Has anyone tried growing Foxtail Lilies? There is an offer for them in the Sunday paper and I thought I might give them a go - just wondered if they were tricky in any way.
I have a sunny border with acid soil, and I live in Surrey.
I have one that is 2 years old and has yet to flower. I was told that they needed to get established before they would flower so I am hoping that this may be the year.
Two warnings, the first one is that slugs love them and the second one is that their roots are like octopus tentacles, so you need quite a large area to grow them in.
I have three in a sunny well drained bed. They come up every year. They do have big roots so when then are over there is a bit of a bare patch in the bed that you can't plant anything into. But they are quite spectacular when flowering, tall and orangy yellow.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I did and failed as I didn't plant them correctly,and the soil was to wet ,need drainage and sunny spot.I love them ,seen them at ford abbey in a border .
Agree with all above. If you have light sandy soil and a south-facing sheltered spot, they should do OK. Heavy clay soils (like mine), forget it! I've had one for many years now and it has never grown above about 18" tall and never flowered. I still live in hope, but I'm afraid it's a forlorn hope!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Many thanks to all of you. I think I will give it a go with an experimental batch - I will dig in a bag of grit before I plant them. Will let you know how I get on later this summer (or maybe the one after that..... or the one after that ...)
hi, HERE are not my experiences, but have a look...
An idea of mineinclude grit) make a mix of Foxtail lily (Eremrus) Allium sphaerocephalon, some types of Heleniums, papaver somniferum, poppies, Achillea ‘Flowerburst Red’, ornamental grasses, Verbena, White Verbasum, Echinacea...Greetings, ThaiGer.
Make sure you grow them on a mound of soil, that is so the roots are lower than the centre of the plant. As one would with asparagus. A beautiful plant.
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I have one that is 2 years old and has yet to flower. I was told that they needed to get established before they would flower so I am hoping that this may be the year.
Two warnings, the first one is that slugs love them and the second one is that their roots are like octopus tentacles, so you need quite a large area to grow them in.
I have three in a sunny well drained bed. They come up every year. They do have big roots so when then are over there is a bit of a bare patch in the bed that you can't plant anything into. But they are quite spectacular when flowering, tall and orangy yellow.
I did and failed as I didn't plant them correctly,and the soil was to wet ,need drainage and sunny spot.I love them ,seen them at ford abbey in a border .
Agree with all above. If you have light sandy soil and a south-facing sheltered spot, they should do OK. Heavy clay soils (like mine), forget it! I've had one for many years now and it has never grown above about 18" tall and never flowered. I still live in hope, but I'm afraid it's a forlorn hope!
Many thanks to all of you. I think I will give it a go with an experimental batch - I will dig in a bag of grit before I plant them. Will let you know how I get on later this summer (or maybe the one after that..... or the one after that ...)
hi, HERE are not my experiences, but have a look...
An idea of mine
include grit) make a mix of Foxtail lily (Eremrus) Allium sphaerocephalon, some types of Heleniums, papaver somniferum, poppies, Achillea ‘Flowerburst Red’, ornamental grasses, Verbena, White Verbasum, Echinacea...Greetings, ThaiGer.
Make sure you grow them on a mound of soil, that is so the roots are lower than the centre of the plant. As one would with asparagus. A beautiful plant.