30 Different Types Of Lilies (With Pictures) & How To Grow Them
Lilies are some of the most beautiful flowers in the world.
Whether it’s their wonderfully delicate, curling petals, or their fascinating anthers within their center, lilies offer some of the most visually satisfying plants available.
They brighten up any garden! However, you’ll probably be surprised to learn that there are many more varieties than the typical white ones you see.
Well, there are well over 90 different species of lily that exist, with thousands of varieties housed within that.
These are often broken down into “Divisions”, which divide the varieties and species up into groups based on their physical qualities and origins.
In this guide, we’ll be looking at each division and some of the best breeds of lily that you can grow from them, describing their characteristics.
On top of that, we’ll give a small look at just how lilies came to be – as well as a detailed guide on how you can grow and care for your own.
After you’ve picked some out from our list, of course! So, read on and get planting.
A Brief History Of Lilies
As Europeans explored continents, they found new lily species all over the world – North America, Asia, Japan. They brought them back, and by the 1920s the number of lily varieties was growing massively.
A man named Jan de Graaff began to make a breeding program for lilies, and his Oregon Bulb Farms were responsible for lots of hybrids – which you’ll read about soon!
Types Of Lilies
Below, you’ll find examples from each division of lilies – including their individual qualities!
Division 1: Asiatic Hybrids
The first division of lilies are great for a number of reasons. For one, they’re the earliest bloomers of all of them, which is useful because flowering early will give you quicker results.
Secondly, the Asiatic division has the best variety of colors of any division, offering yellows, oranges, pinks, reds, whites, and more! The only color they don’t offer is blue.
On the whole, they tend to reach about four feet tall, growing about 2.5 feet in their first year, then less from then on.
There is a downside, however, and that’s that they don’t have a scent. This can be a great shame for flower lovers who like to enjoy the fragrance of their garden.
Their wonderful colors, though, will surely make up for it!
Tending To Asiatic Hybrids
Whether they’re planted in a plot or a flowerbed, you want them to have good drainage. To make them live longer, harvest them when their lower buds begin to show color, but haven’t opened.
Orange Pixie Lily
This beautiful orange lily has a fiery feel to it, though is quite short, growing to a maximum of 18 inches (1.5 feet) with the flowers included.
The “pixie lilies” are part of the “dwarf Asiatic” variety, small flowers that bloom early (this blooms mid-year, from June to August), meaning you can have a variety over the year.
They go well in small gardens with some sun, and grow in zones 2 to 9 (which refers to conditional zones across America).
Denia Pixie Lily
Another pixie lily, this will grow to about the same size, 1.5 feet. They have a more subdued look, with soft pink petals with brown spots.
They suit small gardens also, with a mixture of full or occasional sun, and are best in the zones 3 to 8.
Connecticut King Lily
There are bright, big yellow flowers. They have some height, reaching 3 feet at maximum, and do best with only some sun.
They also bloom best mid-year, in June, and should only be grown in the zones 4 to 8 across America.
Like all Asiatics, they don’t have a scent to them.
Roma Lily
These are gorgeous, cream colored flowers that come from pink buds. The finished flower looks rather like vanilla, which is funny because their brown anthers look like vanilla beans!
They have good height to them growing 4 feet, and bloom at the start of summer.
These flowers flourish from full sun exposure, and grow best in the zones 3 to 9, so ideally you live there.
Enchantment Lily
More fiery orange flowers, these have some brown freckles too for variation. They reach heights of about 3-4 feet, also blooming in the summer season and enjoying full sunlight for growth.
The zones 4 to 8 across America will give them the right conditions for growing, too.
Another quality of the Enchantment Lily (Latin name, Lilium Enchantment) is that they are great for reproducing.
Each stem leaf should have little bulbs (known as “bulbils”) on their apex, when not flowering, and these can bulbs can be harvested about 2 months after things have flowered.
If you love the color of Enchantment, then this is a great and easy way to get lots more of it in your garden color pallet.
Division 2: Martagon Hybrids
Like the Asiatic, these are also early bloomers, allowing you to get them in flower nice and early on.
However, while many Asiatics like some full sun weather, the Martagon actually grows best in colder climates, preferring the shade to the sun’s full heat.
As for the flowers themselves, they have small flowers that face downward to the ground. They also have whorled leaves, which is when there are at least 3 leaves equally spaced around a node.
On top of that, they have pendent like flowers that come on tall spikes.
Martagon Hybrids often come from breeding other types of flower together, in this case the martagon variety and the Japanese turk’s-cap lily.
Tending To Martagon Hybrids
You’ll want to keep these out of the sun, instead putting them in the shade, where they can keep much colder.
