Expert: C.L. Fornari - 5/15/2007

Question
How successful do you think a hanging basket filled with tiger lillies will be? The Flowers should bloom in June,right? I bought it on a country road for S5.00, honor system. The basket is a very nice moss basket.  

Answer
Megan,
Unfortunatly, Tiger Lily is a name given to two different plants...some people call the orange day lilies that bloom on leafless stalks and become a groundcover that name, and others call the bulb that produces tall stalks of orange lilies on top of stalks with many leaves up them Tiger Lillies.  

My guess is that you have the daylily type, as that is most likely to be sold at a roadside stand.  In any case, I'm not sure that either one is as good a hanging basket as it is a perennial for the garden bed.  Most perennials bloom for about four to six weeks, where as the annuals that go into hanging baskets bloom all summer.  

The timing of daylily and bulb lily blooms depends on where you live - in more southern areas they bloom at the end of June, in northern areas in July.

I think you might be more pleased if you put your lillies into the garden and planted annuals such as Scaevola, Wave Petunias, or Impatiens (in part shade) in your hanging baskets.

I hope this helps!
C.L.