Orienpet lily
Lilium (Orienpet hybrids) · Liliaceae
Crosses between Oriental and Trumpet lilies, sometimes called tree lilies: enormous, scented flowers on stems that can pass two metres in their third year.
- Size
- 6 ft tall, 16 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Mid July to early August
- Pets
- Toxic (severe)
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around orienpet lily
The planner designed this bed around orienpet lily when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why orienpet lily stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Cranesbill 'Ballerina' × 8, pink
- 2 Sedum 'Lidakense' × 8, pink
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 4 Italian bugloss 'Dropmore' × 5, blue
- 5 Inkberry 'Gem Box' × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Golden ragwort × 13, yellow
- 7 Orienpet lily × 3, white
- 8 Double snowdrop × 12, white
Why this plant
- The only trumpets. The others are open bowls, dense clusters, spires and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 6 ft it is the tallest plant here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to inkberry 'Gem Box' (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one clump. A single spire is too slight to hold a place alone, so here the accent is a clump.
Why now
- In flower for four weeks. From mid July to early August.
- Part of the bed's peak. With cranesbill 'Ballerina' and little bluestem 'The Blues' in early August: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 8 of the 8 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 51% of the visual weight and the right half 49%. The scheme leans cool (pink and blue) and uses yellow for warmth, with tan and white to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 5 Good, 2 Satisfactory.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where orienpet lily goes in a border
At 6 ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is very tall (5 to 6½ ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
They combine the scent and flower size of Orientals with the vigour and lime-tolerance of Trumpets, and are easier than either. Strong enough to stand without staking.
- The tallest garden lilies
- Fragrance
- The back of a border
What to plant with orienpet lily
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Garden phlox: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for four weeks; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves; low enough (3½ ft) to stand in front of it.
- Purple coneflower: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for four weeks; grows up in time to hide its dying leaves; low enough (3 ft) to stand in front of it.
- Russian sage: in flower together for four weeks, from mid July.
Questions about orienpet lily
Does orienpet lily need sun or shade?
Orienpet lily grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, rich in organic matter, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does orienpet lily grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does orienpet lily flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid July to early August. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 4 | Late July to mid August |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Mid July to early August |
| Zone 6 | Mid July to early August |
| Zone 7 | Mid July to early August |
| Zone 8 | Mid July to early August |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should orienpet lily be planted?
14 in (35 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 16 in (40 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 6 ft (180 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many orienpet lily plants do I need?
At 14 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 9 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 9 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 28 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used three in one group.
Is orienpet lily poisonous to cats?
Yes: severe toxicity to cats. Extremely poisonous to cats: every part, including the pollen and the water from a vase, can cause kidney failure. Not considered poisonous to dogs or people.
It is not recorded as toxic to dogs.
Rated from the ASPCA. Where references disagree, the more cautious rating is used.
What can I plant to hide orienpet lily's leaves after it flowers?
A bulb's leaves have to be left to yellow for about six weeks after flowering, to feed next year's flowers. Plant it among perennials that come up late and spread wide, and they grow over the leaves as they fade:
- Blue false indigo: 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide, in flower late May to mid June.
- Ornamental rhubarb: 6 ft tall and 5 ft wide, in flower late May to late June.
- Rodgersia: 4 ft tall and 4 ft wide, in flower late June to mid July.
What does orienpet lily look like in winter?
Orienpet lily is underground: it dies back after flowering and waits as a bulb until spring. Mark where it is, so a fork does not find it first.
More Lilium
- Asiatic lily Lilium (Asiatic hybrids)
- Canada lily Lilium canadense
- Easter lily Lilium longiflorum
- Henry's lily Lilium henryi
- Madonna lily Lilium candidum
- Martagon lily Lilium martagon
- Oriental lily Lilium (Oriental hybrids)
- Oriental lily 'Casa Blanca' Lilium 'Casa Blanca'
- Oriental lily 'Stargazer' Lilium 'Stargazer'
- Regal lily Lilium regale
- Tiger lily Lilium lancifolium
- Trumpet lily Lilium (Trumpet hybrids)
- Turk's cap lily Lilium superbum
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Bulb
- Size
- 6 ft (180 cm) tall, 16 in (40 cm) wide
- Plant
- 14 in (35 cm) apart
- Height class
- Very tall (5 to 6½ ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Mid July to early August; trumpets; yellow, pink, white, red
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; dark green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Rich, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Liliaceae
Checked against ASPCA poison lists. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.