Lilies of different kinds are commonly found all across the globe. Lilies come in different shapes, sizes and colors.
Lilies are really excellent plants for beds and borders. Lilies are suitable for use in a shrub border, as accent plants, a formal or naturalized pool planting. Even some of the small species would fit perfectly in an alpine rock garden.
Some Interesting Facts about Lilies;
- Lilies are one of the most beautiful, and graceful of all summer-blooming flowers.
- Lilies belong to the Lilium genus consisting of less than 100 known species, occurring in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
- Lilium, the genus, is the Latin form of the Greek word 'Lerion' for the Madonna Lily.
- Red lily was first described by the famous Swedish botanist Carl von Linne (Linnaeus) in 1753.
- Lilies are believed to have been under cultivation longer than any other ornamental flower, having existed in gardens 3,000 years ago.Floral designs, particularly of Lilies, made their appearance and became very popular in the 18th dynasty of Egypt.
- Madonna lily (Lilium candidum) is the archetypal flower symbolising purity. The association of Madonna Lily with the Virgin Mary dates back to an early Christian legend, in which her tomb was filled with Lilies after her assumption into heaven.
What are True Lilies?
There are many kinds of flowers, which have been called "Lilies", but many of these so-called Lilies such as the day-lily, water-lily, and arum-lily, actually belong to other groups of flowering plants.
Plants in the Liliales grow from Bulbs, or Corms, both of which will store food over the winter or during the dry season. Unlike other Liliales, these vines produce their flowers in spherical clusters called Umbels, as in Bomarea.
True Lilies are composed of fleshy scales without a protective outer coating. True Lilies are never dormant.
