Useful information

Lovely lily flower

Moonshine (Az)

Moonshine (Az)

Lily is an extremely ancient plant. It has come a long way from time immemorial before taking its rightful place in our gardens. From time immemorial, she lived next to man as a sacred plant, personifying beauty and wisdom, chastity and purity. The first known lily was the snow-white lily, which was also called the lily of the Madonna, since it was used to decorate the sculptures of the Virgin Mary.

The name "lily" comes from the Greek word "Lerion", which means "white". Later this word was transformed into "LILIUM". In addition to the snow-white lily, the curly lily, or Martagon, has also been known since ancient times. However, the lily came out quite recently. While thousands of tulips, carnations proudly looked from the pages of books and catalogs, the lily remained "Cinderella". It took a long time for a real shower of lilies of various colors to play in the gardens with all the colors of the rainbow.

Breeding work began in Japan about 200 years ago. For a long time, tiger, Daurian and curly lilies have been grown in Russia. In 1914 I.V. Michurin first received a hybrid lily, which was called violet.

Currently, more than 3500 lilies of a wide variety of shapes and shades are known. They are divided into several sections.

Section I - ASIAN HYBRIDS... These are the most common, easily propagated varieties with excellent winter hardiness. They prefer loose soils with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction (pH = 6.5). The flowers are almost always odorless, up to 12 cm. They are transplanted in the 4-5th year of planting. In our conditions, they grow without problems. Flowers in this group can be directed upwards, to the sides and downwards.

Section II - KINKY HYBRIDS (Martagon). These are frost-resistant varieties that grow well in semi-shady and shady places, soils are best neutral. The leaves of the plants form a whorl at the base. It is advisable to add a little wood ash to the soil before planting (200-300 g per square meter).

Section III - WHITE HYBRIDS (candidum lilies). They have fragrant white or yellowish flowers. The bulbs are planted shallow (3-4 cm). They love the sun, have little winter hardiness and are picky enough. They do not tolerate acidic soils. When planting, you need to add lime and ash. They bloom in July, in August there is a dormant period, when it is best to replant them.

Lilium martagon hybridLilium candidum
Lilium martagon hybridLilium candidum

Section IV - AMERICAN HYBRIDS... They have graceful flowers with exotic large specks. They are quite capricious, they do not tolerate a transplant. They grow on slightly acidic, moist, well-drained soils.

Radel V - LONG-COLORED HYBRIDS... These are very thermophilic lilies that are grown only in greenhouses as a cut crop. They are very susceptible to viral diseases.

Casa Rosa (Long)Golden Splendor (Tr)
Casa Rosa (Long) Golden Splendor (Tr)

Section VI - TUBULAR HYBRIDS and ORLEAN HYBRIDS... The flowers of these lilies are distinguished by an unusually strong aroma. They do not tolerate acidic soils, suffer from autumn waterlogging, and require shelter for the winter.

Section VII - EASTERN HYBRIDS... These lilies have high stems - up to 1.5-1.7 m, large flowers, up to 30 cm in diameter. They like sour loose soils. They are not always winter-hardy, so for the winter it is better to cover with a dry leaf with a layer of up to 20 cm or mulch with humus up to 7 cm. These lilies are very sensitive to salts, therefore, fertilizing is introduced gradually along with watering.

American Heritage (OT)Blushing Pink (Orient)
American Heritage (OT)Blushing Pink (Orient)

Section VIII - INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDS... They are now at the height of fashion, extremely diverse and interesting.

LA hybrids (from groups 5 and 1). Disease-resistant winter-hardy plants. Photophilous. They grow on slightly acidic or neutral soils. Almost all varieties have large, upward-looking flowers. Some have a delicate, pleasant aroma.

LO hybrids (from groups 5 and 7) plants are less winter-hardy and more sun-loving than LA hybrids, so many gardeners dig them up for the winter and store them at 4-5 ° C. if you try to grow them as a normal crop, then you need to plant the bulbs at a depth of 15-20 cm from the top of the bulb. The soil is acidic, loose.

OT hybrids (from groups 6 and 7).The flowers are large (about 25 cm), fragrant. They grow on neutral soil. In our conditions, they can freeze out. They are more often used as a distillation culture.

First Crown (LO)Prince Promise (LO)
First Crown (LO)Prince Promise (LO)

Section IX - WILD LILIES... These are tubular lilies - lily candidum, lily regale (regal) lily martagon (curly), as well as American species lilies. In our gardens you can find lily daurskaya and tiger lily.

Mega (LA)

Salmon Twinkle (Tigr)

Mega (LA)

Salmon Twinkle (Tigr)

Lily is a perennial bulbous plant. Its bulbs are composed of perennial juicy scales and are a "storehouse" of nutrients. Unlike other bulbous, lilies lack a protective layer of dry outer scales, so they must be protected from drying out.

The roots of lilies are of two types. The main perennial (podlukovichny), they grow from the bottom of the bulb and are intended for feeding and fixing in the soil. Stem (supralukovichnye) are annual and are designed to absorb moisture from the upper soil layers. These roots appear in the spring and die off with the stem in the fall.

The most important factor for the lily culture is the soil, its nutritional value. The soil should be light, crumbly, "breathable" and retain moisture. It is best if the soil is fresh, that is, no plants grew on it before the lilies. Lilies can be planted where they used to be, but the soil must be replaced. The standard mixture is sand, peat, loam and coniferous litter, which is best taken under large conifers (spruces, pines). All components are taken equally. The mixture will be just great if you add vermicompost to it (1 part to 4 parts of the mixture). Garden compost is of little use, as it is often contaminated with weed seeds ...

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