Many Oriental, Asiatic and the true tiger lilies will do fairly well with your conditions. Buy a few inexpensive bulbs when they come into the stores this fall and test them out in the space you have.

And, yes, deer do love to crop off the tops - and that ruins them for the season. Liquid Fence works quite well if you start the spritzing program early in the spring as plants are emerging and repeat it as recommended.

I can't help much but can try. This type of lilies like almost full sun. Even 6 hours and mine tend to lean. Daylilies will do fine in part shade even in less than 6 hrs full sun, for some and for me anyway.

The only lily I have that prefers dappled shade is Mrs. R. O. Backhouse, and she grows straight. None of my others do unless they get almost total full sun. They all lean, some a little and some a lot, stake some of them to make them behave better but can't stake them all.

My Regals are on the east side and do not get enough sun at all. They lean all the way to the ground, and I'm probably going to lose them. I stake what I can, and think I risk piercing a bulb when I do, but they are delicate and tops break off too easily, the ones with longer, thin, and feathery leaves, lots of them. In spite of it they bloomed beautifully last year, but very sparsely this year.

Deer? I think so but not sure. Other critters will eat the tops off which spoils them for the season, some will eat most of the plant. I use liquid fence on mine fearing squirrels and coons and anything else but see that I'm not going to have to do it for all of them, haven't had any problems that way. Deer are two blocks away, so there is always a chance for that. I will have to see for sure if there is any deterrant short of a double fence, won't have that.

I think I know which pink you are talking about because I saw a real beauty, too, but likely it, too, will prefer almost total full sun to grow well. Except when I forgot, I stirred one teaspoon of bone meal into the soil in the bottom, planted all with a bulb planter and not as deep as the Regals for which I used the augur on my drill because I had read that to keep them safer from being dug up by something that wants to eat the bulb, plant them 9 inches. That is too much, and I will not do that again.

The only other tip I got was a poster here, and I have done it only once was sprinkle them leaves and all with liquid kelp diluted properly per directions on container. It's organic I believe and safe, but shouldn't apply it in full sun or when it is too hot. I waited for an overcast day. I got mine through my rose club here, so much, don't know how I'll ever use it all up, highly concentrated liquid. I see Burpee has some on their website, but it looks like it might be granular which would be fine so long as you dissolve it completely. I think some use Miracle Gro (regular) on them, but I haven't yet. To get that to dissolve right, I start the first quart with a little warm water, stir well, then add more quarts of cold water, stir again until I have what it says on the box. Then it will keep for a little while if you don't use it all up in a cool place, not in the fridge.

Maybe another poster can verify my suggestions, add some more esp for deer, and correct anything I said that was wrong, don't want to mislead you in any way. I would especially like to know myself if there are any more named varieties that will grow straight without leaning in part shade.

My sister in MN can't grow this type of lilies at all, not because of the cold, but because no matter what she has tried, something keeps eating and ruining them, and think she doesn't have a deer problem but could. I will remind her again about liquid fence reapplied after every rain or at least regularly, darn stuff is expensive and smells awful but doesn't when dry, worth it to me. Maybe there is something else that would work.

One good thing is that some get stepped on or mowed off, may come back anyway, but if the stem isn't totally broken, I stake them and they heal. Don't cut the foliage back until it browns in late summer or early fall. They need it to replenish the bulbs.

WOW,lilies sound like they are hard to grow.

Well, i do appreciate all your advice,thank you.

Maybe i will try just a couple.

Any advice on "Frittilia" (spelling may be wrong )?

Carol

Lilies are NOT hard to grow. Some gardeners decide to get more involved in growing them because of what they read from books, but essentially they need good rich soil that is well drained, plenty of sunshine and protection from slugs in the early spring when they come up.

Deer will absolutely eat them up so they will need to be protected.

In terms of shade. They might not perform as well, but they'll still grow and bloom. I would look into growing the Oriental or Orientpet types to thrive in less light and Martagons such as Mrs. R.O. Backhouse as recommended before. This is a different kind of lily with cute "turk' cap" flowers. Another one is a species called Lilium speciosum. It is very late to bloom, but thrives in part shade.

Hope this simplify things and encourages you to try a few and see how they do. Sorry I can't help with the deer!

Riz

Best of luck

I'm finding them among the easiest to grow and probably gave you too much information. Most of that I do is because I want to, don't have to. It's not their fault my yard isn't very sunny because I happen to love my trees, too, and just is what it is.

You do have to be patient with some. Sometimes it takes 3-5 years, depending on variety to become all you want them to be unless you can get huge bulbs to start with and lots of them. I buy most of mine on sale, so the bulbs are smaller but worth waiting for. They catch up soon enough.

They require very little water, especially if you mulch them a little. Roses are what are proving much more difficult. There are some plants that are supposed to be suited to my zone I can't get to grow well at all.

Didn't know tigers didn't lean. I photographed some that definitely lean, but it adds to their charm or maybe they aren't true tigers. I think they are. The ones I found naturalized are on a north-facing, difficult slope. The others which I haven't seen bloom, face south but are obstructed by trees.

Even ditch lilies (wouldn't belong in this forum) will develop very tall bloom stalks if they don't get enough sun. They pop up everywhere around here, and I consider them a nuisance but others grow them because they require no care at all.

Daylilies can get tall stems in full sun - seems to me it depends on the varieties. I have some of those "ditch" lilies as well as other types of daylilies in full, full sun, and they get quite tall. The stems seem to lean, as far as I can tell, just from the weight of the blossoms. Also, the more mature the plant is, the taller they seem to get.
I have various daylilies planted in the same bed as my true lilies, to provide some cover for the lily stems at the base - the combo can look nice.

philomena, I didn't know that about the blooms stalks on ditches and some daylilies. I prefer them not so tall. Good idea to fill in bare spots with dl's. My only reservation about that is that both tend to spread and need room to "stretch their feet" which means sooner or later and maybe sooner, both need to be dug again and planted elsewhere. If I wanted them elsewhere, I'd already have some there :-).

Oh yes, the poles by the street and terrace about all that are left but seriously do I want to tear that up or keep it in grass? For now play it safe, have enough on my plate. That is a snow route and heavily salted. Still wouldn't hurt to try. Some people utilize the grassy areas between the sidewalks and streets for this or that. I'm proceeding with caution about that. One lady has done a garden down her whole high but would guess about 30-40 degree sloping front terrace, everything but the kitchen sink in that. It was ok until she put sunflowers in the strip by the street, but others may like it :-). It ruined the whole effect of the rest she had achieved AFAIC.

Didn't notice any orientals in that jumble though or daylilies either but doesn't mean they aren't there. Somewhere.