A complete tour on the magnificent Asiatic Lily

If you are thinking about garden plants, then lilies definitely take a place in your list. Gardeners are really fond of them because of their diversity, flower forms, and extended season of bloom, graceful stature, and reliable disposition. They can indeed put some great decorative show to your garden. In this article, I am going to introduce you with Asiatic lily. I will take you through the types, characteristics, methods of cultivation, maintenance procedures, etc. so that you know how you can approach with your next gardening project that involves lilac trees.

To give a brief intro about Asiatic lily, I must say that they are easy to grow and most durable plant among the lily families. Their hardy and versatile flowers are very popular, and they thrive in various environments. They are distinguishable with their smaller and starry shape. The shape and color of the flower may vary with the different types. This article will put light on those types and variations.

Asiatic Lily: Variations & Individual Characteristics

Asiatic lilies are highly popular and hybrid. These lilies are unmistakable for their littler, star-molded flowers that face upward or outward. Most likewise have no scent, in contrast to the larger Oriental lilies, as per the University of Massachusetts. There are numerous assortments of Asiatic lilies. These hardy flowers come in shades of yellow, orange, cream and pink and will sprout throughout the entire summer with proper care.

Asiatic lilies are the derivation and interspecific hybrids of the species like amabile, cernuum, callosum, bulbiferum, concolor, dauricum, lancifolium, lankongense, leichtlinii, pumilum, wardii, wilsoni, L.× hollandicuim, L.× maculatum, and L.× scottiae. So, it is obvious that there are lots of variations of Asiatic lily.

Asiatic lilies have some defining characteristics. Following are some of them:

• Asiatic lilies bloom in early mid-summer, and they are very easy to grow.
• They come in a wide array of colors. The softest pastels, fiery reds, and oranges colors usually ignite whenever the sun shines upon them.
• The blossoms of the Asiatic lily are 4 to 6 inches in wide on 2 to 5 feet tall plants.
• Asiatic lily has straight stems, and high bud counts.
• Their blossoms have bright spots, and the shape may vary from simple open bowls to flowers with recurved petals.
• They are vigorous and have a long life.
• Asiatic lilies seldom need any staking.
• They have a long blooming season.
• Most of the Asiatic lilies have no scent.

Recognizing the Asiatic lily bulbs

Asiatic lily bulbs are usually large with 5 to 6 inches across. They are generally white in color with a tint of pink. However, the bulb color has nothing to do with the flower color. Lily bulbs may often look pinkish if you expose them to the sunlight.

The large bulbs store a lot of food in them which gives them plenty of flower power in the spring.

Dwarf

Dwarf Asiatic Hybrid Lilies are easy to grow and early to bloom. They have large, brightly-colored, satin trumpet flowers. The colors of the flowers are crimson, yellow, orange or pink. Because of their sturdy stems, they don’t need any staking.

Characteristics and facts about Dwarfs

Black Out

Black out is one of the darkest and fascinating red lilies. It has large and dark carmine red upward-facing flowers. In the center of each petal they have darker red to black shading. Black out produces flowers in clusters, 4 to 5 blossoms in each stem. As a matter of fact, they look fabulous in combination with yellow or creamy colors.

Characteristics and facts about Black Out

Gran Paradiso

This Asiatic lily has bowl-shaped flowers and recurving tips. Their upward facing flowers reveal an orange throat. The flowers grow in abundance, and they are very large. They may grow up to 4-5 inches wide. The flowers are red in colors. It takes an absolute catchy scene when the vivid red flowers rise above the glossy dark green foliage.

Characteristics and facts about Gran Paradiso

Brunello

This Asiatic lily has bowl-shaped flowers and recurving tips. Their upward facing flowers reveal a dark red stamen. The flowers grow in abundance, and they are very large. There may be almost 12 flowers in a stem. They may grow up to 8 inches wide. The flowers are red in colors. It takes an absolute catchy scene when the vivid orange flowers rise above the glossy dark mid-green foliage.

Characteristics and facts about Brunello

Grand Cru

The showy, upward-facing, wide-open flowers have bright yellow petals mixed with a burgundy heart. This tremendous and decorative lily bagged prestigious prizes like Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticulture Society (2002). They are very easy to grow, and definitely, they will add some brightness to your garden.

