Sowing Philippine Lily Seeds November 10, 2018

I have been sowing Philippine Lily seeds for the better part of the ten years I have been gardening here at the farm.  I have - let's call it - 100 lilies that bloom every summer, and many, many hundreds of seedlings in various stages of maturity.  I have read that you can get blooms from this lily within two years after you sow the seeds, but that would be the Superman of seedlings if you experience that.  However, in four to five years (maybe a year sooner) you will likely get a bloom.  Over time you will get eight or ten blooms on a single bulb. They make quite a sight standing 6 feet tall blooming in the worst part of summer.  Very spectacular, and they take up very little room.  I throw seeds in every corner of my gardens, and they fit right in to tiny spaces.

Today I sowed seeds in the Circle Drive Garden, the bed next to the dining room window, the Boardwalk Gardens, various beds in the Star Garden, I sowed lots of seeds under my pink Vitex and completely covered the bed underneath the big apple tree in the Orchard, and in several places in the Medicine Garden.

The seeds tend to take root in the white rock in the Circle Drive paths.  I dug up about twenty tiny little bulbs and planted them in the Shade Garden.  The heavy leaf drop discourages the seeds to sprout, but the little plants that I stuck in the ground last fall seem to be doing fine. So I'm trying that again.  I'd love for them to line the driveway along the edge of the Shade Garden.  That would be quite a display.

Below are the seed pods of the Philippine Lily and the seeds inside the pods.