Lilies are really good-looking flowers that make your garden look exotic and beautiful. Lillies add vibrant colors to the garden and also have fragrances. But out of all the colors in lily plants, the most sought-after color is blue as it looks beautiful and soothing to the eye.
So can you grow blue lilies in your garden? No, you can’t grow blue lilies as blue color is not available easily in nature, and seeing blue flowers is really rare there are no species of lilies that have blue flowers so you can’t have blue lilies.
So if you can’t grow a blue lily flower then what are the options to achieve a blue shade in a lily flower? Can you paint them or is there any other way? Let’s discuss lilies and how you can have a blue tint in lilies.
What are lilies?
There are a lot of flowers, that have lilies in their name. Some are called daylilies, water lilies, etc. but true lilies are grown from a bulb. These lilies come from the genus Lilium. The shape of these flowers can also be different, varying from trumpet-shaped, bowl-shaped, or bell-shaped.
Lily flowers can go downwards with upward petals or grow face-out and upward. Lilies come in a wide variety of colors ranging from white all the way to red and some of them have a strong fragrance.
Let’s discuss the types of lilies and which are best for your garden.
Types of lilies
There are several types of lilies and they all have different blooming times as some may bloom in early spring and others in late summer. Let’s talk about all of these in detail:
- Asiatics – Asiatics are some of the earliest to bloom lily flowers which bloom from June to July. The Asiatics species is a very hardy plant that will grow for years in your garden. This species has a lot of different flower forms but they generally bloom upwards and have a lot of different colors and the flowers also don’t have any fragrance.
The Asiatics lily plants can grow anywhere from 3 to 5 feet tall and the stem is straight and upright. Some of the most popular lilies from Asiatic spices are – Red twin, citronella, Tango Capuchino, Eurydice, and Fata Morgana.
- Species lilies – the species lilies are the next on the early blooming species which carry their flowers in candelabra-like stems which are thin but sturdy. This species of the lily plant can easily tolerate shade. Some of the common species of lilies are – L. henryi, L. pumilum, L. langkongense, L. lancifolium ‘Flore Pleno’.
- Martagons – martagons are a very special species of lilies as it produces as many as 50 flowers per stem and is very hard and slow to propagate in the garden. This species is also very hard to find because of its uniqueness and slow propagation.
It is a Turk’s cap lily known because of its shape and unique design. The martagon lilies are very sensitive and don’t like to be disturbed once planted in the garden, so choose the sight carefully before planting it in the soil. Choose the sight with little shade as they like cool soil and mulch them in the summer to protect them from heat. The flowers bloom in mid-July.
- LA hybrids – LA hybrid is a hybrid spice of Longiflorum (Easter lilies) and Asiatic lilies. This species blooms from mid to late July. They have large trumpet-shaped blooms which are 7 inches long across. The flowers grow outwards and are very dark in color which makes them very beautiful.
The LA hybrids have little to no fragrance but are very hardy plants and can bloom for longer than other lilies. Some of the common LA hybrids are – “Kiss me Kate”, eyeliner, summertime duo, fiesta mix, bourbon street combo
- Trumpets – trumpet lilies or (Aurelien lilies) are the tallest of the lilies plant and can grow from two to six feet tall. The trumpet lilies have really beautiful flowers blooming on long stems and the flower stalk can have anywhere from 15 blooms. The flowers have a strong fragrance which is most attractive for gardeners. Some of the most common trumpet lilies are – African queen, Amethyst temple, Anaconda, and L. regale.
- Orientals – oriental lilies are the last to bloom lilies and are wildly popular among gardeners for their strong fragrance. They have tall stems which can grow up to 6 feet tall and the flowers are huge and can be 8 inches across. Some of the common oriental spices are – Stargazer, Casa Blanca, roselily Salonica, spectator, tigerwoods.
- Orienpets – orienpet lilies are a hybrid between oriental and trumpet lilies and it achieves their purpose of getting the best of both spices by having a strong fragrance and a huge upward blooming dark color flower. The oriental spices grow long and the blooms thrive in colder weather. Some of the common oriental lilies are – Serano, Caravan, Holland beauty, and Corcovado.
Note – None of the above species of lily plant don’t have any blue flowers as blue color flowers don’t occur naturally in lilies.
Do blue lilies really exist?
No, blue lilies don’t exist as there are no frequent shades of blue available in nature that can help the flower to grow in blue color. So lilies don’t grow in blue color and all the blue lilies available in the stores are painted or are just fake blue lilies.
Can you grow blue lilies?
No, you can’t grow blue lilies directly but you can grow a white lily flower and then inject blue color with the help of food coloring so that that flower changes its color from blue to green. If you want a proper blue color flower then you should try other plants which have blue flowers like Blue Delphinium or Dense Blazing Star, which can give your garden the blue shade you wanted.
If you really want the lilies to be blue then let’s see how you should grow lilies in your garden and then turn them into a blue tint.
How to grow lilies in your garden?
- Plant early – sow the seeds as early as 3 weeks before the winter in your garden or in the pot as lily plant seeds take time to germinate and to produce bulbs for the plant to grow. If the plant is mature enough in the spring it will bloom flowers very quickly in the summer and the flowers will grow bigger and last longer.
If you are late and think it won’t be able to grow properly then start the lily plant from the bulb as it will grow really fast. The bulbs are easily available in the nursery and the plant will produce more bulbs very quickly than new seeds.
- Use good soil – planting the seeds of a lily plant in normal soil is good as it is very easy to grow a plant in the garden but giving it good and nutritious soil will help the plant to grow faster and healthier. Use a potting mix soil for the lily plant as it will have all the nutrition and will help the plant to have big and beautiful flowers. If you are sowing seeds in the garden then apply compost on the side of the plant to provide it with all the nutrition.
- Check drainage – if you are planting the lilies in a pot then check if it has a hole in the bottom for good drainage and if the soil is loose as the lily plant doesn’t like cold feet and the standing water can make the roots rot and the plant will eventually die. If you are planting it in the garden directly then check the soil is not compact and well aerated. If it’s compacted then aerate the soil and mix some sand or other material in the soil to have good drainage.
- Proper sunlight – proper sunlight is also necessary for the lily plant as it needs at least six hours of sunlight per day. If you are planting the seeds inside then put the pot in a well-lit place where direct sunlight comes or the stems will lean to the side to find the sunlight and bend and break off. If you are planting them in the garden then check for shade and trees and bigger plants which can block the direct sunlight to the plant.
- Watering – watering the lily plant every 2-3 days is very necessary as the lily plant needs a lot of moisture and doesn’t like dry environments and dry soil. Keep watering the lily plant regularly but don’t overwater as well or it will harm the plant.
- Fertilization – fertilizes the plant every 3-4 months and more frequently in the spring and fall to have a fast and healthy growth of the plant with a lot of big flowers blooming.
How to grow lilies with a blue tint?
After you have grown a white lily in your garden, then you can make it blue with the help of hair dye.
- Mix the water and hair dye keeping the concentration high to make the flower turn blue easily.
- Soak a small piece of cloth in the mixture.
- then wrap it around the stem of the lily plant below the flower.
- Leave the cloth there as long as it is wet.
- Once the cloth is dried, soak it again in the mixture and wrap it into the stem.
- Keep repeating the process to make the flower stay blue.
Hope you find out all the answers about blue lilies and if they really exist in nature. Get Set Gardening!
