Oriental Orange Tiger Lily is a beautiful herbaceous spring flowering plant. Its botanical name is Lilium Lancifolium “Orange”. Oriental lilies are hardy in USDA zone 3 to 9. They are pretty easy to grow and maintain. It only requires proper soil condition, moisture, and full sunlight. You can grow Oriental Tiger lily from its bulbs, seeds, or bulbils. Three methods are the only way to propagate Oriental Orange Tiger Lily. You can try any method although bulbs are the best way to propagate Oriental Tiger lilies. Most professionals prefer bulbs over other methods due to their fast growth rate.
Beautiful tiger lilies are grown for their bright orange flowers with dark sprites. Each flower has 6 bright orange petals. These petals are 5 to 8 inches long. They are arranged in a circular pattern. The flower also contains several anthers and the stigma at its center. Altogether a tiger Lili contains petals, sepal, anther, stigma, and the flower stalk. Each flower stalk can have 2 to 3 flowers but usually, you will find only one in new plants. Keep reading to know more.
Check out my previous post: How Fast do Tiger Lilies Spread?
How to Divide and Grow Oriental Orange Tiger Lily?
– Dig out small bulbs in late summer. October to December is the right time to divide Oriental lilies. Separate the new bulbs and plant them in well-drained soft nutritious soil.
Is it easy to Grow an Oriental Tiger Lily?
Yes, Oriental Tiger lilies are pretty easy to grow. These plants don’t require much attention and care to grow.
Just plant them in good quality soil mix and let them grow and bloom.
They usually don’t require extra care or protection once established. Although you should feed them occasionally to get the bigger brighter bloom early in the season.
Oriental Orange Tiger Lily Info
- Common Name: Oriental Orange Tiger Lily
- Botanical name: Lilium Lancifolium “Orange”
- Growth Season: Spring to late Summer.
- Agriculture Zone: USDA Hardiness zone 3 to 9.
- Flower: Long Lasting Bright Orange flower with dark brown strikes. 5 to 8-inch flowers.
- Soil Requirement: Tiger Lili plant requires well-drained acidic to slightly alkaline soil. These plants can thrive in a variety of soil types.
- Sunlight: 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight is required to grow Oriental Tiger lilies.
- Water Requirement: 3/4 to 1-inch water per week is essential for Tiger lily plants.
- Propagation Method: Oriental Tiger Lily can propagate by three methods- Bulbs, Bulbils, and Seeds.
- Bulb Division: Divide Tiger Lili bulbs from October to December.
When to Divide Oriental Tiger Lilies?
The best time to divide Oriental Tiger Lily is October to December. The fall season is ideal for dividing the spring bulbs. Bulb division should be done once the plant dies back to the ground. Else the transplant can shock the bulb to stop new growth.
Therefore wait for the foliage to dry before uprooting the bulbs. Also, take care while digging out the bulbs. Try to avoid any damage to the parent bulb.
Also read: How to Propagate Tiger Lilies?
How To Divide Oriental Orange Tiger Lili?
- Dig out the bulbs at the end of the growing season. At first cut the dry foliage to 3 inches above the soil surface.
- Let the bulb dry for a couple of days in partial shade.
- The dirt will dry out and it can be brushed off easily after two days.
- Clean the bulbs and separate smaller ones from their parents.
- Store the bulbs in a dry well-ventilated storage area. Keep the bulbs in a cool dark space to mimic winter conditions.
- Replant and grow these bulbs individually in separate locations during the fall or winter season.
How to Propagate Oriental Orange Tiger Lily?
There are three ways to propagate Oriental Orange Tiger Lily. We can grow tiger lilies from their seeds, bulbs, or bulbils.
The flowers develop into seed pods after successful pollination. These seedpods contain several small dark brown or black seeds. Oriental lily seeds can germinate within 4 to 8 weeks. Generally, plant grown from open-pollinated lily seeds differs from their parent. So, don’t expect optimum bloom even if the plant looks healthy.
Tiger Oriental lilies can also propagate through bulbils. Bulbils are the notch or nodes at the end of the leaf and main plant body. these bulbils can grow easily in ideal soil and climate conditions.
We can also propagate and grow Oriental tiger lilies from their bulbs. This is a more convenient and effective method. Bulbs of Tiger lilies are easily available in garden stores. each mature bulb forms 3 to 5 new baby bulblet every year. These smaller bulbs can grow into new tiger lily plants.
Best Way to Grow Oriental Tiger Lili
Bulb Propagation is the best way to grow Oriental Lili. Though you can propagate the plant with seeds and bulbils they will take extra time to sprout. Ideally, bulb-grown plants develop optimum flowers identical to their parent.
These plants grow faster and can bloom in the next spring after plantation. You probably need not wait for such long if you buy a full-grown mature tiger lily plant in spring.
The size and quality of the bulb can assure quality bloom in the season. A healthy bulb should feel hard and be covered with dry scales. If it feels squishy and soft the discard it in the dustbin.
How to Grow Oriental Tiger Lily from the bulb?
- Start with some quality bulbs. You can collect bulbs from an old tiger lily plant or buy some of these from a garden store.
- Next prepare soil or growing media for the Tiger-lily bulbs. Use any commercial flower mix or prepare one yourself. I use 30% garden soil, 30% compost, 20% sand, 10% bonemeal, 5% wood ash, and 5% Triple 16 fertilizer and fungicide to grow Oriental lily bulbs.
- Fill a bulb pan evenly with this mix. Tap the soil mix gently to pop off any air pocket.
- Place the bulbs on the soil mix. Keep them at a 3 to the 5-inch distance for proper root growth. These procedures should be done by late fall so that the plant can bloom in spring.
- Keep the crown of the bulbs upward and cover it with a 2 to the 4-inch soil mix.
- Finally, water the soil mix and place it in full sunlight. The temperature should stay about 60 degrees Fahrenheit for proper sprouting.
- Meanwhile, wait and care for the plant until they mature and bloom.
After Care for Oriental Tiger Lily
- Feed the plants once every month with organic compost and twice with liquid fertilizer.
- Every week spray the plants with 2% Epsom salt, 1% neem oil, and 2% seaweed extract solution. This will keep the plant healthy and prevent pest attacks.
- Keep the plant healthy by dead foliage removal. It is essential to remove dead spent flowers and leaves of Oriental Tiger-lily.
- Every year dig out the bulbs and amend the soil in container-grown plants. Digging bulb is not necessary for Tiger lily plants grown in gardens.
- Carefully remove dead flowers before seed formation. It will help the bulb to mature and grow big. Otherwise, if leave the flower to develop seed pod and seeds. Then it will drain all the resources away from bulbs.
