Help with Lilium Nanum
Jane McGary (Thu, 06 Nov 2014 09:26:32 PST)

I've grown Lilium nanum (in both cases the purple form) to flowering
twice but was not able to keep it going. This is a small-growing
Himalayan species whose habitat is described as "alpine scrub at
4000-4250 meters." That tells you everything you need to know about
why this bulb is hard for us to grow (unless "we" live in the North
Atlantic rim countries -- I expect the Scots carpet their rock
gardens with it). Alpine bulbs, like other high alpines, have evolved
to survive a long winter dormancy under snow cover, where they are
fairly dry and the temperature is much milder than the air
temperature above the snow. If I get this bulb again, I'll try
overwintering it by drying it off but not completely, sealing the pot
in a plastic freezer bag, and keeping it in the refrigerator (not the
freezer) from November through April. I would use a soil mix of sand,
peat, and (with apologies to non-Northwesterners) lots of ground pumice.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA

22 PM 11/5/2014, you wrote: