[Fermi]

A couple of "new" lilies -
firstly an Oriental-Trumpet Hybrid Lilium, Table Dance x2,
Another Oriental-Trumpet Hybrid, Orania x2
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

A rather tall (for a first year from planting) Oriental-Trumpet Hybrid Lilium called 'Ovation'
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

We had 5 days of 40^oC last week and a couple of liliums succumbed
This Lilium 'Canberra' was a bit singed but Lilium 'X-Phi' came through a bit better,
just waiting to see if any of the later flowerers come through in the next few weeks,
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

This has been a good year, particularly for some newly planted liliums where we can keep them watered.
Here is a mixed planting of mixed hybrids;
Unnamed Oriental-Trumpet Hybrid
Longiflorum-Asiatic hybrids
Deep red Oriental-Asiatic hybrid
Asiatic hybrid 'Tiger Babies'
Asiatic 'Tiny Padhye'
Asiatic 'Loreto'
'Lankon': L.longiflorum x L. lankongense
cheers
fermi

[Alisdair]

Fascinating to see those lilies growing so well, Fermi; either your management or your microclimate or both must be very special to tempting them all into performing as well as your more "conventionally mediterranean" things! Which sorts of lilies have you found most likely to be able to cope without much watering? (Some Californians have suggested to me that orienpets and some of the LAs might be able to stand drier hotter conditions, but the only lily that survives for me in Greece is Lilium candidum.)

[Fermi]

Hi Alisdair,
it really is only by supplying supplementary watering that we manage to have any liliums flowering here!
Even with water the lilies do not do well if we get summer heat too early or if they are in an unmulched bed.
This year we had a very dry spring and some of the lilums which weren't watered early enough are not going to flower and I need to give them a feed now for next year,
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

Some more liliums in flower now:
Yellow-red Oriental-Asiatic hybrid, maybe 'Kaveri'
Asiatic Hybrid 'Pearl Jennifer'
Asiatic Hybrid 'Sweet Surrender'
Pink Oriental-Asiatic hybrid, maybe 'Cocopa'
Lilium leichtlini
Longiflorum-Asiatic hybrid 'Royal Sunset'
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

Some of the Orient-Pet Lilium hybrids are in flower again:
Belladonna
Ovation
Robina
Gluhwein
cheers
ferni

[Fermi]

O-T Hybrid Lilium 'Mr Cas'
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

Lilium 'Black Beauty' is a cross between Lilium speciosum and L. henryi and was the start of the "Oriental -Trumpet" hybridisation splurge!
cheers
fermi

[Daisy]

Your lilies are amazing Fermi. I haven't had much luck with them. I tried some Stargazer from a local shop some years ago. They did well for a time, but gradually dwindled away.
My favourite lily is L.regale and planted some for what was probably going to be just a one year show, a few years back. They were growing strongly under the apricot tree and I was looking forward to them.
Unfortunately, I invited an Englishman from a neighbouring village to come round for some of the apricots. I got the stepladder out ready to place carefully under the tree among the plants. When he arrived, I left him in the garden whilst I fetched him a beer. When I came back out, he had just waded in under the apricot tree and started picking. He broke every single one of my lilies, the new growth on the Japanese anemones, my Sarcococca humilis and many other plants. I was so livid I didn't know whether to shout or cry. He was banned from my garden for ever. When I see him in the local town now, I am ashamed to say that I cut him completely. Just the mention of his name brings back the sorrow of losing those lilies. I have never had the heart to try Lilium regale since.
Daisy

[Hilary]

Here in Corinth the houses are built right on the pavement leaving no room for a garden.
The older houses have huge areas at the back where the original plan was for the owners to have vegetable gardens.
Some of these hidden gardens have flowers all year round, Michaelmas Daisies, Narcissus, Bluebells  and, at this time of year, these "Lilies".
I have never been able to acquire one of the bulbs.
I even went to the extent of going, with a friend, to an empty plot where the house had just been pulled down.
I knew where the bulbs were but some one had beaten me to it.
We did manage to get some Narcissus bulbs and Bluebell bulbs which flower evey year in my friend's garden

[Fermi]

The early liliums have been in flower for a little while; here are a range of Asiatic hybrids  including some spotty ones known as "Tango Lilies".
My partner described them as "creepy"!

Asiatics:
'Black Charm'
'Tiger Babies'
'Eye-liner'
These came as labelled "Tango Mix" and I've given them the names that they seem to correspond to in the catalogue!
Lionheart;
Kentucky;
Orange Art;
As you can see in some of the pics these get watered during the summer!
cheers
fermi

[Alisdair]

Do you grow any of the oriental/trumpet hybrids - "orienpets" or "OTs", Fermi? They were recommended to me as a possibility for mediterranean climates. (Although I'm very fond of lilies and grow a lot - mainly species - at our home in Sussex, England, the only one I've got that flowers, and without watering, in our Greek garden is Lilium candidum.)

[Fermi]

Hi Alisdair,
yes, have a look further up the page
This year's will be in flower soon and I'll try to get some pics to post when they do.
I think they still require more water than a typical Mediterranean climate would provide and we have to keep them watered to get decent flowers.
In really hot weather the buds and foliage can get burned or even abort.
We've tried and lost the Madonna Lily a few times but are trying again with some small bulblets a friend raised from seed,
cheers
fermi