Cross-pollination of plants is the transfer of pollen from one plant variety to another belonging to the same species. After this, the genetic material is mixed. As a result, one variety appears with mixed characteristics from both species.
The fragrant and beautiful lily has always been the main decoration of any garden plot or flower bed. It is valued for its unpretentiousness and simple planting method. However, we should not forget that the health of the plant and lush flowering directly depend on compliance with simple rules of agricultural technology. Gardeners who decide to plant bushes of different royal flowers on their site sooner or later begin to wonder: can lilies cross-pollinate and change color? To answer this question, we need to understand in detail how plants reproduce and how cross-pollination of lilies occurs.
How to plant lilies with sprouts correctly?
Planting feature: the lily sprout must be covered with soil so that the upper part of the sprout is above the soil surface! If the weather is quite warm and the soil in the garden has melted, then immediately plant the sprouted lily bulbs in the planned place in the garden.
Interesting materials:
Where are the buns baked at McDonald's restaurants? Where is the high loan approval rate? Where can I get strict reporting forms for individual entrepreneurs? Where can I get money for a start-up business? Where can I get money to start a business? Where can I get money to develop a business from scratch? Where can I get a mortgage for a plot of land? Where to get capital? Where can I get the coefficient k2? Where can I get a business loan for a new entrepreneur?
Planting in ridges and borders
For planting along paths and forming low borders, the trumpet lily and its variety, the Harrisi lily, 70-80 cm high, blooming in July with pure white inflorescences, are perfect.
Other border flower ideas:
A white Formosan lily 60-90 cm high with narrow tubular buds is good for the same purposes. But the most effective way to outline the paths, and also complement the ridges and borders is the low-growing Thunberg lily, up to 50 cm high, blooming in May-June with speckled orange flowers.
Another species that can successfully decorate the lower tier of flower beds and decorate alpine hills is a drooping lily 40-60 cm high with pink-lilac turban-shaped flowers.
If you plant lilies of different colors next to each other, will they cross-pollinate? — answers from 7dach.ru experts
Other posts about lilies
July is the time for lilies to bloom. Admiring them, flower growers often dream of propagating their favorite variety - there is never too much beauty. Making this dream come true is not at all difficult; there is even more than one way. Lilies. There is never too much beauty. Photo by the author…
Meet the Apricot Fudge lily, an exotic Asian hybrid. Why exotic, you ask? Just in shape, this amazing flower resembles a tulip or a half-blooming rose. Lily Apricot Fudge Lily -...
Lily variety 'Regale' is a royal flower. Her flowers are gigantic, white with a yellow center, they look down like huge bells. On the outside they are colored pinkish-purple. One bulb is a whole fragrant bouquet. The smell from her...
What's up with the lilies this year? Everything stands as if they were boiled - brown leaves and stems, gradually the buds become brown and gnarled?
Another pleasant surprise: the lilies bloomed unusually early. I received the parcel with the bulbs when there was still snow outside the window. And all the planting material already had noticeable sprouts, so it didn’t seem best to me to keep it in the refrigerator...
The lilies bloom well, but the leaves are yellow and drooping. What is the reason? How to get rid of it?
See all materials about lilies: See all
7dach.ru
Varieties for single plantings
Due to the expressive shape of the inflorescences and the erect stem with spectacular foliage, lilies are often planted singly and in small groups in landscape design.
For single planting of lilies in the garden, the following are best suited:
- Golden lily. 150 cm. White speckled, blooms July-August.
- Lily regale. 120 cm. White with purple, blooms June-July.
- Lily candidum. 100 cm. White, blooms July-August.
- Tiger lily. 120 cm. Red-orange, blooms July-August
- Turban lily. 150 cm. Purple, red or yellow, blooms June-July.
Why does it change color?
If lilies change color, stress is a common cause. Lily is a fastidious plant that is affected by poor watering and frequent replanting.
Also in the northern regions, plant bulbs are able to mutate due to heavy frosts, and genes begin to manifest themselves. Lily can be a hybrid.
It is initially unknown from which seeds a particular bulb germinates. This explains the fact that gardeners receive almost every year a new type of plant that is not similar to the original one.
