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susanmae_gw

tiger lily

SusanMae
9 years ago

Hi, last fall a friend sent me some tiger lily bulbils telling me to just put them on the ground in a sunny location & that I could press them slightly into the ground but not to cover them. She said they would root and come up in the spring. I'm still waiting. I don't know what they are supposed to look like when they peek through the ground. I have stuff coming up but I think it's just weeds and I can't find a picture of what they'd look like coming out of the ground so am at a loss to know if I have lilies or weeds. How can you help me? Is it too early for them to be coming up? Thanks.

Comments (4)

  • duluthinbloomz4
    9 years ago

    They look like shiny lanceolate blades of grass - easy to mistake and pull up when other green things are starting to emerge. If you remember pretty much exactly where you put them - especially if you sowed them in groupings rather than one by one all over, you should be able to identify them. Google "tiger lily seedling" - there's a good picture right on the main page. That's the first season growth; second season they'll take on a tall spindly easily identifiable as a lily stalk look. Third season you might even get a stalk with tiny bulbils between the stem and leaf axils.

    Nothing is easier and more reliable than getting the classic tiger lily to sprout - I just let mine drop their bulbils around the mother plant and voila, hundreds of new seedlings every year. They don't mind being crowded, so I let them clump as they will. The sprouts are tender and can easily break away from the newly produced bulb if you try and transplant. In a couple of years they'll be easy to move.

  • SusanMae
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    duluthinbloomz4, thank you for your response. It was very informative as I know nothing--zip--about growing tiger lilies. I don't know what lanceolate is and the dictionary was no help. :-) I Googled 'tiger lily seedling' as you said but nothing came up except this 'Garden Web' because it pulled those words from your response to me. I did look elsewhere at full grown plants and I think what I might have discarded thinking it was weeds might very well have been the tiger lilies. What I have looks like 2 or 3 very slender leaves that appear to be joined at the base & are a couple inches tall. When my friend sent me the bulbils I removed the grass from a spot in the sun next the the foundation, added some soil mixed with a little organic compost, and then set in the bulbils. I outlined the spot with small rocks so I'd know exactly where they were; but specifically the exact spot of each or any of the bulbils...no. I see lots of these slender leaves so will assume they are the lilies. I didn't know, though, that I'd have to wait a couple years before I'd see a flower. Interesting. Thanks again for your help. I appreciate your responding. Blessings---

  • duluthinbloomz4
    9 years ago

    You're welcome. I love these old fashioned flowers and hope you're successful with them. Hummingbirds like them too.

    Try this - I'll put it in as a clickable link

    Here is a link that might be useful: first season leaf with new bulb attached

  • SusanMae
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the link. I'm encouraged--looks like the leaf I have is not a weed! lol I didn't find what you wanted me to find the first time because I always put quote " " marks around my Google searches; without the quote marks I got the same as the link you sent. My grandmother who raised me(I'm 73now) always had tiger lilies in her flower beds and I always loved them; now I am happy to have some of my own. Thanks for your help. Blessings--