Characteristics and facts about Grand Cru

Black Spider

Black spider has irresistible creamy-white flowers with deep burgundy spots and black hearts. They grow in abundance, and each stem may contain 5-7 flowers.

Characteristics and facts about Black Spider

Pollyanna

The showy, upward-facing, wide-open flowers have bright yellow petals mixed with a pink flushed throat. This tremendous and decorative lily will definitely add some brightness to your garden.

Characteristics and facts about Pollyanna

Dot Com

Dot com has irresistible large creamy-white to purplish-pink flowers with deep burgundy spots in the heart. They grow in abundance, and each stem may contain 5-9 flowers. The flowers are quite large, and they can grow up to 8 inches wide.

Characteristics and facts about Dot Com

Citronella

Citronella has showy, charming, golden flowers with speckled and gracefully recurved petals. These flowers don’t face upward. They are a pendant. They grow in abundance, and each stem can have up to 20 flowers.

Characteristics and facts about Citronella

Fire King

The showy, outward-facing flowers have rich reddish orange recurved petals mixed with purple freckles. This tremendous and decorative lily will definitely add some brightness to your garden.

Characteristics and facts about Fire King

Tiny Todd

Tiny Todd is actually an early blooming dwarf. They are good for container planting. You can also plant them in the garden borders or in the rock garden. They have large and ravishing white flowers with a pale pink flush. Each stem can contain up to 7-9 flowers. They are upward-facing. The flowers have a slight fragrance. They indeed go well with the glossy green foliage.

Characteristics and facts about tiny Todd

Push Off

Push off has irresistible large creamy-white flowers with heavily freckled and burgundy spots in the heart.

Characteristics and facts about Push Off

King Pete

The showy, upward-facing, wide-open flowers have bright yellow petals mixed with a darker yellow heart and chocolate freckles. This tremendous and decorative lily bagged the prestigious award like Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticulture Society (2002). They are easy to grow and will definitely add some brightness to your garden.

Characteristics and facts about King Pete

Salmon Twinkle

The showy, wide-open flowers have pale creamy-yellow petals mixed with purplish pink recurved tips. This tremendous and decorative lily will definitely add some brightness to your garden.

Characteristics and facts about Salmon Twinkle

Patricia’s Pride

The highly showy, wide-open, upward-facing white flowers have a deep burgundy-purple blotch at their heart. This tremendous and decorative lily will definitely add some drama to your garden.

Characteristics and facts about Salmon Twinkle

Monte Negro

This Asiatic lily has bowl-shaped flowers and slightly recurving tips. Their upward facing flowers reveal tiny dark spots at their heart. The flowers grow in abundance, and they are very large. There may be almost 7-10 flowers in a stem. They may grow up to 8 inches wide. The flowers are red in colors. It takes an absolute catchy scene when the vivid red flowers rise above the glossy dark green foliage.

Characteristics and facts about Monte Negro

Rosella’s Dream

The highly showy, wide-open flowers have soft cream petals with cherry pink flush at their tips and chocolate freckles at their heart. This tremendous and decorative lily will definitely add some brightness to your garden. The floral show lasts up to 4 weeks.

Characteristics and facts about Rosella’s Dream

So, you want to grow Asiatic Lily?

Asiatic lilies are very easy to care. They usually thrive in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 to 9. The flowers mainly bloom in the early to late summer. Despite the standing of 2 to 6 feet tall, the plants don’t require any staking.

Growing Asiatic lily in your garden is quite an easy task. You just need to keep some special things in mind. Following are the things you need to care for growing lilies in your garden.

Preparing the location

First and foremost, try to find a sunny and well-drained location in the garden. When you are planting the lily in USDA zone 9, and then avoid any sheltered corner. To produce blossoms in the following spring and summer, the bulbs need winter cold. Otherwise, you may require digging the bulbs in fall and also have to chill them in the refrigerator for about eight weeks.

To loosen the soil, you need to focus on digging the garden bed to a depth of 12 to 15 inches. You also need to add some components to lighten and improve drainage in clay soils. For example, use peat moss, coconut coir or rice hulls, and compost as those components.

