Viewing comments posted by Cantillon

Very easy to grow. Planted in a pot in the garden house and grown on to about two feet tall before being moved into a large pot at about the start of June. Then given a handful of slow-release fertiliser and watered heavily once a week. The pot compound is two-thirds top soil and one-third vermiculite to hold water, grit to help excess flowthrough, and multi-purpose compost.

Plant grows strongly, well able to withstand wind, excellent feature plant. The large pot also contains Dahlia 'David Howard' and Fuchsia 'Annabelle,' or in the other identical pot opposite -- Dahlia 'Bishop of Canterbury' and Fuchsia 'Blacky.' I think if it was planted with a nasturtium that would flow down from the pot, it could be very attractive.

Grows four feet tall from the pot and has excellent leaves and flower spikes and the potential for multiple stalks. I am very optimistic about cannas, which are proving to be even more robust than dahlias, and the leaf strength and colours are superb. I have not had them for more than one season, but I will empty the pots when the Cannas have to be protected and will use them again for tulips and maybe Fritillaria Imperialis for spring, with some little crocuses.

Lilium Speciosum ‘Uchida’ is a pleasant pink flower. Some are lighter than others, and I think I like the light pink the most. I see some variation in the different bulbs.

I found this lily to be slow to grow, short, and one of the most attractive to lily beetle ( along with Lilium Black Beauty.) I think I was overly wary of it in 2014, and it will be much more robust in 2015.

I grew about half a dozen of these in pots for 2014. I was surprised when they fell over as plants only 18 inches tall, and perhaps that is the way the plant behaves, as a prostrate bloomer. Anyway, I staked them to see whether I could change their shape, gave them a handful of slow-release "Growmore" fertilizer, and doused them with a seaweed feed every couple of weeks. They bloomed relatively late, in mid-August, but the colour, shape, and complexity of their blooms are attractive. It holds the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

The petals vary in colour front and back, and across each floret, and the plant is fresh in leaf, without blemish, and seems pretty tough to me. It is small, though, and is fit for the front of the bed. I don't know yet whether it will supply sufficient blooms over a long enough period to earn its keep, but the size of the bloom, maybe twice that of a dwarf like 'Chic Red,' means it may only need to deliver half the blooms.

I am thinking about it, and perhaps I need to plant them in groups of three to deliver any impact at all. I will add to this comment as I go, and I'll add a couple more photos of stems and leaves. I wasn't going to keep it, any more than the half dozen Gallery Art Deco plants I gave away, but it is making me reconsider just because the colour is interesting, the flowers are big for a dwarf, and it blooms at about the knees of most other dahlias.

Lilium nepalense – Warning, acid soil - difficult

This is an ‘Asian’ lily. Lilium nepalense is a native of the southern slopes of the Himalaya, from Bhutan through Nepal to Uttarakhand. It can be found growing on wet forest borders at 1,200 to 3,000 m (3,900 to 9,800 ft).

This lily is unusual, expensive even as a wholesale bulb, and is lost to gardeners commonly for making no effort to provide it with the care it needs. It is different from the more common lilies.

The rules are:
1. Slightly acid soil (ericaceous), with 50% added grit
2. Cool feet, face in sun.
3. Well watered in spring prior to flowering
4. Stop watering after flowering and let it die back
5. Watch for the wandering bulb- stoloniferous walkabout bulb

In simple terms, plant it in ericaceous soil in a pot and take it into the greenhouse after it flowers in June/July and when the stem has died back, then leave it alone. This is supposedly only hardy to zone 5.

It is not a very attractive lily, has a disproportionately heavy down-facing flower, pendant from a short stem of maybe 30cms (24 inches), and probably should be staked. The flower is often solitary, pale lime green with a maroon throat, a combination not often seen. While I have seen photographs of a single stem of about five feet with several flowers, I have not experienced this in cultivation. The flowers are unscented during the day, but quite scented during the night. Makes it interesting for bringing it inside the house. May be pollinated by moths, bats, or some weird beetle, and maybe the flower has that nightime fluorescence the night stocks offer.

The flowers are down-facing, flared, and scented. The bulb is stoloniferous. It roves underground (a Houdini in a pot), producing many smaller bulbs on strings. Native to open scrub in the high mountains of Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, India, Myanmar (Burma), Tibet (Xizang), and Yunnan province in China. Height to 120 cm (4.5'). Lilium nepalense is Zone 5, but it abhors fall and winter wet. If that's likely to be a problem where you are, grow it outdoors under an overhang or in a frame or glasshouse. I have seen this done, but horizontal glass in a garden bed makes me nervous so I won't be doing that. I think all I will do is bring it inside the garden house for the winter, and lay it on its side.

I grow this plant. This is my experience with it.

1. This is an herbaceous perennial, dying back to the ground at season's end. At six feet tall, it is a back-of-the-border plant.
2. The plant builds an extensive root base and the root ball will be bucket sized underground in three years if not split.
3. Splitting it probably will require a saw because it is very tough and woody at the surface.
4. It starts to leaf quite early in the spring. A three-year-old plant will grow to six feet. Feed with a slow release fertilizer in spring.
5. If not staked, it will explode from the centre like oriental poppies. I strongly recommend splitting every three years at the most.
6. It will require staking, probably by placing an upright ring over the plant as it begins to show leaf. Alternatively it will require perhaps four canes at North, South, East, and West. The canes need to be strong and well anchored. This is a heavy plant.
7. Slugs attack this voraciously, climbing over Hostas to get to it. It will need defence or will be wiped out.
8. Snails climb the plant and graze on the flowers. Bees are in constant attendance on the flowers.
9. This is an unusual plant and people are glad to receive it as a gift, but you should warn them about the predation.
10. Very hardy in my experience, to minus 15c in my garden, untroubled. If it is in a pot it will require copious water as the leaves are large.