As for soil, they like a good amount of drainage, but won’t die if it’s ot an excellent standard.
Marhan – Lilium X Dalhansonii
A beautiful freckled, salmon-pink or honey color plant.
This hybrid resembles its flower parents, the martagon and the turk’s-cap (also known as “hansonii”), though its petals aren’t quite as strongly bent and curvy as they both have.
They can grow to be quite tall, reaching about 4-6 feet. They grow best in zones 3 to 7, blooming in the early summer and mostly enjoying shade. Partial sun is sometimes recommended, but shade is best.
Division 3: Candidum Hybrids
Also known as the Madonna Lily, this is one of the most recognized and popular lilies in the world – the pure white lily.
As you can tell from its Madonna name, it has connections to religion, and dates back around 4000 years at least.
Yet, despite the popularity, it has barely been used to make cultivars. The lilium x testaceum is practically the only Candidum Hybrid, and is rare on top of that.
For this reason, you’re unlikely to be planting any. If you did, though, they bloom from late spring to early summer.
Division 4: American Hybrids
These come from the wild lilies of North America, specifically the Leopard Lily (Latin name, lilium pardalinum).
If the climate is cold, they bloom in the middle of summer, whereas if the climate is hot, they tend to bloom in late spring.
As for the appearance, they have pendent blooms and their bulbs spread outwards over time (because of their rhizomatous bulbs). On top of that, their foliage is whored.
Tending To American Hybrids
If you’re planting at home, plant them alongside shrubs for the best results. If you have access to woodlands, those work great too!
You must be careful when handling them, though, as the rhizomatous bulbs need delicate movement and lifting.
Cherrywood Lily
These tangerine flowers are beautiful, with red tips at the ends of the petals and red dots all over.
On top of that, the flower has whorled foliage all across the stems. It’s a tall plant, too, reaching heights of about 5-6 feet.
In terms of weather, this is going to enjoy being fully in the sun for it to grow best. It likes light and heat, blooming in the middle of summer, and is best grown if you live in the zones 4 to 8 across America.
Bellingham Lily
These will bloom in bright and full colors: orange, red, yellow. They have a real presence, with tall spikes covered in whorls of green leaves on them.
On top of that, they have lots of brown and black freckles all over their leaves. Their anthers are vibrant oranges and reds, just like the petals.
Like Cherrywood, these grow to impressive heights, lifting to about 5-6 feet at full bloom. Similarly, they also like to have lots of sunlight, growing best when left out of the shade and the cool.
For this reason, they also bloom in the middle of summer, benefitting from the increased heat of the season. You also need to grow them in the right areas across America, with them liking zones 4 to 8 the best.
Division 5: Longiflorum Hybrids
These are often referred to as the Easter Lily, popular around Easter time. This is probably because of their calming pure white colors, yellow centers, and beautifully strong smells.
Its flowers are trumpet shaped, growing to impressive sizes of about 7 inches (half a foot), and they originally hail from Japan and Taiwan.
Tending To Longiflorum Hybrids
However, they are notoriously difficult to grow and keep surviving.
The flowers are extremely tender, meaning that they probably won’t survive any really cold weather, so they are often kept to the warmer Easter times.
They are unlikely to cope in a garden setting, meaning that they need to be given protected environments to survive.
Perhaps because of these specific conditions, they are almost entirely just grown over in containers in North America, offering them security and protection. That being said, the hybrids are much better at coping!
White American Lily – “Lilium Longiflorum”
This hybrid is much sturdier than the Easter Lily original. Its appearance is just as refreshing, though, with large white flowers that are trumpet shaped.
Its anthers are orange colors, contrasting well against the white, and the same goes for its green tips.
They reach a modest height of about 3 to 4 feet, and bloom around summer – which is not perfect if you also want them for Easter time!
That said, they like both shade and sun, so be sure to get a mixture of both, and not too much of one at the cost of not having the other.
Heat and sun are good for it! Also, you should try and grow it only in the zones 4 to 8 across America.
Division 6: Trumpet And Aurelian Hybrids
Trumpets and Aurelians are put into the same division. This hybrid division has the biggest number of varieties, which has led to them being very popular among florists and flower enthusiasts.
They have many visual qualities that make them popular too! Their foliage is slender and narrow, while the flowers themselves have the typical funnel shapes that you often associate with lilies.
The plants are large, too, and come in a variety of colors. They tend to open up around summer time, but will continue to grow and improve later into the year.
And their qualities aren’t just in sight – they smell great too! Trumpets and Aurelians have a wonderful, strong, refreshing scent to them.