For sandy soil, you need to improve water and nutrient retention. To do that, add organic matters like compost and well-decomposed manure in the soil. After adding the amendments in a slit soil, don’t forget to turn them 8-10 inches deep into the garden bed.

Planting the bulbs

You need to plant Asiatic lily bulbs in a well-drained and fertile soil. And, you have to do it in early spring or fall before frost. Because of this, the plant will develop a good root system.

To improve the soil, you may need to add organic matter like peat moss.

The planting depth of your lily should be 4 inches to 6 inches in partial or full sun. On the other hand, try to place them 12 inches to 18 inches apart from each other.

You will require a place which will receive morning or late afternoon sun to plant the bulbs. There should be at least six hours of sunlight. It will be great if the pH scale of the soil is around 6.5 because Asiatic lily loves a bit of acidic soil.

Try to plant the fresh bulbs as soon as you receive or get them. Otherwise, they will dry out. You need to place put the pointed end up and cover the soil while placing the bulb. For protecting the bulb and slowing down the evaporation of water you need to add mulch over the lilies. When the stalks start to appear, you need to pull the mulch 3 to 4 inches back from the stems.

It will be a great visual effect if you group the bulbs in odd numbers, such as three and five.

Watering the plants

As I have said earlier that you need to plant the lily bulbs in dry soil which has good drainage. You Asiatic lily will require 1 or 2 inches of water per week.

On the other hand, in the dry and hot weather, you need to maintain the moisture of the root zone. So, they may need supplemental watering. And a very important thing watch for that the soil has to be moist, not soggy.

According to stages like planting and blooming stage the required amount of water may vary. Following are the details of those stages:

Planting stage

After planting the lily bulbs, you have to water the soil thoroughly. Don’t forget to ensure a good drainage system. You will not want soggy soil to hamper the lily from getting off a good start.

Regular watering

Water the soil whenever you feel the top part of the soil a bit dry. After the new growth is visible, they will need about 1 inch of water per week. In addition, during the dry spells, they should get supplemental watering.

Blooming stage

During the blooming stage, it is very important to water your lilies adequately. It will keep the flowers fresh. In addition, it will prevent wilting. If you are in a hot-summer region, then regular watering is very important for optimal flower production.

Fertilizing

The light ring of 5-10-10 fertilizer is the best nutrient for the lilies to thrive. You need to mix them with the topsoil and spread them around the plant. This fertilizer will provide the plant with phosphorus and other nutrients to grow large and healthy flowers.

Usually, the Asiatic lilies don’t need frequent fertilizing. Just follow the application rate directions on the fertilizer bag. You need to start fertilizing after the lilies begin to grow.

Propagating the lilies

You have to propagate lilies from stem bulblets, stem bulbils, bulb scales, and bulb division. The quickest path originates from isolating plump bulbs. Draw them separated and plant them independently.

Maintenance

Asiatic lilies require no watering or treating amid the cool fall and winter months. In the spring, they care changes since they may require a larger number of supplements than the dirt can give. Draw up the mulch when the risk of freezing has passed and treat the region with phosphorus-rich, slow-release compost.

You need to water Asiatic lilies lightly day by day after they start to blossom in late May or early June. If the climate is wet, skip watering for that day.

You need to do the following things for good care or maintenance of your lily.

Deadheading and Pruning

Deadheading the blossoms when the petals drop enhances the appearance yet additionally keeps the plant from spending its energy on seed advancement.

Try not to prune the foliage anyway until the point that it ceases to exist normally amid fall. The leaves get energy from the sun to store in the bulbs for next season’s sprout.

Care after blooming and winter maintenance

When the foliage dies back normally, slice the dead foliage to the ground. Then, include a layer of 4 to 6 inches of mulch to give the bulbs safety amid winter. This keeps up soil temperature and averts hurling.

Next, expel the mulch amid spring after all risk of the frost passes. This will give space for new development to show up.

You can apply a 2 inches layer of bark mulch just after removing the previous winter mulch. It will preserve the soil moisture. In addition, it may prevent weeds.

