Porcelain Blue Speckle Lily Bulbs

Lilium Oriental Hybrid — Porcelain Blue Speckle. Blue is the one colour lilies never quite manage on their own. This one gets close — and does it with freckles.

The petals start wax-white, then take a wash of porcelain blue down the midrib and along the picotee edge, with a few hundred blue speckles thrown across the face. The effect is closer to glazed china than to a flower bed, especially in flat morning light. Blooms are wide and flat-faced, 6–8 inches, three to four to a stem, lightly scented.

Grow it next to anything dark — purple foliage, a black pot, a slate path — and the white does the lighting for you.

What you get

• White petals with blue midribs, blue edges and blue freckles.
• Wide, flat 6–8 in blooms that read as pure white from ten feet away.
• Lightly scented — enough for a vase, not enough to fill a room.
• Top-size 14/16 cm bulbs — flowers in the first season.
• Naturalises freely in borders and large pots; hardy to zone 4.

How to grow it

• Plant: 6 in / 15 cm deep, 8–10 in apart, in full sun and well-drained soil. Pointy end up. Mark the spot — lilies are late to emerge in spring.
• Water: soak after planting, then whenever the top inch of soil dries. Never let water sit in the hole.
• Light: 6+ hours of direct sun; light afternoon shade keeps the flowers from fading.
• Cold: fully hardy in USDA zones 4–9. Mulch the first winter; no lifting needed.
• After flowering: cut only the flower stems. Let the foliage yellow on its own — that is next year’s bulb being built.

Shipped dormant and cleaned, 14/16 cm top-size bulbs. Dispatch in 5–7 working days, 8–25 working days in transit. Colour depth varies with soil, light and season — the first flower from a fresh bulb is usually the most intense.