Tending To Trumpet and Aurelian Hybrids
Many of the hybrids like to enjoy exposure to the full sun, so make sure that you’re planting them in a location that doesn’t have a lot of shade to it – you’ll want a good deal of heat to help them.
Additionally, plant them only in zones 4 to 8. As for their soil, you’ll want to plant them in a soil that has lots of organic matter in it.
And where is this soil going? Well, a container is best, as the hybrids will grow strongest here.
However, make sure that they are not placed too closely together, leaving about a 12 inch gap between the bulbs.
Once the hybrids have flowered, make sure to deadhead them (remove the dead plants) and then cut the plant back down to soil level before the winter comes.
Golden Splendor
As you can tell from the name, these produced brilliant yellow (almost gold) flowers. It’s a sturdy plant with brown anthers, and has a little purple colored bud in their center.
They have a reasonable height, reaching about 4 feet usually, and bloom best in summer. They’ll want exposure to the sun! On top of that, they’ll grow best in the zones 4 to 8.
As you might assume from such a beautiful, refreshing looking flower, they have a heavenly scent. If you take a deep sniff inside this beautiful trumpet, you’ll enjoy a strong and delicious smell.
African Queen
Beautiful and big, the African Queen (not the Humphrey Bogart movie!) comes in a vibrant and full on shade of orange.
The anthers, meanwhile, have a touch of purple and pink to them, which is a lovely contrast when compared to the orange petals.
The flowers themselves tend to face outward, while also dipping down towards the soil, as if they’re bowing to you.
They can reach a very impressive height of around 5 to 6 feet tall, so make sure to have plenty of room for them to grow up and into.
On top of that, they like to bloom in the middle of the year, best between July and August.
As a result, they like to enjoy the full sunshine, growing best when exposed to the light and the heat that those summer months allow in bucket loads. Make sure that their soil has good drainage though!
The African Queens also grows best in zones 4 to 9, and has a fragrant scent to it that you’ll love to smell.
Bright Star
Another lily that shares its name with a movie! These beautiful flowers have a wonderfully subtle blend of white and pink on their leaves, with orange centers that look like little flames.
This is why they have their name, because their petals spread all around and they have these glowing orange anthers in the center – just like a golden, shining star in the night sky.
Interestingly, there are actually a bunch of green parts to the center too, adding a healthy look to it all.
The shape of the flowers are actually a bit flatter than other trumpet hybrids, because of the parent plants that formed it – the lilium centifolium and the lilium henryi.
They grow to a moderate height of about 3 to 4 feet tall, and bloom best in the period between later summer and early autumn.
This is a good, hot time that has plenty of sun – for this reason, it is a flower that likes to be put in the full sun, not hidden away in the shade.
On top of that, the flower grows best in zones 4 to 9, so it’s best not to try growing them if you’re not living in these areas.
On top of their exciting star-like appearance, they have a wonderfully fragrant scent to them too, meaning that they are not just lovely to look at but also nice to dip your nose into and smell.
Pink Perfection Group
These are big flowers that have a really gentle, plush quality to their appearance. This is because they come in the shades of dark pink and purple, a full and relaxing color.
And what do we mean by big? Well, their flowers can be massive! Some of them will measure about 10 inches (0.8 feet) in their diameter, at their absolute maximum growing size!
But to reach that size you’d better plant them properly! Thankfully, they are versatile, growing equally well in containers and flower beds. When do they grow best, though?
They should bloom best around summer time, whether in the middle of the season, or towards its end. Since that’s a hot time, they like heat, and they enjoy being planted in view of the full sun.
That being said, they also do well when put in partial shade. Like we said, they’re versatile!
Pink Perfections grow best in zones 4 to 9, so make sure to have this kind of environment if you expect them to survive and grow to their best size and conditions.
On top of this all, they are a very fragrant plant, with a rich and beautiful scent – which fits their beautiful purple look.
Division 7: Oriental Hybrids
These hybrids come from blending the lilium auratum and lilium speciosum, which are types of wild lilies, a division that we’ll speak about later.
Like those parent plants, they look wonderful and have brilliant, fragrant scents to them – making them very popular among flower growers.
Interestingly, they actually turned out to be better than their parents, being a lot sturdier and hardy.
They usually reach great heights, even as much as five feet, and their blooms are usually somewhere between six and eight inches (0.5 to 0.6 feet).
Additionally, their petals are curved, and the flowers themselves are strong and face upright.
They are often at their best around August time, but they start to bloom in summer and sometimes last long into fall.
Tending To Oriental Hybrids
You must be careful when choosing soil for your oriental bloomers.
They don’t like lime for a start, which some soils have to improve their soil structure, so you’ll want to go for an ericaceous compost soil instead.
Lime heavy soil is often called a