Hallson Gardens

I have some lovely bright pink oriental lilies that I may have bought from Hallson as I have had them since 2007. I don't have any ID on them, any ideas? They are not quite as bright as this photo but they are very fragrant and are about 5' tall.

We are leaving MI for the year and I will be taking them back to MD with me. I have already dug the bulbs and have worked on letting them dry out for the trip with a good spraying of fungicide. The reason why I am taking them back to MD with me is that they break from the soil too early in the spring and the deer get to them before I can return to MI to start spraying them. Last year I dug some of my Scarlet Emperors that I had at home and potted them for our Master Gardener plant sale. I put them in gallon pots, covered them to keep the rodents out and they did just great. I used potting mix. Some of these lily bulbs are the size of softballs. What sized pots should I pot them in to overwinter them for the sale? No sense putting them in my garden in MD the deer are 100 times worse and I am going to giving all of mine away from there too. Thanks!

I hate to say it, but from this distance it is kind of hard to tell just from the color. My first thought is Robina, and you did buy some of those from us in 2008, so that could be a possibility.

About potting them up for sale, I don't have the best luck overwintering oriental and OT lilies in pots over the winter because they tend to freeze and thaw and rot for me here. But in MD I suppose the winters are a bit milder. For pot size, don't go too big or they will hold even more moisture, so maybe a 4 quart container? I think you'll be able to tell better once the bulbs are out.

They are looking beautiful by the way, and how is it that they aren't deer food in Michigan?

Thanks Chris for the ID. I am sure it is the Robinas that I got from you in 2008. I didn't start keeping invoices as a form of diary until 2009. Thanks for the help on the pot size. The less Pro-Mix I have to buy the better anyway because that cuts into our profits on the sale.


Unfortunately they are deer food here in the UP. We don't get up here until late May and by that time the early risers like these are gone. I was afraid that there would be no bulbs to dig as little foliage was left when we got here. The ones that I have in MD even though they were sprayed heavy were eaten too so they are going into the sale. I will pot them like I did last year and this year put them behind our garage which is also wooded to try and stop freezing and thawing. They all did great last fall into spring but we had a very mild winter. At least the lilies will have a shot at continuing their beauty for someone else, year after year of mowing by deer will kill them a lot more surely than a cold and then warm winter. We are supposed to have an El Nino winter this year so that means a lot of snow, that helps insulate them from freezing and thawing too.



I find that lilies are impossible to dig in the spring because they are so soft.

Yes, it can be tough digging bulbs in spring. You have to time it just right, just as the ground is still slightly frozen but soft enough to get a shovel in, and then you have to be careful not to dig right through them.

I sure hope you are right about a snowy winter. We could really use the moisture around here

Have you tried using chicken wire enclosure to stop the deer,2x4 frame covered with wire should stop them.
Bill