In July, mainly our night temps have been in the high 70s and low 80s. Daytime temps high 80's to lower 90s. The last 6 days and nights have been significantly cooler. Nighttime temps in the 50s and day as high as mid 70s. It has made a huge difference in the color of lilies blooming right now. Such a treat! Temperatures seem to be a significant factor in color. Here are random lily images from this morning. Orientals show more pink enhancement and spotting, depth of color in all lilies much more pronounced. My lilies never look like this! Truly a gift

I see it too--The last few cool nights really made a noticable difference! I finally got to see a beautifull rose edge on my last few Tropical Isles!

What is that beautiful pink one--the 3rd and 4th up from the bottom of you last post? That's beautifull!

I bought an "OT MIX" on sale last year to fill in a spot that I have had trouble with weeds taking over, like reed canary grass It came in the bulk pack. I love it too. Not so sure it is an OT though. I knew I was taking my chances, but a little bit of surprise beauty most certainly worth it.

It sure looks like an Oriental lily...

"A Good Lily is Where You Find It". A nice surprize!

It's definitely one I would buy if I saw it. Added bonus. I think it is reward for all the digging I had to do to remove these bad grasses. It was quite a job.

Ilike to think its a reward Magnolialover.

Guess the season is drawing to an end.Most of my lilies are deadheaded and I am starting to bring supports inside for winter storage. All in all it has been a glorious summer .Last week had great sleeping weather.
Who knows what August will bring.

Yes, overall, a real nice summer. I never had to water--not even once! Now, if we get a little fertilizer down and get average rainfall, we'll be all set for some really nice plants next year. I still have quite a few in bloom, but I can see the end coming. Time to think about fall ordering and getting the gardens ready for the new arrivals. Always something to look forward to with lilies!

There sure is. I sure hate cutting stalks down, but love very much planting them. Always something to look forward to next season, potential for bloom seedlings too. Love that best!

I think you and I stay busy with lilies all year. I've been flagging the culls to dig, For Oct/Nov lots of vacant spots to fill, lots of rearranging to the front garden, planting the (n + 1s) and new ordered stock, and seed pods to harvest. Then Cloning and incubation and before you now it, its late January and time to sow the seeds of this years crosses and plant the clones. Just in time to get the spring orders in, and, bam, springs here and we start all over again.

Fun isn't it!

I've always been baffled when people complain there is nothing to do in the garden come the end of summer.

I now have something that Lilium majoense pollen may actually work on: Lilium 'African Lady', an oriental x L. nepalense. We'll see what happens....

We havnt watered all summer either. I have marked a few lilies for culling in a few months.Just keeping certain varieties from overwhelming the visual balance where they are.
I harvested poppy seeds and continue to weed and pinch back phlox for a late season bloom.
There isnt any down time in the garden from May to October.
The entire garden gets a layer of composted leaves after I fertilize the lilies and other bulbs.

I have a few friends who have " flower plots" they always comment on the gardens but cant seem to put together the time I spend and the time they spend on gardening when making a comparison.

6 years ago when I started these gardens I had no idea what was involved.
I needed something to do being transplanted from a house in town to the burbs.
, thankful for what it takes and gardeners who are open and free with ideas and advise.

Leftwood said:

I now have something that Lilium majoense pollen may actually work on: Lilium 'African Lady', an oriental x L. nepalense. We'll see what happens....

Rick--how did this work out? Did you get good seed? And have you tried any other crossings using African Lady?

Roosterlorn said:Rick--how did this work out? Did you get good seed? And have you tried any other crossings using African Lady?

Not good at all. I did two crosses of African Lady x L. majoense. I recorded them as "very dirty", meaning no protection from contamination at all. I figured if I get any seed at all, I would be happy. But nothing came of them, not even a tiny empty pod. The next year, African Lady's stem broke in late spring, and I don't even recall seeing African Lady this year (2015). It certainly didn't bloom. Back in the fall of 2013, I dug majoense to scale and I was unpleasantly surprised at the quality of the bulb. When it grew full sun in dry rich clay (before 2011), the bulb was tight, stiff and firm, although it never bloomed as well. In 2013, growing in sand and compost, the bulb was looser, and smaller than when I had planted it. (But it bloomed better.) Sadly, the scales never produced, and it was an ugly fall and winter season that year. The plant never returned. It is the lily I most regret not having any more. I did send some scales to a friend in Europe. I hope he has had success.

Is it possible that the better flowering was a stress response to conditions the bulb was struggling with? The old make-lots-of-babies-before-I-die routine?

What a disappointing loss.

That would be the easy explanation, but I don't think it would be the case. Each of the higher count flowers was about 30% larger than when grown in dry clay, and with stems double the height. I am wondering if it is an age maturity thing.

For anyone interested in species, an interesting note:
During the time L. majoense grew in the clay soil, there was a summer in which there was a long moist period (3-4 weeks) right at the time it would normally be the driest. Growing in the same soil, L. taliense and L. primulinum bulbs rotted that summer, but L. majoense was not affected.

Those are interesting notes. Certainly doesn't sound like it was stress! How old did the bulb get before it perished? Did it ever grow stem bulbils?

I had a seedling majoense (never flowered), but I seemed to have killed it this past winter.

Yeah, life was stressful in the drier clay, even though it did bloom. Most species in the same clay bed with full sun would go dormant before fall. L. fargesii would die back first, then L. primulinum, then L. papilliferum, then Ll. amabile, concolor, maculatum and taliense, then L. majoense. Ll. scovitsianum and monadelphum usually waited until a killing frost was nigh. Then martagon section lilies (even in full sun). L. henryi was at the end of fall and was most often snowed upon.