Sometimes when I look out at all the lilies out here and there are lots of them makes me think back to where it all began.....

Many years ago likely 35-40 years ago My son always bought me flowers for Mother's Day.... he never let me pick them out they were to be his choice... He might have been 5 years old at the time and lone behold there is a plant in there that looked like a pineapple plant....... no tag no nothing so planted it and waited...... No pineapple did emerge..lol but this little Asiatic Lily did..........it was a deep red color and from there I was hooked... Planted quite a few lilies there.....and then I had to move to an apartment in another town for a bit before I moved into my HOUSE now..... had to leave my other lilies behind so my son gave me some new bulbs to start in this new place....

and then what happened is that my other son and his wife bought me........ McRae's book on Growing Lilies and species wow oh my and all these new varieties and pics to go with it.......that did it...........and now I have a lot of lilies of all types but for some reason my favourite of all times was the Stargazer but what I have read I a might not have the actually Stargazer from Leslie Woodruff but something close. Might buy some from the Lily Nook this fall and plant them and compare the ones my other son bought me from Breck''s way back instead..

I learned to shop from a breeder to get the best selection and healthy bulbs
and then I found this form and tons of great info

yes Lilies forever is my motto now........

Back in the early '90s I read an article in a gardening magazine about all the difficulties of growing lilies, such as having to stake them. It really kind of dissed lilies and I was surprised because it was a reputable mag. So I swore off trying lilies for a few years until I saw some in a catalog that I usually ordered a few things from so I thought I would throw one in. Later I bought another bulb, I forget the source now. These first two lilies were the oriental Antonia and Asiatic King Pete. They grew well but eventually disappeared.

In the meantime I came across ads for the B&D and Lily Garden catalogs and ordered those but I didn't order lilies from them because for me at the time they were too expensive.

Around 1997 I saw an ad for Cascade Bulb and Seed catalog and they were actually located nearby. I ordered a number of different seeds including lilies and found most were quite easy to start and grow. I think that is when I really got going on lilies and have grown many from seeds from various origins including my own crosses. That makes this about my nineteenth year of seriously growing lilies, aided and abetted by my fellow lilyholics on the forums.

When I was a little girl I used to slip away from my house and walk the back roads about two miles or so to my grandmothers house. Her older sister lived a couple of blocks away from her but on the way. My great-aunt E lived in a tiny little house along the river about the size of a railroad caboose. It had wonderful big windows looking out over the river and into Canada. Auntie E even had a magic bed...it slipped back into the wall with just a tug! She was a big woman, red hair and fond of bright colors, in her clothing, her jewel toned paste clip on earrings and her lipstick. Brightest of all though was her gardens and hanging baskets of plants all over her tiny yard. She was in ill health but always made a fuss over me when I came to visit and explained all about her plants, the life cycles, the science, philosophy and stories about the plants (some historical and some made up I am sure). She had many plants but she adored her lilies and she had the most beautiful botanical drawings of plants too. I am now probably about the age she was then but I doubt I have ever had a day in the garden, or learning about plants or passing along the love of them to another child that I didn't think of her. It turns out that we are moving again back to our home town area. I know where all the best spots are to find the wild martagon lilies. I am looking forward to showing them to my little grandson in his turn.

What a lovely story! You have lots of good memories and the lilies bring it all together .

Growing up, we always had an "Easter Lily" at Eastertime. I thought it was the loveliest flower I had ever seen. I knew then I was hooked. Today, some 45-years later, I still have an Easter Lily,
but I also grow Lilies in pots on my back patio and along my driveway. This year I am growing
"Lady Alice" which I love, "Crystal Blanca" and "Rio Negro".

@freezengirl What very special memories you have. In my opinion, nothing makes gardening more special than tying it to memories of family. What a special lady she was.

I like this post. I got into lilies maybe only 4 years ago. My wife and I wanted to add something with color out by our mailbox. We picked out 2 different asiatic lilies. Last year I re did the landscaping around my entire house. Planted numerous types of plants. But my lilies from before popped up with more stems. As we shopped various local places for plants, I saw more and more different lilies. The colors, the styles, the fragrance.

I got hooked then. Along with the fasination of how they multiply on their own. Started reading more info on them. I planted more oriental and orienpet lilies in my back yard during the redo. Long story short, I made a 36 foot long raised bed just for lilies this spring, already filled with bulbs.

Now I gotta find a way to add more length to plant some others I want to get now! I would like to add a trio of Lankon, Fusion, Chocolate Canary, maybe Kushi Maya and Silk Road and Madame Butterfly

I notice the same thing here..........it seems one or two ends up to be a lot more then that fast.....
and the variety of flowers is amazing and more are added all the time.....
they are like potato chips in that one or two just does do..........lol

I do remember years ago my dad planted tons of orange tiger lilies and remember saying wow never going to plant them ever but I did manage to add a few of them last year. They were gifted to me from my son in memory of my Dad but his wife and him.......... so hence I have some now.........
orange is very striking in lilies though

hope to hear more cool stories on this thread
amazing how we all got started

rather boringly, some customers had lilies in their gardens (i cut grass for a living), i liked the scent and stature . this was about 6 years ago - started collecting them soon after and am having mixed fortunes.

stopped planting in the ground as my soil really doesnt suit them. using pots now but have lost some species whilst others are flourishing.

i grow mainly tall oriental species .

I worked for a seed company in the 1980's, an agronomic seed company, soybeans corn and a line of vegetables. One year I was put in charge of 5000 acres of seed corn grown under irrigation in a couple of counties along the Illinois River (Mason and Tazwell Co.) Our home base was in Stoninton, Il. (about 75 miles SE of the corn fields). As such, I had to drive up there every day to inspect the fields and keep track of the corn under contract. To help make the tedious drive not boring I tried to name roadside plants, weeds, wildflowers, and some ornamentals (in towns) for my amusement. I actually got up to hundred plants I could identify from my (company) truck. Anyway, one day I noted a new plant in the distance. It looked pretty neat, it was growing near a forested area and necessitated stopping the truck and hiking over to it. I was just amazed, it was so neat, so regal, so beautiful; it was a wild Wood Lily, Lilium philadelphicum and I was infected. After that my home garden started a metamorphic transition from a basically vegetable garden into an ornamental garden with a backbone of lilies (along with Rudbeckia, New England Asters, and Gloriosas). Lilium acquisition and display culminated a few years ago at 144 different varieties. My main source was Lisa Hunt, better known as Buggy Crazy though her lilies were supplemented by Brent and Becky's, John Scheeper, Faraway Flowers, Lee Gardens, and some of the lily specialists. There 's probably near a hundred still out there. Meticulous records were kept from 2000 to 2014, but an eye problem has since dictated a more conservative approach to acquisition, cultivation, and garden maintenance. Probably my biggest regret was not trying to breed new ones like quite a few inhabitants of this forum.

The first lily that I seen was the tiger lilies that my Father grew years ago and babied for years and years..........I did not like them but not fussy on orange at all and I remember the pollen coming off them big time as well.
Then when I bought my second lily after the first one my son bought for me........it was supposed to be pink and somewhere although the company was great to order from........came straight from Holland as well and they crazy things came up orange.... Said that was my Dad looking down on me........
that said I actually have a few orange lilies around here now too and a few tigers that are orange and ordered yellow tigers last year that have not bloomed yet.......

it is the species that really got me hooked and interested......
Regale was my first try at a species and still to this day I love that lily...........

these stories are all wonderful and enjoyed reading them all

My Grandmother and Mother always had lilies in their gardens, seems like they were what they called tiger lilies. I have been adding lilies here and there over the years, asiatics and recently OT's which do very well and have sturdy stems. I wouldn't say I am hooked on them although they are nice mixed with other plants.

Started planting lilies about 10 years ago, the second year I started gardening in our new house...Always love the beauty and fragrances of the Oriental Lilies..but my first one planted are the tiger lilies. Beside the beauty and the scent, what make it even better is they faithfully come back every single year again and again...
Unfortunately if they started a little later in the season, our fierce Texas heat scorched some of the buds and leaves so I started planted new one under a little shade which help a lot...

Hi Guys, I have never joined or contributed to a forum before, so please excuse any unintentional etiquette errors. My partner has been growing lilies for many years and I am amazed every year at the sheer size of them. The stalks are more like tree trunks, they are well over seven feet tall and have approximately twenty flowers on each stalk, each one as wide as a sandwich plate. Is this normal? Hopefully I have attached a photo and would welcome any feedback! Thanks!

You've a nice sized lily there. Looks kind of like the variety Conca d' Or which typically tops out at 5 feet.
Lily height and presentation vary between the different divisions a/o inter-divisional crosses. Their fascinating flowers and regal bearing captured my interest a few decades ago, they are one of the foundation plants for my garden.

Conca d' Or is doing the same thing at my house this year...........well over 6 feet this year and quite a few flowers..........very sturdy stems and a beautiful scent as well.

The yellow is stunning against the purple in the background at your home as well
welcome to the forum

Thanks jnorth and patweppler, both for your feedback and welcoming messages.I was initially nervous about posting anything!

Welcome Spike4291! I "officially" just joined recently as well, there is a tremendous amount of knowledge within this group. I have found that this group freely (and patiently) offers some very good information on all things relating to lilies. If you want to know more about lilies, this is a great place. Welcome!

Spike4291! Hope you enjoy the forums.

Spike4291 said:Is this [size] normal?

Depending on the type and cultivar of lily, it can be normal. Normal for lilies can range from the giant to the very small (even just 1.5 inches).