I was reasonably lucky in at least one respect this year. Most of my lilies escaped the depredations of the deer and survived to flower. My next door neighbor Bill was not so fortunate. He invited his wife to come outside and see the lilies that he saw bloom the day before. "What flowers?" was her response to the view of clipped plants.
For some time I have been getting my bulbs from Van Engelen. They provide bulbs in reasonably large quantities. A companion outlet, John Scheepers, carries the same bulbs that may be had in smaller quantities. A useful compromise is the ability to mix from both sources in the same order, at least from their catalogs with snail mail .
Salt is not good for growing plants. That is why I try not to cry when planting new bulbs in the fall only to see slices of some spring flowering bulb come up when digging a new hole. How was I to remember where there already was one? In the spring I take photographs of the areas where I have them. I then attempt to augment a planting using the photo as a guide. Am I to blame because someone moved a bulb to a new location after the photo was taken? What other excuse could I have? When I planted these lilies a couple of years ago, several tulips gave up their existence to the newcomers. Who said that life is fair?
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At least the lily flowers compensate for the lost tulips.
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They also add to the time of bloom in this area.
Lilies are most easy to grow. The biggest decision is where and in what order to plant them where they will get full sun. Order of bloom and height are obviously taken into consideration. The first year after planting my selection bore out the specifications. The second year, for reasons known to none, the ones in the back were shorter than the ones in front
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