Lilium 2013

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

TWO OTHER POTS DRIED UP ON UN POTTING i FOUND THE BULBS WERE TWICE THE SIZE i SOWED.
CONFUSED
ARIF

[KBW]

I agree with Munir and Tahir sb. It is too much of effort growing imported hybrid bulbs from Europe / USA like lilium, tulip, hyacinth in hot climates like Lahore. They are not for our climate. We can not make them complete their natural cycle in our climate and to flower every year, completing the natural sprouting and dormancy cycle is a must.

From 1992 to 1998, I tried all kinds of techniques to save my imported bulbs and even bought an extra old refrigerator as my wife wouldn't allow me to stuff the home refrigerator with bulbs, corms and tubers. Till the time I stayed in Abbotabad, I was successful but in hotter area, I just could not make them flower every year despite all my efforts. Ended up collecting a library of books on bulbs but still couldn't succeed as none of them catered for a climate as hot as ours. Lost lot of money and learnt it the hard way that these beautiful things are not for hotter climates, mostly.

Arif sahib, I would suggest that growing roses in Lahore would be far more rewarding than growing bulbs. Bulbs are frustrating and it will always be a mix of success and failure; more of failure actually. In roses.....sky is the limit. Unfortunately, I took too many years to learn this simple fact.

Best regards

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Dear KBW,
I cannot agree more with you.
How many times have you taken a challenge, at being successful where others have failed?
I gave up many bulbs because they were not suited to Lahore climate or were not as pretty as seen in pictures.
Lillium, was one of them, I started growing it again, as annual, cost of a bulb being affordable.
Now it has also become an experimental bulb for me.
I also have Spreklia, Amazon lily and Narine for my challenge interest.

I had also given up roses, I still think they are suitable for Islamabad and north. I have started growing them again (influence of friends of this forum) but will keep only the disease resistant vigorous growing and self rooted.
Come to think of it the roses also like annuals, give their best performance in our short spring only.
Regards
Arif

[KBW]

Sir, I agree that roses perform better in cooler areas, however, they still perform quite well in places like Lahore. This year I grew them in Okara and you saw the pics, it was not bad at all. Actually, month of Jun, Jul and Aug are a problem. But the advantage is that in hotter areas one gets a late flush in Sep and Oct even in Nov which is not possible in colder areas.So practically, bloom period is longer in hot areas as compared to cold area and diseases are comparatively less in hot areas, if one selects the right varieties. And I fully agree that one should select disease resistant varieties. In our rose section, you can make a huge selection of roses which do well in summers and are disease resistant. In the end, I would say that even the best of bulbs are no match to a quality rose, just no match.

[Heinie]

I have a few Liliums too. I imported some bulbs from the USA last year and here are some photos of my Liliums when they flowered last season.

[Hamad Ahmed Kisana]

superb...no words for praise...your collection is eye catching.

[Munir]

What a wonderful collection...beautiful colours.

[KBW]

Heinei

Beautiful pics. What body and lens are you using?
Regds

[mikhurram]

Beautiful collection. Are these all Asiatic Lilliums and how do you save the bulbs?

They usually come into bloom around April in Lahore and due to the hot weather the bloom duration is merely for 10-15 days as temperature's start rising often rising up to 48'C around end of May.

The summers in Pakistan are extremely hot and temperature's shoot up to 48' C which is followed by a wet humid monsoon season of 2 months. Some people i know tend to save the bulbs by storing them in refrigerated chillers during these hot months (May, June, July & August) and take them out from the chillers around middle of september.

In my opinion the Asiatic or the longiflorum varieties are more hardier and tend to emerge from the soil again as long as they placed in a raised soil bed having good drainage. I usually leave them in the soil beds and cut the stem only when they turn brown.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Hello,
Lovely, for a better understanding, please give us your location in cape town and your climatic conditions. Spring must on the way or is it spring the year round.
Arif