Yow. In my gardens, Triumphator never grew more than 4ft. I don't grow it anymore because it was so needy. Petals flop in the heat, and I just don't want to be as attentive to its wants as I should be. And after that year I had with the exceptionally cool summer, and I saw how beautifully deep, dark pink the color should really be, well, that clinched it. I learned everything I wanted to know about that cultivar, and time to move on.

[quote="Leftwood" I learned everything I wanted to know about that cultivar, and time to move on.[/quote]

Hey---that's my line

My line too, especially since I am space constrained here.

Up here the tallest lily I had was Conc d'Or @ 38". So obviously it is heat driven not sun light alone as we get a lot of sunlight up here in the summer. Or, conversely, the added sunlight can't make up for very cool summers. The blooms, however, are all very large, like 6-10"

I give away bulbs - for people to grow away from me & I grow the same bulbs >>>Then I compare & ask them what they did!///Its a good learning curve!..

Like if that dwarfish trumpet is dwarfish in other climates.

It's a sound realization that what happens in your own garden is not always the truth.

However, it is your truth...

This sounds like it is going to involve talk of 'the matrix '!

So I have lilies that are trying to grow in pots in my garage. But it is way too early by at least four months or more. What should I do. They are in the dark, I water sparingly. But if I nip the growth then they won't grow again and will die?? I have no room for those pots in the house or on my growing racks.

Mary what is the temp in your garage? There's really nothing you can do to my knowledge if they've started.

You already know that your garage is too warm, then. Your in quite the predicament, as Joe says, but try to slow the growth.

Stop watering, and get them to a colder spot. 32°F would be perfect, but at least below 35°. Maybe this:
Clear an outside uninsulated corner of the garage the size of a box that can house your lily pots. Cut out two adjacent sides and the bottom of the box so that what remains fits snugly into the corner. The cold from the walls should keep the contents of the box colder than the garage temperature. You may need to add insulation of some sort around the box. Put a thermometer inside the box so you can monitor the temp.

Next year, don't water at all. When the pots seem thoroughly dry, put them in a plastic bag so they won't overly dehydrate. That and cool temperatures will likely keep them dormant until your ready to start watering in spring.

It's funny you should post today, as I have just discovered a Calochortus uniflorus sprouting in the fridge, and am kind of in the same situation.

Joebass said:This sounds like it is going to involve talk of 'the matrix '!

Isn't it Depak Chopra that believes that the "reality" we think we live in isn't really real?

I am that. Your are that. This is that. And that's all there is. [That, meaning everything.]
--- ancient Vedic saying

Then lucky for me, if what you are saying is true,I don't have many lilies, so I need some more😊

Starting to understand, Reality isn't real.... I need more lilies too!-Tracey! [ MATRIX or VORTEX]

View of my patio right outside my kitchen window. Taken last night for my friends in Florida. This snow will likely stay 'till Spring and just what I needed for the lily gardens.

Sigh. I gave up and moved the pots into the house right in front of the aerogardens (three mounted on the wall). They are very very slowly growing. I put the tiny scapes in small 3" pots and they have just started to sprout tiny green shoots. One shows signs of sprouting the more familiar lily growth. As long as the bulbs survive I am satisfied. Our winter wasn't cold enough so that kept the garage too warm. I do have a corner on the bottom shelf of one of the gorilla shelves that I would create a 'cold box' for next year. Even the darned crawl space stays above 50. Not so good for the dahlias, peony pot, and one iris pot down there.

I have put my first seed for iris and daylilies in water on the 1st of Feb. Be interesting to see what happens.

Yup, since the climate started to change in earnest, our "Minnesota" snow seems to fall mostly to the adjacent south and east.

Aren't we lucky....
Minnesota is trending the fastest warming winters of all the lower 48 states.

Rick, I think you're right about the precip. One thing around here is the 'new' plant hardiness zone maps will show about a 50 to 60 mile northward shift for zone 6 for all but the extreme Northwestern part of Illinois. I go from 5B to 6A in S.E. Wisconsin for whatever that will mean--we'll have to wait and see. All it takes is one or two nights of -10 to -15 below 0' F to kill a peach tree. I lost both of my fully mature Red Haven peach trees last year, only my grand daughters volunteer survived--has really good peaches, too. I'll plant two more Red Havens this spring and see if I can go 10 years with them without a deadly freeze. My neighbor kid drew up a 'probability' chart with some data he got from the Kenosha airport and it showed about a 50% chance sometime within the 10 years and 99.99%chance sometime within18 years. The problem with probability is that it won't tell you what year it will happen. Same goes for hardiness zone maps; how well they relate to reality remains to be seen.

That time of year again


Feb 6th, 2015 (today)


Feb 6th, 2014 ( 1 year ago today )

Quite a difference.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE