Are you looking for a new flower for your garden? Have you been considering lilies for the job? Are you unsure about which lily to go with? Well, we’ll tell you to consider a purple dream lily for your garden. They won’t just bring a warmer color palette to the garden, but they’re also easy to care for!
There are many different types of lilies available in the market. These include oriental lilies, stargazer lilies, trumpet lilies, and orienpet lilies, to name a few. Asiatic lilies are another type of lilies that come in many different colors including red, yellow, orange, purple, pink, white, and dramatic bi-colors. The purple Asiatic lily is commonly called the purple dream lily.
The name purple dream speaks volumes about the appearance of the flower itself. The flower is dreamy, elegant, and beautiful and has the ability to bring life to any garden. But there are certain requirements that you must fulfill to get a gorgeous purple bloom.
Keep on reading to find out more information about the purple dream lily flower, and how to care for it!
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Origin
Asiatic lilies, like the purple dream, have a rich history. In ancient Egyptian pyramids, archeologists have found paintings of Asiatic lilies. That’s not all. There are even ancient Chinese paintings of Asiatic lilies which were found in the power circle of Louis XIV.
Appearance
Asiatic lilies have larger bulbs compared to many other flowers. The size of the bulb of a purple dream lily is around 6 inches and they can grow up to the height of 36 – 48 inches or even more.
They have a beautiful purple color, which has a darker shade on the inside of the flower compared to the outside. This makes the purple dream flower have a purple ombre. Stunning, right?
How to Plant?
A purple dream lily bulbs in the early spring or fall. This is before the frost dates. The soil they prefer is fertile and well-drained, which allows the lilies’ roots to maintain a healthy root system. If you want the soil to be ideal for your plant, add organic matter like peat moss.
Also, all Asiatic lilies prefer slightly acidic soil with around 6.5 pH.
When planting purple dream lilies in a garden, remember to keep a distance of about 6 to 10 inches between them. This will help the plant’s roots to have enough area to grow and flourish. Make sure that the plant is planted at a suitable depth. A 4 to 6 inches depth will be ideal.
The perfect location for a purple dream lily should receive early morning or late afternoon sun. Six hours of sunlight per day is the minimum requirement for the purple dream lily.
When you receive fresh bulbs from a nursery, plant them immediately before they dry out. If you want a showier look, place three or more bulbs together. These will multiply and form groupings.
How to Water?
Asiatic lilies hate over-watering. Flooded soil is the bane of their existence. Over-watering can lead to soggy soil, which attracts pathogens such as fungi. These fungi take up the root cells and cause fungal diseases such as root rot.
Asiatic lilies must be planted in well-drained soil. If the weather is too hot and sunny, you can increase the watering and ensure that the root area is well moistened.
But a good gardener must learn the difference between soggy and moist soil. Soggy soil is in no way ideal. When the top one inch of the soil becomes dry, this indicates that the plant needs watering.
Related: Best Watering Cans
How to Fertilize?
Purple dream lilies don’t have a long list of nutritional requirements. A light application of a 5-10-10 fertilizer mixed with the topsoil is enough nourishment for the plant. However, the timing of fertilizer is the key to purple dream lily’s gorgeous blooms.
Purple dream lilies don’t need frequent fertilization. So only apply the fertilizer when the lilies begin to grow in the spring.
Propagating
Plant propagation is the process of creating new plants. You can create these new purple dream lilies from stem bulblets, bulb scales, stem bulbils, and bulb division. However, we’ll recommend you propagate the plant from dividing plump bulbs as they’re the faster way to go.
Deadheading
Deadheading is a way of pruning by which seed heads and unwanted growth are eliminated from the plant to increase blooming and promote new growth. Purple dream lilies might need deadheading as well when their petals drop. Cut off the dying flower so that the plant doesn’t waste energy on it and instead focuses on fresh flowers.
Care Tips
- Add mulch in the winter to protect the bulbs
- Remove the mulch in the spring after the frost passes
- Do not deadhead the foliage
- Keep an eye on the plant to notice the presence of any pests. If you spot signs of pest infestation, it’s most likely aphids and an application of neem oil will be the cure
- After removing the winter mulch, apply two inches of bark mulch to retain the moisture
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