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Season 2 • Episode 13 - July 14, 2023
The heat of summer is tough on all of us, but it is a
welcome sign to the lily. Lilies are celebrated every
summer in Forest Grove, Oregon during the annual
Lily Flower Festival at David Hill Farm. We stopped
by to see the lilies and to visit with David Hill Farm
owners Lisie and Erik Aartsen. If you have watched the
Garden Time show you know that we have visited the farm
in the past, but Lisie and Erik are the new owners of
the farm and they are making lots of great changes to
the farm including adding more varieties of lilies and
other late summer blooming plants.
We started by talking about the 2023 Lily Flower
Festival happening weekends between now and the end of
July. This festival is all about the lily! The festival
usually happens between mid-July and early August. It is
all dependent on the weather and the lilies. The farms
grows all kinds of different lilies including Oriental,
Asiatic, Orienpets, trumpet, tiger and even toad and
pineapple lilies. They are all arranged under huge shade
nets in wonderful display beds. You can show up and
wander through the beds and check out a large assortment
of blooms. They have about 75 different varieties to
choose from. The blooms are spectacular. They come in
all kinds of colors and bloom styles. Most of the colors
are bright yellows, oranges, pinks, whites and reds. A
lot of these blooms are fragrant, too.
The festival also includes a couple of vendors featuring
local products, including ice cream treats, wine
tastings from David Hill Vineyards and Winery, and a
variety of charcuterie from ‘Smorgasbord’. You can also
pick up selected varieties of potted lilies and other
summer blooming plants, and they are even offering
bunches of bouquets while they last. Check out their
website for more details including hours and directions.
After a break we talked about the care of those lilies
once they get into your garden. As soon as you get your
bulbs you can get them into the ground. If you bought
them in a pot, you can enjoy the bloom and then move
them into your garden. Bulbs are planted about 8 inches
into the soil. They love a very sunny location. The soil
should be amended and be well-draining. Bulbs will rot
if left in standing water or are moist for an extended
period of time. You can fertilize them in the early
spring when the leaves first appear, and then again as
they begin to bloom. Once the blooms are done you can
clip them off about 3-4 inches below the dead blooms and
leave most of the stalk and leaves to continue to grow
and feed the bulb under the ground. The more energy that
gets stored into the bulb, the better your future blooms
will be. Before the first frost you will want to cover
the area of the bulbs with a nice layer of mulch to
protect it and help feed the bulb during the winter
months.
Once your bulb starts to grow, you will find that they
may flop over due to the height of the stem and the
weight of the bloom. In that case you may need to stake
them to prevent that from happening. In a packed
perennial garden other plants can help to hold them up,
but not in all cases. There are even some varieties that
have a huge stem and can stand on its own, but keep an
eye on them and stake them as needed. If you are looking
to use them as a cut flower in your home, cut them as
the first bloom is just starting to pop. By getting the
bloom early, it will survive in your arrangement longer.
You will also want to remove the stamens from the center
of the bloom. The puffy anthers at the end of these
stamens has the pollen on them and it can stain your
hands, clothes and even the bloom itself. The only other
warning that we have about lilies is that they can be
poisonous for people and pets, so keep them away from
your pets and small children.
We really recommend that you stop by David Hill Farm for
their wonderful festival and take some home for your
garden. The blooms will knock your socks off and they
will become a treasured bloom in your summer garden!
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