Lilies are perennial bulbous plants, wintering in uncovered soil. Genus lily
is related to the liliaceous family. Bulbs of different sorts have different
form: rounded, ovoid, concentric, stolon and rhizomatous. They consist of
separate unlocked chaffs, more or less tight to each other. Bulbs do not have a
protective cover.
Growing lilies in gardens as
a decoration is practiced for a couple of centuries. Nowadays, there are
well-known 100 types and 3000 sorts. The sorts of lily, according to their
origin, are grouped into 8 main categories.
The first category – Asian hybrids.
The second category – Crispate hybrids, or Martagon-hynrids.
The third category – Snow-white hybrids, or Candidum-hybrids.
The fourth category – American hybrids.
The fifth category - Long-flowered hybrids.
The sixth category – Tubular hybrids.
The seventh category – Oriental hybrids.
To the eighth category belong all the hybrids, which were not included into
the previous categories.
Propagation of lilies
Lilies tend to propagate with the help of seeds, bulbs, multipliers,
bud-bulblets, bulbs chaffs, scapes cuttings and some – with the help of leaf
rootage.
Propagation of lilies with the help of seeds is the easiest way, enabling
huge amounts of healthy planting material, adjusted for the local climatic
conditions. The drawback if that from seeds grow flowers non typical for the
maternal sort. Only by some sorts of lilies generation from seeds is able to
save the features of the maternal plants.
Thus, this way of propagation of lilies is unpopular with
floriculturists-amatours. But creative people may find this method as a useful
one for breeding new hybrids. Those, who would like to use seed method of lilies
propagation, has to take into account, that seeds of different sorts are
characterized by two sprouting types – overground and underground. An
underground type presupposes that seed lobe comes out on the surface that is the
bulblet formation takes place from the seeds under the ground.
The seeds with an overground type of growth need to be sown in February-March
(if the seeds are planted into uncovered soil, then as soon as soil allows).
Types of underground formation are sown in autumn after the harvest. In winter
seedings should be kept in the temperature of 1-2 degrees above zero that is
very hard to follow in our country.
Vegetative method of propagation is the only way of lilies propagation,
during which all the sort peculiarities are fully preserved. The less widespread
way is – propagation with the help of bulbs. In a maternal bulb emerge and
develop several reproduction buds, which give birth to filial bulbs.