I thought the "tree" aspect was debunked. The lilies were/are probably Orienpets, and they can get fairly tall - but hardly a tree.

Firstly, they are NOT TREES, they are just orienpets. Secondly, it depends on variety and hight. You should not expect a lily which has grown up to above 2 m with flowers with the diameter of 20 cm to stand up unharmed in a real storm.
Robina is standing up very well, so does Hollands Beauty.
Shocking definitely needs support in windy situations, Scheherezade has rather weak stems.

This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Wed, Aug 28, 13 at 16:25

If you are referring to the Orienpets, they do have very thick, sturdy stems, but I would never trust them to survive a major thunderstorm. Then again, I never trust any claim out there saying "Never needs staking". Those seem to be the first things to topple in a wind.

Kevin

Among my orienpets, Silk Road, Caravan, Shocking, Leslie Woodriff, Quintessence, Black Beauty and Sarabande all have floppy stems regardless of how much sun they get. I will probably be removing all of these since they are a pain to stake in spite of lovely blooms.

My favorite orienpets have been sturdy enough so far to stay upright without staking:

Conca d'Or (5-5.5 feet tall)
Robina (8 feet tall)
Scheherazade and Silver Scheherazade (6-7.5 feet tall)
Carte Blanche (5.5-6 feet tall)
Alchemy (5.5-6.5 feet tall)
Miss Libby (6-8 feet tall)
Hacienda (4-4.5 feet tall)
Holland Beauty (3-4.5 feet tall)
Julie Fowlis (3-4 feet tall)
Saltarello (4-4.5 feet tall)

The bloom heads on Scheherazade and Silver Scheherazade were so massive this year I thought the stems would topple for certain, but they never did.

This post was edited by ispahan on Thu, Aug 29, 13 at 8:50

I can't contribute on the staking question, but ispahan thanks for the info, I'm pleased a couple off my wanted list landed in the no- staking group... Sorry to see silk road on the floppy list... Will probably add it anyway though!
Ten people may give me great advice against something but I'm so stupidly stubborn I often have to learn the lesson myself... Plus it looks like such a nice lily and when you get it in your head that you need something, well...

In my garden Black Beauty is what I call "naturally arching", which is not the same for me as floppy. It has never fallen on the ground here.

Wieslaw, I did have problems with Black Beauty being floppy. Not sure why. First year stems were between 3-5 feet tall and most were horizontal by the time the lovely blooms actually opened. Second year (this year), the plants bolted up to 6-7 feet tall and flopped long before the buds even started to color. I love the flowers, but I find this growth habit unforgivable.

Kato, you should still try Silk Road if it catches your eye. It may perform differently for you. It was one of my "absolute must have" orienpets and I obtained my bulbs from The Lily Garden. The plants have performed similarly to Black Beauty above, although it is more of an uncomfortably severe leaner than outright flopping mess. In my garden, colors were neither as intense nor as pretty as seen in photos and fragrance was only faint at best (compared to other orienpets). Scheherazade is not quite as photogenic as Silk Road but, for me, it is a vastly superior and showier garden lily!

All lilies mentioned above are grown in full sun.

I also found 'Anastasia' to be a severe flopper/leaner and the blossoms looked strangely artificial to my prejudiced eye.

Not an orienpet, but I have also been unhappy with the LO 'Triumphator'. No flopping with this one; it is tall and sturdy like a lamp post. But the flowers finish too quickly in even the slightest amount of heat, and the colors invariably look faded and washed out.

OK, just so I understand this correctly and so I am not misunderstood, are you saying at least some of these lilies will survive thunderstorms with straight line winds in the range of 60 mph? We seem to have at least one storm per season with conditions like that and that's what I always have to assume will happen at some point during the growing season.

The only orienpet I've grown was Scheherazade. I loved it. It grew huge and then disappeared for several possible reasons. Even though the stems were very sturdy and under normal weather conditions needed no staking, I staked it. I just didn't trust it surviving in one of these storms.

I guess it kind of depends on what part of the country you live and if extreme weather conditions are part of the norm.

Kevin

Well, I am not saying they would come through a tornado unscathed, lol, but I think Conca d'Or and Robina both stand a good chance of surviving a summer storm without falling over. Both of these have extremely thick, robust stems with none of the precarious swaying in breezes seen with Scheherazade and Silver Scheherazade. Just make sure the bulbs are planted deeply--8-10 inches in "regular" garden soils and 10-12" in light, sandy soils.

Orienpets are by far my favorite group of lilies. If they continue to come out with such sturdy, wonderful cultivars, I think most other garden lilies will be all but superseded. That is, except for martagons and species. But fussier oriental hybrids might all but disappear.

Three other non-orienpets that have been excellent and uniquely beautiful performers for me are Lilium regale and the Asiatic hybrids 'Red Velvet' and 'Karen North'. All need staking in my garden. So far, I have decided to put up with these three because no other lilies are like them.

And of course martagons, once established and growing well, pretty much never need staking.

I thought for sure Red Velvet and Karen North would not need staking.... oh well, I'll probably get them anyway and you can say I told you so when I complain.
Glad to hear the good comments about the bloom color of Scheherazade. It gets such great reviews, but the bloom pictures don't always thrill me, so it's on the 'must have list' again.
Better get off to the lily garden website! ;)
I like the idea of a tree lily, plants that I can walk next to are so important in a garden of ankle-biters.

Isaphan-I know this is an old thread but I really appreciate your feedback on sturdiness & heights of your orienpets. Even though we're in different climates, it still helps me with placement on a few I was wavering on, thanks!