Any lily that is commercially sold is suppose to be blooming size. It's pretty much a nursery standard especially for a cultivar such as 'Casablanca'. You can often find them in local nurseries still packaged. Just make sure they are nice and plump, not dried out and dessicated! For Oriental hybrids such as 'Casablanca', a bulb larger than a golf ball should produce at least 1 flower its first summmer. Generally, the larger the bulb, the more flowers it's capable of producing.

There are many sources out there if you want to do mail order. I bet you can even find gardeners in the Garden Exchanges who have spare bulbs they're looking to trade off.

Best of luck!

Riz

at the end of the back porch where I have been dumping old coffee grounds, cold coffee, onion skins, "liquid gold", etc in preparation for a rich place for the asparagii, also ordered today. Will the Casablanca lilies be compatible with such a rich location? I have all hot dry sand on our land, and when I planted a hungry brugsmansia at the other end of the porch, treating it this way, I have had flush after flush of blooms. I want to smell the lilies and the coffee.

Irish Rose,
I bought my casabanca lily bulbs from Paradise Garden. They are huge and guaranteed to grow. Their service is excellent and prices are good. They have a solid reputation on Garden Watchdog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paradise Garden

B&D Lilies is a good source for larger bulbs. They cost a little more but they're bigger and healthier than most. I do a search on Google to find them.

Jeanne

I get my bulbs from brentandbeckysbulbs.com. You can order a minimum of 5 and their quality and size are OUTSTANDING! I've been growing their lilies for 4 years now and all my neighbors want to snip a couple come July.

I had a terrible experience with my Lilies from B&B last year. Most of the Orientals were infected with virus. They in turn infected nearly all of my Lily collection. I am waiting on pins and needles to see whether some will grow without any sign of infection this year. B&B never responded to my report on the virus. I won't order anything from B&B again. I had had such wonderful experience with them for years. :-(

I got them from The Lily Garden. They were the highest rated and I heard their bulbs are huge. I treated myself to 3 casa blanca's and a couple of pinks

Thanks everyone,
Maureen

I saw Casablanca in a Lowe's store last week. They were offering a few lilies in with a rack of mostly dahlias and glads. I didn't need any (bought some last fall) but I did pick up the bag and look. Seemed plump and heavy. I don't know how the prices compare: they were 3 for $5: same as what I paid last fall.

Hello again fellow Long Islander! You cannot go wrong with purchasing from The Lily Garden.

I also buy from Brent & Becky's. Their stock has been fine and everything came up and bloomed.

My all time favorite however remains Scheppers up in Ct. But you can only buy from them in the Fall. Keep them in mind come end of Summer

So...OT...have you been out to Peconic Herb Farm yet?

Ciao,
OITGAD

HI OITGAD -- how are you? I will try Scheppers (is that colorblends?)

I have not been out to Peconic River Herb Farm....yet

Me and a bunch of other Long Island gardeners are getting together and will be heading out their this summer -- let me know if you want to join us. We will also be going to a few botanical garden trips. If you know of any special things going on, like sales by any of the Long Island societies, like the Daylily society, iris society, please let me know.

Isn't this a great time of the year on LI? I love it, everything is sprouting up. I have to plant my lilys this weekend.

Bye
Maureen

p.s. Aurora -- that pic is gorgeous!! I'm usually not crazy about white flowers but Casa Blanca is an exception.