Joined on: 05 Jul 2009 Posts: 18	Reply | Contact To be fair I bought it off ebay, and I know £6 is not a fortune but it kind of is to me at the moment. Got no instructions with it at all and I have been watering but sparingly. The bulb was a bit soft which I know isn't a good sign. I think I've been had .....but I'm still hopefull. Thanks for answering

• 10/07/2009 03:57 PM

  In reply to

  bigsusan55 Location: North-West London Joined on: 14 May 2009 Posts: 144

  Reply | Contact I bought some "tree lilies" from this site   http://www.plantoffers.com/ It seems to supply Thompson and Morgan plants and specialises in doing the sort of offers that you find in magazines.  Anyway, if you click on 'complete index', then scroll down, they were selling 9 bulbs for £13.48 for delivery in March.  I bought some, long after the offer was first posted, and they were delivered at the beginning of June - lovely, big, plump, firm bulbs.  I have some in the ground, which I haven't watered since planting (apart from rain), and some in pots.  All are standing about a foot tall now.  So, yes, I think you have been 'done' I'm afraid. Has anyone else bought "tree lilies"?  I'm really intrigued and eager to know if they will really be anything different to other lilies.  There must be someone here who bought the offer at the proper time and has plants that are further on? Susan B

• 10/07/2009 06:05 PM	In reply to
  Girty Fergal Location: Midlands Joined on: 05 Jul 2009 Posts: 18	Reply | Contact Hi Susan B You'll have to let me know how you get on. I was told it takes three years for them to acheive the enormous size you see on the packets. I'm very sad that mine did not grow. I only bought it as a curiosity my real love is hosta's but I can't resist the unusual.

• 10/07/2009 07:47 PM	In reply to
  bigsusan55 Location: North-West London Joined on: 14 May 2009 Posts: 144	Reply | Contact  I'll try and remember to come back to this thread at some point then.

• 15/07/2009 09:55 PM	In reply to
  jillysimps Location: lancaster Joined on: 15 Jul 2009 Posts: 1	Reply | Contact I bought some tree lily bulbs from thomson and morgan about 2 months ago,put them against fence in shade and are roughly about 2 feet high at moment,it said in the catalogue it could take them about 3 years to mature,i love lilies especially the smelly ones,whereas my mum associates them with death

• 15/07/2009 10:08 PM	In reply to
  Girty Fergal Location: Midlands Joined on: 05 Jul 2009 Posts: 18	Reply | Contact I like them but not the scent. I grew some white ones this year and they were beautiful for a few weeks. Do you have to dig up the bulbs or are they ok left in the ground?

• 17/07/2009 09:29 AM

  In reply to

  bigsusan55 Location: North-West London Joined on: 14 May 2009 Posts: 144

  Reply | Contact Certainly leave them in the ground until the foliage has finished doing its stuff and died back naturally, otherwise you won't have properly developed bulbs for next year.  They don't like heavy wet soil when dormant, so dig them up if you are on clay or badly drained soil. I'm on heavy clay and have tried leaving them in the ground over winter (because I'm lazy) and it doesn't work - they might come back once, but never again.  I love lilies, so grow them all in large pots, which I keep on a bench at the end of the garden so that they are well drained over the winter.  Then as each pot is about to flower I get my OH to carry it into situ in the garden.  So I can have a succession of blooms without having to keep digging up and re-planting.  I do have to take care of them in the pots - weeding, top-dressing and feeding the pots, and changing the compost every few years, but some have lasted me for years like that.  Some just fade away, whatever I do, so I suspect some varieties are stronger than others. For the tree lilies, I've planted two lots in pots (18" for 3 bulbs as instructed, which is huge!) and one lot in the garden in a raised area with loads of grit.  Only time will tell which will do better. Big Susan