Lily is a rather demanding flower, which, even when germinating in a single variety, can differ. To prevent imaginary cross-pollination, sufficient care is provided for lilies.
A suitable environment is selected for the flower and stressful situations are not allowed. But often the problem of the “purity” of the variety worries nurseries and those who grow flowers for sale.
If during the flowering process the gardener notices that the color of the flower did not live up to expectations, there is no confirmation that this is pollination.
One or more factors may be at work:
- A nursery or store mistakenly sold the wrong variety. One thing is drawn in the picture, but another plant grows.
- If a flower germinates for more than two years, one or more varieties are lost, the cause of the changes is the survival rate of the lily. Breeders are working to develop plants that are more resistant to soil and climate. Therefore, stronger representatives remain in the flowerbed. And the remaining bulbs become deformed or die.
- If variegation and spots that have a different color from the main color appear on flowering plants, this indicates the presence of variegation.
- Some types of lilies are capable of “degeneration”, loss of characteristics of the variety and, as a result, acquiring the shade of the ancestor - for example, an orange variety.
- The shade and size of the plant directly depend on the quality of fertilizers and weather.
- Other diseases and parasites cannot affect the change in color of the lily.
Do different varieties of lilies in the same flowerbed cross-pollinate or not?
Flower growers who decide to make a daylily on their plot are wondering: do lilies cross-pollinate or not? What happens if you plant representatives of different varieties of this type of flower in the same flowerbed/bed? After the first year of flowering, won't they all become the same? To answer these questions, you need to understand how these flowers reproduce and how the cross-pollination process occurs.
Lily propagation
In Russian conditions, lilies reproduce only vegetatively. From the school biology course it is known that vegetative reproduction is called reproduction by separating a multicellular part from the mother plant.
Reproduction of lilies, for example, Henry, occurs:
- By dividing the bulb;
- Bulb formation.
In most varieties of these beautiful flowers, small bulbs can be found on the roots in the fall. These are children of the mother plant. Under favorable conditions, the next year they will grow exactly the same flowers as before.
In some lilies, reproduction occurs differently. In the axils of the leaves they form so-called “bulbs”. The grown baby bulb falls away from the mother plant and a flower identical to the first grows from it.
Do lilies cross-pollinate or not?
The process of cross-pollination occurs only when plants reproduce using seeds. If seed material is collected in the fall and planted in the spring, we can say that the plants have been pollinated. Cross-pollination is a complex process and is used to develop new varieties. Therefore, we can definitely say whether a lily grown from bulbs is cross-pollinated or not - no.
Can planted lilies change color?
Daylily cultivation should begin with the selection of high-quality planting material. This is important because:
- Will save plants from possible diseases;
- By purchasing bulbs from a trusted manufacturer, you can be sure of the color of the flower being grown.
If these simple rules are followed and proper care is taken, the flowers do not change color, and we have already seen that they do not cross-pollinate.
The lilies in the flowerbed have become a different color
If during flowering you notice that the color of the flowers does not meet your expectations, you do not need to assume that they have been pollinated. There are a few things to pay attention to:
- The seller mixed up the varieties when selling. And instead of one color, another was purchased.
- If the daylily is more than one year old and the loss of one or more varieties is noticed, the reason is the survivability of the plants. Some varieties are much more tenacious than their counterparts, and the strongest specimens remain in the flowerbed. Or some of the bulbs died during wintering.
- When variegation and spots of a different color from the main color appear on flowering plants, we can talk about infection with the variegation virus.
- Some varieties can “degenerate”, lose the characteristics of the variety and, as a result, acquire the color of their ancestor - the orange lily.
- The color and size of the flower can be affected by soil and unfavorable weather conditions.
Breeding daylilies is a rewarding business for a gardener. A flowerbed with these wonderful plants can delight for years with a variety of colors and shades, a combination of contrasting black lilies with the delicate tones of other varieties.
To answer the question that worries beginners and experienced gardeners: “Can lilies cross-pollinate?” The answer is clear - no.
When propagating by bulbs and children, cross-pollination is impossible.
To be sure of the color scheme, you need to buy bulbs only from trusted manufacturers and mark the varieties of planting material in the flowerbed with signs. This will be useful when transplanting and propagating plants.
