Some Favorite Asiatic Lilies and Oriental Hybrids

Many Asiatic lily species and Oriental hybrids grow tall stems with many flowers from small bulbs. These lilies bring amazing beauty, color, and heavenly fragrance to your gardens. Oriental lilies prefer acid soil and temperate, moist summers. Provide them with some shade, mulching, and light fertilizing, if necessary, and they will produce enormous flowers usually towards the end of summer. Bloom time for Oriental lilies varies depending upon their ancestry. All of the beauties described below grow from three to five feet high.

‘Elegant Crown’ is the first pink Asiatic-Oriental lily blooming early for lilies (late June to early July). Its deep rose color outlined in cream will hold its beauty even during the very hot temperatures that can occur in July.

Another hybrid between an Oriental and an Asiatic lily blooming quite early and heat tolerant is the rare ‘First Crown’. It has huge bronze-rose flowers and a sweet, enticing gentle fragrance.

Elegant, eye-catching and richly fragrant ‘Black Tie’ has rich, deep lipstick red flowers trimmed with bright white. It grows a stately four feet tall and performs in August.

Another blooming in August is the long time favorite ‘Casa Blanca’ with world-famous enormous pure white flowers. The fragrance from this incredible beauty is marvelous. Its stems are broad-leaved and robust.

Mix this one in between the two above with its vibrant peony pink luminous blooms. ‘Bernini’ strikes a perfect balance between color and light. It also grows four feet tall in August with a very sweet fragrance.

‘Mambo’ can reach up to five feet tall with glowing rose red blooms displayed on an upward arching pedicel. The color is an especially elegant garden inflorescence, and its fragrance is a special treat to the senses.

‘Muscadet’ is a sumptuous Oriental lily with enormous white ruffled blooms speckled in deep pink with a lighter pink blush. These aromatic, gorgeous flowers are quite long lasting, too holding their shape and color for over a week.

Each flower of the ‘Saporro’ lily is more than 8 inches across. And two thirds of this lovely, fragrant white Oriental’s sturdy stem is decorated with huge blooms. It blooms in late August, and grows four feet tall.

‘Arabian Red’ is one of the finest rich red-purple Oriental lilies available. These lilies will retain their rich color whether in a vase for over a week or growing in your garden throughout a warm August.

Appropriately named ‘Joyful’ has enormous, exuberant bubble-gum pink flowers with a sunny yellow centers generously topped with strawberry spots. It is the medium height of four feet tall and blooms throughout August.

The longest lasting of all the Oriental lilies ‘Miss Lucy’ slowly unfurls fluffy petals, up to fifty on each flower, creating a cloud of soft pink, white and green. This very unique lily ranges from three to four feet and displays late July to early August.

The glorious lily, ‘Rio Negro’ is deep purple-red, with richly colored black nectarines. It has lush, wide, ruffled blooms and a sweet fragrance.

Making a terrific garden plant and an excellent choice for containers, ‘Stargazer’ is probably the best known lily in the world. The flowers of its three foot stem are crimson with a white edge.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.