Lily Bulbs

[poppysix]

Hi, I have alot of lillies, some of them are very old and the flowers have become smaller, I was watching a show on gardening and I think he mentioned that lillies should be planted in ericasious ( sorry bad spelling) compost is this correct, at the moment they are planted in multi purpose compost, they flower great the first year. thanks

[FredPuli43]

Almost all lilies like ericaceous compost. (The word seems to come from erica, the Latin for the heathers, which like acid soil). Really what they like is leaf mould.. In the wild, they grow in shady woodland. Therefore they grow out of strong sunlight and rooted in rotting leaves. So, ideally, you'll replicate that, but a compost of the type you describe is indeed preferable to ordinary compost

[Chipchopper]

This is exactly what happens when a plant is planted in the wrong compost, it do well for the first year or if lucky two! but after that will slowly start to decline.

It's true that most lily species will do best in lime free soil with ericaceous compost.