If a florist notices that there has been a loss of variety in lilies, this is not the result of the flowers being cross-pollinated. This is a consequence of improper care, illness or aging of the plant.
cvety-na-dache.ru
Features of arranging lily beds
In a garden where everything is subordinated to aesthetic perception, it is important to achieve a harmonious combination of lilies with other plants. In order for lilies to look impressive in the garden, they must be planted, knowing how they will look surrounded by other flowers, as well as trees, shrubs and other decorative elements of landscape design.
A single-color flowerbed, combined from shrubs and evergreen species, is the most optimal backdrop for lilies that are spectacular in shape and color.
Each type of lily has individual, unique decorative and botanical features that must be taken into account when creating landscape compositions - the height, size and shade of flowers, time and duration of flowering, nuances of care.
Option #1 – lilies of different varieties in groups
In landscape design, a flower garden created from lilies of different groups or from different varieties of the same group, planted in two or three tiers, looks good. Such a multi-tiered array of lilies looks very impressive. In the foreground, low-growing varieties of lilies form a lush mat - they are selected among the “Asian” or LA hybrids, which bloom earlier than other species.
It is desirable that the lowest tier of lilies bloom first, and then the middle and high tiers of planting begin to bloom - they are formed from tall oriental or OT hybrids of lilies.
Low types of garden flowers in a blue palette will create the most successful contrast with white and pink lilies
When planting lilies in species groups, it is advisable to separate the tiers with other plants. Low-growing conifers are perfect for planting in front of lilies, gradually growing to the sides and covering the ground.
Dwarf conifers look good:
Option #2 – lilies and peonies
Of all garden flowers, lilies are best combined with peonies, which bloom before lilies and have lush, highly decorative foliage - it serves as a background for lilies, regardless of how the peonies are planted - behind or in front of the lilies.
In front of the peonies, a group of low-growing lilies in combination with ground cover phlox will be especially impressive due to the alternation of flowering: phlox in May, peonies in June, lilies in July. Behind the peonies, tall varieties of Oriental and Orienpet lily hybrids, blooming in July-August, look great.
Pale lilac lilies exquisitely complement the ridge along the path due to the contrast with the grassy lawn, emerald and silver greenery of the bushes
Lilies and irises do not combine very well, the leaves of which quickly dry out after flowering and lose their decorative effect - at this moment, irises do not need watering, while lilies do.
At the same time, irises are somewhat easier to cultivate. More information about caring for them:
Recent Entries
Lilac perennials that are beautiful, compact and do not crowd out other plants Why when buying seedlings you should not take the sellers’ word for it and how to determine the age of the plant using 3 signs Tomato seedlings have turned purple or whitish: why the color has changed and how to save the plants
Option #3 – lilies and roses
Lilies and roses do not go well together in a flowerbed - they are good in landscape design on their own. But, if, nevertheless, there is a desire to plant the queen and queen of the garden together, then it is advisable to place tall lilies with dark flowers behind light bushes of climbing roses. Roses also look good with lilies of the same color.
Low-growing, monochromatic lilies create an aesthetic duet with ground cover or climbing roses of an identical shade
When a rose grows in a single planting, it already represents a bright compositional spot, so lilies are planted next to the rose bush in small groups of 3-5 copies, otherwise they will be lost against its background.
Option #4 – lilies and phlox
Not all types of phlox are in harmony with lilies - the sharp blue and purple tones of paniculata phlox in tandem with a lily will look too colorful. But creeping varieties of phlox of a blue or soft lilac hue, blooming in early spring, will form a good background for growing lily shoots. In summer, the shiny leathery leaves of phlox will create a kind of border in the foreground of the lily planting, and in winter they will serve as a mulch layer.
Phlox is a flower that is demanding on soil and some other conditions. Study the information about it before making a decision about planting in tandem with a lily:
Option #5 – lilies with white perennials
In the foreground of the lily planting, Iberis bushes 10-15 cm high look very delicate, blooming with snow-white neat inflorescences and maintaining green foliage all year round, which acts as mulch for the lilies in winter.
Another excellent option for planting in front of lilies is alyssum, which gradually grows and forms a beautiful green mat strewn with small white flowers.
