Lilies and Related Plants - RHS Lily Group

Rhododendrons, so often planted
with true lilies, have fungal associations
very different from those of lilies, by
the way, as do some other groups of
plants. This makes it harder to be allies
from the ground up.
On the rainswept mountain in
southwestern British Columbia
where I garden with my mother, the
case for fronds is circumstantial but
persuasive. Lilium columbianum, the
western tiger-lily, still grows wild here,
along with Trillium ovatum, Clintonia
uniflora, Fritillaria affinis, Prosartes
(Disporum) hookeri and three
species of Maianthemum: dilatatum,
racemosum and stellatum, the
latter two sometimes still called
Smilacina. Erythronium oregonum
and E . revolutum, native close by, are
naturalizing amid the trilliums.
All these plants sort themselves
Above, Prosartes hookeri rivals ‘Molly
the Witch’ (Paeonia daurica subsp.
mlokosewitschii) in height.
according to their needs. Swathes of one species grade into swathes of another.
Rising from this liliaceous salad, scattered stems of L . columbianum bloom on
every hillside, 8ft (2.5m) tall in full sun, 3ft (1m) tall in shade.
But some of these companion plants are ephemeral. Erythronium and Trillium
are beautiful, we rejoice in them, and just when Lilium is far enough along to need
shade at its foot, they’re gone.
Frond-like genera, on the other hand, tend to last from spring till frost. They
may even shade the space above sleeping ephemerals. (This is also a move to
take over, but since the roots often settle at different levels in the soil, and the
soil is rich, and I am busy, I seldom interfere.) Fronds make good companions for
L . columbianum and, it is turning out, for all the other lilies in our garden.
Now on to the companions I’m promoting: Prosartes and Streptopus.
Both genera make handsome garden specimens on their own. But as
companions, I recommend P . hookeri for most lilies and S . amplexifolius and
S . lanceolatus for martagons and a few other shade lovers, such as L . auratum
and L . japonicum.
Prosartes, or Fairy Bells, always branches, and it flowers only at the ends of
those branches. Its name (Greek “fastened”) apparently refers to how its fruits
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