hmmm ... i bought 5 martagon bulbs in the autumn (yep im british lol) of 2014.

last year 3 flowered, not bad for their first year. one was blind, the other didnt bother to grow!

this year all 5 are up, but 2 are blind, they have lost their growing point although the lower leaves are healthy enough.

any idea whats caused this?

This is not a "problem". It is just the way things are with martagons. Why are some people short and some people tall? It's likely genetics, and neither person is defective. Just as you have heard that some plants (not lilies) are more difficult to transplant than others, so it is with lilies, and martagons require more care. Sometimes martagons need extra time (even an extra year) to recover from the trauma of storage out of the ground and transplanting.

Of yours, if one(s) that grow well and one(s) that are "dwarfed" are the same cultivar (a named variety, like 'Pink Attraction'), and they are growing with the same conditions - soil, water, light, fertilizer, temperature, then the difference is most likely caused by unnoticed physical damage at the time of planting. Or, it is pathogen induced - rot, disease, virus.

If they are different named matagons, or just labeled as martagons (thus, likely seed grown), then the difference is probably attributed to genetics. Seed grown lilies are especially variable; some are just runts, or naturally take longer to mature.

Two seed grown martagon lilies: same age, same parents, same seed lot.


Two Lilium monadelphum plants: same age, same seed lot, wild seed.

my martagons are hansonii, gregor mendel, yellow bunting and claude shride.

one of those effected this year flowered last year, the other one was blind last year too.

Of your list, Claude Shride is the most vigorous by far. L. hansonii is probably the least vigorous. Yellow Bunting and Gregor Mendel got their yellow gene from hansonii, but I am not familiar with them. You list four, and you said five. Which one do you have two of, and which are affected?

i have 2 hansonii...

claude shride has been blind for 2 seasons now, a hansonii is this season. the other 3 are doing ok atm, although yellow bunting isnt making stronger growth then last year. they are all in their second season now, and are all in ceramic pots in heavily alkaline soil.

Very surprised about Claude Shride. And although lilies can still do well in heavy soil in the garden, they are difficult in pots (with heavy soil) because drainage is severely curtailed.

Rob, I wonder how large your bulbs were and if they had a good root system when you first planted them? Sometimes Martagon bulbs are sold at a pretty small size. If so perhaps they simply hasn't obtained flowering size yet as they probably grows slower in a pot than in the ground?

Leftwood said:Very surprised about Claude Shride. And although lilies can still do well in heavy soil in the garden, they are difficult in pots (with heavy soil) because drainage is severely curtailed.

lilies hate my soil, and slugs love lilies! i grow all of mine in pots because they dont grow in my soil. i had several 'forever susan', some in pots, some in the ground. those in the ground only grew to less then half the size those in pots did. hence, everythings in pots now.

William said:Rob, I wonder how large your bulbs were and if they had a good root system when you first planted them? Sometimes Martagon bulbs are sold at a pretty small size. If so perhaps they simply hasn't obtained flowering size yet as they probably grows slower in a pot than in the ground?

oh they were small, but 3 flowered in their first season (last year) one of which isnt healthy this year and is now blind.

like ive just posted above, lilies hate my ground, they do far better in pots (which allows me to grow them in a great position then move them at flowering time to the patio, and i have a longer flowering period as a result of this )