Diseases & Pests

Look for aphids. Thump aphids off the stems with a solid impact of water, or splash with neem oil. Read the package direction precisely when blending neem oil. Test the splash on an unnoticeable leaf 24 hours before showering to guarantee that it won’t hurt the plant. Apply at night, so the shower is less inclined to influence useful insects, for example, honey bees and ladybugs.

In addition, you may use neem oil as a fungicide. If parasites contaminated the Asiatic lilies, for example, Botrytis scourge, you could likewise shower the plants with a solution of 1 tablespoon preparing soft drink blended with 1/2 gallon warm water.

Asiatic lilies are additionally a delicious treat for tunneling rodents. Rodents, for example, gophers, and mice keep running along mole tunnels. Line the planting gaps with hardware cloth to demoralize rodents. Deer will likewise eat the blossoms and plants and uncover the bulbs. Lights or motion-activated sprinklers may demoralize the deer. A little dog may also terrify deer away when it is outside. However, after some time the deer may wind up familiar with your safeguard measures.

Uses of Asiatic Lily

The stems of Asiatic lilies make decent cut blossoms for use in decorative designs. The lilies flower keep going for a few days up to a little while.

Develop them as ground covers or in blended perennial garden borders close by other woody bushes and blossoming perennials. They additionally make awesome potted specimens.

Besides this, Asiatic lily has some other uses too. As a matter of fact, you probably have not heard of this uses before. Let me take you to the medicinal and culinary uses of lily. And, yes don’t forget to use it for romance or socialization.

Medicinal uses of Asiatic lily

Peoples of Asia continent have been utilizing lilies therapeutically for over 2,000 years. And their handiness has come into notice in different societies. Dried day lilies can work as an effective diuretic or laxative if you consume it. On the other hand, the roots and the flowers can be useful in treating spider bites.

Early natives use woody lily roots as the source of medicinal tea. They believed that it could treat stomach disorders, tuberculosis, coughs, fevers, and childbirth pains. In addition, if you cook them down further they can be helpful in washing swollen bruises, open wounds and sores to speed up the healing process. It can also help to deter infection.

Many believe that the dried or fresh bulbs have both astringent and soothing properties. You can boil them to treat any visible inflammation or ulcers. On the other hand, fresh bulbs can soften the hard tumors more quickly if you bruise and apply them on the tumors.

Ointments made from lily bulbs are helpful to cure corns and burns. They are also effective in preventing scarring. If you want to cure dropsy, then fresh bulb juice may be a great option for you.

However, don’t forget to consult with a professional before taking any natural supplement for medicinal purpose. Since, there is no scientific evidence that will validate the claims about those medicinal benefits.

Culinary uses

Flower cookery is an incredible approach to mix intriguing flavors, surfaces and brings new edible plants into the table. Lilies have assumed a noteworthy job in Asian, Middle Eastern and Western food over time, especially amid the Victorian Era.

Dried lily buds, alluded to as ‘golden needles’ in Asian cookery, are frequently yellow in color and offer a hearty, musky taste. The sweet petals are incredible in pastries or as stuffing in meats and vegetables.

A few people say diverse colored petals have their very own flavor. Stems are chewy with a sweet, gentle vegetable flavor that looks like that of asparagus, zucchini or lettuce. Cuts of the thick, sugary sweet lily bulb are very common in Asian recipes, especially by the Japanese.

Uses for romance and socialization

The delightful blossoms of lilies hold a rich history of symbolism and meanings. A bouquet of lily is a testament to loyalty, love, and unity. It may represent the esteem in which you hold the romantic partnership or friendship with the person you are offering to.

China, lilies speak to 100 years of adoration and in addition exemplary, refined excellence. The blossom’s color additionally holds solid centrality when given as a blessing. Pink Stargazer lilies, for instance, speak to seek after riches and flourishing while white Peruvian lilies are an image of commitment.

Conclusion

Asiatic lilies are very easy to grow and can give your garden lots of colorful flowers to enjoy. During the bloom time, it creates a mesmerizing effect in the garden. It’s no wonder why people call Asiatic lily plant as ‘dream lily.’ On the other hand, you can’t ignore the other benefits like the medicinal and culinary ones. I have tried to give you a good overall scenario about the varieties, uses, cultivation methods, and care for lilies. Give it a shot in your garden. Happy gardening!