Garden Plants : Lilies

Over the years I have nurtured various plants in my garden for added exercise and recharge of the essence. I usually select plants that are easy to grow and manage. In this series, I would like to share some of my experience with them and the images I have saved up in my archive.

Liliaceae is a family of lilies. There are so  many varieties of species and hybrids that many of them may have been reclassified. I am putting them here together for convenience. They are rather easy to grow....especially the Asiatics or Orientals. There are very few pests that challenge them apart from the odd slug .......in fact some may  even  be poisonous and are no good around cats.  Lily flowers may be (a)tubular (trumpet- shaped), (b)bowl-shaped or (c) turban-shaped (Turk's cap). There are usually about 3 - 4 flowers on a stem holding themselves upright, facing upwards, downwards or nodding. Some may even be fragrant. Leaves are mostly linear growing from bulbs. Propagation is generally by division of the bulbs.

The colour white is often associated with lilies. Legends and folklore abound about this symbol of innocence and hence you may find white lilies placed on graves/tombs of those committed of crimes they didn't do and in bridal bouquets. They may also appear as the symbol of mourning, glorification of the dead. Of course lilies come in different colours

I inherited the above white , bowl-shaped lily from my late mum. No one else wanted them after she passed away. I didn't think it was a lily initially, until I had a closer look at  the blooms.

I bought the red Amaryllis above  from the Jaya Superparket in PJ some years back. It is of Dutch origin. It is usually identified by it's two-ranked leaves. To encourage the flower stem to grow upright, I would recommend to grow it in the sun. Being of dutch origin, I made a mistake of growing it in a shaded area ....it never produce any more flower. So, one day I tried putting it in the sun and true enough it began to bloom. The flower stem and leaves are cut back at just above the bulb once the blooms have dried up.

Starting from a single plant, I now have several pots of them from bulb divisions every now and then. I prefer to plant them in containers for easy management. The bulbs make wonderful gifts to friends and relatives.

The above variety is the Allium.....same genus as onions, chives and garlic. Indeed they are often called blooming onions. It has 4-6 base leaves and requires full sun. The bulb may grow to quite a size and do remember to give it ample space during re potting. The flowers are rose pink florets forming a pompom-like flower-head. It is often described  as a firework frozen in mid-explosion.

Flowers may come in different colours too ranging from white, green, yellow, blue and purple. Some bulbs may not be so big while some are, like the gigantum varieties. Again , once the bloom is completed, the whole stem is to be cut back.

Some of the florets are not open yet

All florets are opened