- Not sure whether this post is better suited for here
here or the
Plant ID forum. I can delete and redo the post elsewhere if need‑be.
We have lots of lilies. Nearly all of them we know the identity of on account of having bought them ourselves, but there are a few that are a mystery to us, for various reasons. The following 4 are the lilies we either cannot identify or aren't completely sure of:
〜
① Potted lily purchased at
Meijer in Lincoln Park, MI, was labeled only as
"Asiatic Lily", transplanted to flowerbed, May 2019. As I remember it
(supported by photo below on the left ⦫
), it was more of an orange colour when we got it. However, when it came up again the next year and the year after, it it has been more of a reddish/dull‑pink colour. I cannot explain this. The flowers open in June (2020: 06‑13/17/22).
· Pics
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… The colouring is almost identical to the ones I received that were supposed to be
'Red Carpet' Lilies (See № ④ below ↓↓↓). All of the above photos^ were taken
prior to June 27 /20 though, the date I
ordered the Red Carpet Lilies, so they cannot be them. The only way I can tell them apart
now is by where they are planted: "Mystery Asiatic Lily" was planted in the middle of the bed towards the North side of the porch; the "Red Carpet" Lilies were planted at the front of the bed distributed across the whole length of it. Not a very good photo^, but the one on the left‑side shows what it looked like when we bought it; it does appear more orange in it, as I remember it. They do not look like the same lily, but it can't be anything else! We put‑the‑bed‑in in 2019 and prior to that there were only hostas growing in grass. I thought that
maybe there had been another lily that colour among the ones we planted at the same time, but I actually found a photo I took that showed all the lilies before we planted them, and as you can see – no solid dark pink one
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1080×720 ]:
^ Back‑row, LtR: 'Tiny Diamond', 'Tiny Bee', presumably 'Bright Joy' (See № ③ below ↓↓), & 'Tiny Orange Sensation'; Front‑row, LtR: 'Easter Lily' & the Mystery Asiatic Lily in the pink pot; Bottom‑right is a tulip.
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② 2
Mystery Yellow Lilies came‑up in our bed last year. They don't look at all like anything else we have planted. They're bright
Yellow‑yellow (
Lemon‑yellow
?, as opposed to
Golden‑yellow like our '
Tiny Bee' ones). The flowers grow bunched real close together and the petals have more of a curl to them than any of other other lilies. The bulbs
must've been mixed‑in with one of the 2 kinds we got from
M Lilies and Perennials (which were
Avalon Sunset &
Garden Party – both of which came‑up and looked correct✓✓). I thought to look through the rest of their offerings to see if any match, but hey don't seem to have as big of a selection this year. If I
use the Wayback Machine to view their past inventory, which is 7 pages w/ images that for the most part weren't archived, and look‑up each & every one, none really look right. Closest ones that I can see among the ones they used to have are '
Outback'
(but yellow on petals is faded, not solid & bright on the upsides of them), '
Corcovado'
(too orangey), & '
Easy Vanilla'
(way too pale). Pretty sure it was planted with the M Lilies and Perennials bulbs based‑off where they came‑up in bed. The only other lilies we added last year were
'Bandiera' Lilies from
Breck's — I've looked through their inventory too and nothing looks close — & '
Tiny Moon' ones from merchant
PlantLoverUSA on
Etsy (was definitely not in with the latter on account of where they're planted). The only other long‑shot possibility I can come‑up with is that a neighbour or family member, knowing how much I like lilies, could've maybe sneakily planted the lilies in our front yard bed as a surprise …or I guess
squirrels? 🤷. The flowers opened in June (2021: 06‑12&18).
· Pics
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③ One of the lily plants we purchased from
Schwartz's Greenhouse in Romulus, MI was missing a tag. '
Bright Joy' looks an awful lot like it and I think that is probably it, but needs confirmation – freckled petals that are yellow in the centre & orange on the outside. The rest of the ones we got there that day were all
Lily Looks™ dwarf Asiatic ones. Flowers open in June (2020: 06‑22&24; 2021: 06‑17&21).
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④ The
'Red Carpet' Border Lily bulbs we received from Royal Dutch Gardens (
eroyaldutch.com →
site no longer works/confirmation email was from
directgardening) produced a plant that looks a lot different from
any of the other photos of this lily online. Rather than vibrant red, ours are a much duller red, almost dark‑pink. User
AnthonyF on
this site has a
really good close‑up where you can see clearly that the petals do not have any freckles at all. I don't see any in any of the other photos of this lily online either. Ours however
do all have freckles. The colouring looks almost exactly the same as the potted mystery Asiatic Lily (See № ① above ↑↑↑) we got from Meijer the year prior, but these ones come‑up at the front of our beds, right where I planted them. The packaging we received definitely was marked as 'Red Carpet', but I don't think that's what we got. The year they were planted, the flowers opened in August (probably 'cause I ordered them late & so was late getting them in the ground); the next year though, these ones too opened in June (2020: 08‑28; 2021: 06‑07&08).
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〜
So those are our mystery lilies. All are up‑facing & (so far) < 3'. Our 'Pink Pixie' Carpet Lilies are unusual too, but I'll save that for another post. If anybody's got any suggestion for what the above^ lilies might actually be, I'd be curious to know. 
Thanks for reading,
┄ Jen
