THE ORIENPETS – SUMMER’S BIGGEST BLOCKBUSTER COMING TO A GARDEN NEAR YOU

So get this.  This a busy week for me. I am putting the final touches on my presentation at next Saturday’s Sakonett Symposium in Little Compton, Rhode Island, (come, if you can!), but first I am off to Comicon in San Diego (for my day job, a bit of research and mingling with the Bronies, a corporate website launch, and some worky stuff, and then back just in time to the East Coast late Friday night to speak at the Sakonnet Garden Symposium on Saturday morning, along with Margaret Roach and Aaron Bertlesen, the head gardener for the veg garden at Great Dixter (what company, right?). I’m kind-of freaked out, but all things considered, it should be great. 

But this weekend’s lily show? I HAVE to share the photos with you! Spectacular. That’s all I can say about this show, held at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA and sponsored by the New England Lily Society. At first, I was more interested in finishing my presentation than journeying over to the botanic garden on Saturday, but Joe dragged me out for a few hours, and I was so happy that he did – the show was so much better than shows in the past few years, and at first, I wondered why. Were the lilies just all later this year? Did the lily beetle suddenly disappear? I think I know the answer ( please correct me if someone out there knows why!), but I think that it’s because of the new Orienpets.

read on for more:

Orienpets are recently introduced ( bred mostly in the late 20th century and introduced in numbers during the past decade a breeders learned to manage chromosome counts and experimented with newer crosses – clearly, much progress has occurred). Orinpets  simply a cross ( not-so-simply, they are known as an interspecific cross – that, between two distinct species of lilium), but to use, they are just a mix between between the Oriental lily and the Trumpet lily.  Marketed under the unfortunate name of ‘Orienpet’ (sometimes just ‘OT’ lilies), they offer gardeners a stronger, more robust lily with all of the fabulous characteristics needed for a superb garden plant. Strength, vigor and yes – scent. They are such strong growers with super-thick stems and tall, candelabras of flowers, that I have seen them marketed as ‘Tree Lilies’, which is a little misleading, but whatever – if it works, go for it. I am convinced that I need to get more for my garden.

 Love these Orientpets? Then check out the varieties available here at B&D lilies – just in time to order for your fall garden. They seem to be a bit more resistant to the red lily beetle, but they will still need daily monitoring with your fingers and a jar of soapy water in which to squish the scarlet bugs, but I say – just plant a few Martagon lilies or old-fashioned Asiatic lilies to act as bait, to lure the bugs away from the far nicer Orienpets (only kidding – but they do like those lilies much better!). If you live in the West, and still don’t have to deal with the Red Lily Beetle, then go for all you can afford. 

Maybe it’s because I am in Comicon mode, but I like to think of the Orienpets at being a Superhero – saving the lily society from a certain demise. Just a few years ago, the sand of the lily society seemed unavoidable, but not for the same reasons why many plant societies are failing – it’s end seemed likely due to the infestation of the Red Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii), which appeared in the eastern US, and has quickly made raising most lilies challenging for anyone east of the Rockies. This invasive pest which looks very much like a lady bug, has been devastating to the lily world ( and it attacks other bulbous plants like the Frittilaria species with gusto). Any efforts to control the bug aside from the messy and gross task of hand picking and squishing them, does little for the population, leaving the most effect treatment of brutal systemic insecticide the only choice.

There is some hope – especially with these new tetraploid ( double the chromosomes is better!) lilies Orienpets could possible be a bit more resistant to the beetle, as they genetically carry a tiny bit of an older variety called ‘Black Beauty’ , which in some studies has shown to be less appealing tot he beetle. This is only my kitchen research, but I have found that my Orienpets need only a drop of insecticide in the spring, whereas any Asiatic variety will still get defoliated and serious bud damage in just a single night of Lily Beetle frenzy.  

As for the lily beetle, there are studies happening here in the East at the University of Connecticut, with some research showing that an introduced wasp species feeds on the larvae, and the early results seem promising. In my garden, it’s the precious Martagon lilies that get the worst of the lily beetle, and it’s the only plant in the garden where I use a bit of insecticide ( just a few drops near the bulb will do). I hate doing it, but I want to protect these and out native lilies the Lilium canadensis and Lilium superbum colonies which would be eliminated near our woods in just a night or two by lily beetles. They are not visited by honey bees, but I still treat oh so carefully.

Most of the varieties that we saw at this show, made our wish list, and as we usually do after a flower show sponsored by a plant society, we went home and looked at our photos, especially those of the entry tags, so that we could look on-line for sources. There are only a few lily nurseries in the US ( mostly in Washington state, and a few in Canada, but I was surprised to find one in the UK that seemed to be the only one that carried the winning Orienpets that we saw today – and I was shocked to see that they sell to the US. I know where I will be sending an order next winter (as this nursery only ships in the spring). Here is their site: H.W. Hyde & Sons. I highly reccomend all of the North American specialty nurseries however, I regularly order from B&D lilies, and the Lily Nook.