Gardening with Margaret Matthews
Consider the lilies…
by Margaret Matthews
As the days continue to shorten and the burnished copper, flaming gold and fiery red of the autumn leaves lift out spirits, but also remind us that we too are entering into the Third Age. Perhaps, we think it’s time to slow up in the garden, but still wish to enjoy watching things grow.
Perhaps we should think of using containers, which are so adaptable and more easily controlled than garden beds that need weeding, mulching and watering. Indeed, the saving in water is enough reason to make greater use of containers. We have no idea what our winter rainfall will be, and adding new plants to the garden needs consideration, even if we are careful to select only drought tolerant plants.
It must be 10 years ago that my friend Lilian gave me a plant for my birthday. This was not surprising, because of our mutual interest in gardening. The small black plastic pot contained five deep green leaves spotted with silver and a bud that was on the point of flowering, and a few days later a pretty pale orange lily-like flower showed its face for the first time. It had no identifying label, but Lilian said she thought it was called a Calla lily and the colour, appropriately, Mango.
That little plant grew and multiplied each year and I have lost track of the countless bulbs I have given away. Not only did the bulbs increase but each year the plant seemed to grow taller and stronger.
Lilian died six years ago. I think she would have been so pleased that her little plant cast its warm orange glow so widely and will continue to do so.
I have recently discovered that my ‘Calla lily’ is not a lily at all, but if you look at the accompanying illustration you can perhaps understand why it was wrongly identified. It is, in fact, a native of Southern Africa. Its true name is Zantedeschia elliottiana and it is known as the Pig Lily, because the porcupines (which are called ‘pigs’) feed on the bulbs that occur in great quantities. The plants grow along the roadside and border rivers and streams, providing a great show of colour in summer. They are supposedly closely related to the Arum lily.
The Arum lily was unwittingly introduced into Western Australia by Georgeiana Molloy in the 1830s and has since become a noxious weed. Georgeiana was one of the first settlers to appreciate and promote our unique Australian flora, and her sad but inspiring life was well documented in a biography, ‘Portrait With Background’ by Alexandra Hasluck, which should be available in your local library. Fortunately, Georgeiana did not know that her innocent acquisition could cause such problems. However, having learned that Lilian’s gift also multiplies rapidly, we should be wary of it escaping into our bushland.
Lilian’s ‘lily’, in common with other summer flowering ‘real’ lilies, should be planted from late autumn to mid-winter. They flower for many weeks from mid-summer to early autumn. They are ideal container plants, but can also be grown in the garden. If planted in containers they need to be repotted each year into fresh, good quality mix, and fed in early spring and again after flowering. Allow the foliage to die back naturally, as this enables the bulbs to absorb nourishment and develop next year’s flowers.
Liliums need to be planted as soon as possible after they are removed from the soil. When acquiring new bulbs it is better to order them by mail from the advertisements in the gardening magazines, or buy them from a nursery where you can check if they are plump and moist. Those on sale in packets in the supermarkets are often dried up. Liliums are not like daffodil or freesia bulbs, which can be stored for months before planting.
Other summer flowering liliums that can be grown in pots or garden beds include the Oriental and Asiatic lilies, which come in many colours, often with striped flowers. Most are fragrant.
In the drab winter days ahead, watch for the first green shoots to appear and gradually grow taller. The first buds will arrive in spring and by late spring and early summer the flowers will star to open, lasting right through until autumn. A pleasure to anticipate when winter darkens our days.
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