I haven't noticed anything particular with my lily beetles. While I have seen them on my martagons, they've been on everything and probably less on the martagons.

So I been "dying" to find out what is happening with the bulbs under this plant, a martagon seedling. This past Saturday, I hosted our Rock Garden Society plant sale, and decided to offer various freshly dug bulbs from my garden for the sale. This martagon was one of them.

Results are in, and of the eleven stems:
--- two bulbs had three stems each
--- two bulbs had two stems each
--- one bulb had one stem

That's impressive.

I must have missed a picture, but did all those stems bloom also?

I hope you kept a bulb for yourself, for some interesting breeding potential.

Oh certainly I kept some. There were tiny bulbs, too. But as we all know, spreading the wealth is insurance against individual disasters.

Yes, they all bloomed. There was one with 7 flowers, most had 5, and I think one had three.

I love them!

Yes, that's the picture I remember.

That's great Rick! Do the flowers stay flat open or fully recurve?

By the way, for anyone that wants to know B&D just put up L. Martagon var albiflorum for sale which is a pretty rare variety of L. Martagon. One is on order for me!

What a sweet clump!

Ok, so I know it will depend on the kind of martagon, but on average how long is it from seed to flower for Martagons? I have ordered my first martagons for this fall and am very curious.

From what I have have heard it can take anywhere from 3-7 years but usually closer to the latter.

5-7 years from seed. Mainly the reason for their expense I am told as well.

Joebass said:Do the flowers stay flat open or fully recurve?

The flowers stay "flat". Here another pic farther along:


Thanks for the heads up on albiflorum. I've been watching for a long time, and it is almost never available in the USA.

Martagons usually take 5-7 years from seed to bloom. Be sure to research their mode of germination (delayed hypogeal), as it is different from most seeds and lilies people are familiar with. Even plants themselves don't normally multiply like other lilies and they don't produce underground stem bulblets for propagation, either. My martagon just being discussed here now is a big exception. I've had martagon seedlings that simply refuse to divide spontaneously at all. Even after 14 years!

You can still scale them though?

Oh yes. Depending on the particular type or cultivar, though, the scales may or may not produce bulblets as vigorously as what you might be used to with other kinds of lilies.

I apologyze forehand, but this time I disagree with our experts. I grew my white Martagon lily from Leftwood's seeds and they bloomed (scarce) after two years (1 stem) for the first time. Last summer was their 4th year and I had 3 stems blooming

Could it be a matter of climate?