Plant Combination Ideas with Lilies

Lilies make perfect partners with other plants and help create strikingly beautiful combinations in the garden. Since Lilies appreciate some shade around their roots while keeping their foliage and ravishing blossoms in the air and sunshine, they welcome the company of neighboring plants such as annuals, perennials, bulbs, grasses, or shrubs. However, a few rules need to be respected to ensure your Lilies will thrive among them.

Extend the flowering season of your mixed border

Surrounding your Lilies with a succession of flowers will reinforce the beauty of their spectacular blooms and extend the flowering season of your mixed border.

• Start with low-growing spring bulbs like snowdrops, crocus, grape hyacinths, squills, anemones, and daffodils. They will color your borders when your Lilies are not at their best.
• Many shrubs are exciting in spring, especially before most of the Lilies come into flower. Rhododendrons and Camellias are great Lily partners – provided they are planted far enough away from your Lily bulbs not to disturb their rooting system. After they are done flowering, their dark evergreen foliage will create a lovely backdrop for your Lilies.
• Chrysanthemums and Asters will provide late-season color while hiding the base of your Lily stalks as they decay.

Combine texture, color, and form to create rich harmonies

• Mounding companions: The straight, upright stems of Lilies look stunning when rising from lower mounded or clumping companions such as hardy Geraniums (Cranesbills), Ferns, or Hostas. The shape and contrasting foliage of these perennial plants adds gravitas to the ensemble. Additionally, these plants cast some welcomed shade around the Lily roots. Imagine how the vibrant purples or magentas of Geraniums can highlight neighboring white, cream, or yellow Lilies. Regarding Hostas, don’t plant them too close to your Lilies bulbs, or they might compete with their rooting systems. Check here planting depth and distance to respect.
• Spiky companions: Introducing spiky companions in your Lily border will provide visual variety against the large Lily blooms. Try Liatris (Gayfeather), Kniphofia (Torch Lily), Eryngium giganteum (Miss Willmott’s Ghost), Veronicastrum (Culver’s Root) or Veronica longifolia (Speedwell).
• Airy companions: Adding airiness and contrasting shapes with your Lilies are Gaura lindheimeri (Beeblossom), Perovskia (Russian Sage), Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena), or Thalictrum rochebrunianum (Meadow Rue).
• Blue and purple companions: Because of the colors Lilies generally possess (yellow, pink, orange, red, and white, with all the possible colors in between), cool blue and purple-flowering perennial plants make favorite neighbors. Among them are Salvia nemorosa and its cultivars (Sage), various Aconitum species and cultivars (Monkshood), Anchusa azurea (Italian Bugloss), Erigeron cultivars, Aster amellus (Italian Aster), Echinops bannaticus (Globe Thistle), the taller Geranium species, Polemonium caeruleum (Jacob’s Ladder). Blue-flowering shrubs such Caryopteris clandonensis (Bluebeard), Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon), and Ceanothus ‘Gloire de Versailles’ (Californian Lilac), are also good companions for countless Lilies.
• Silver and gray companions: Plants with gray foliage, such as Artemisia species (Wormwood) or Stachys byzantina (Lamb’s ears), can effectively accent your LiLies’ beauty.
• Green companions: Orange and red Lilies will add further drama to the garden if underplanted with soft green Ferns and Hostas. Athyrium filix-femina (Lady Fern) is a graceful companion next to Lilies.
• Chocolate and maroon companions: Lilies always provide an effective contrast against dark-leaved shrubs such as Corylus maxima ‘Purpurea’ (Filbert) and Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ (Smoke Tree).

Some Design Suggestions

• Plant your Lily bulbs in groups for bolder impact (minimum 3 bulbs) rather than scattering single bulbs. A group of 5 or more will be even more spectacular.
• Mixing Lilies cultivars is not always a successful idea from a design standpoint. Each cultivar has its height, blooming period, and character. Planting together Lily varieties of varying heights or flowering seasons would reduce the overall effect.
• Usually, tall Lilies are planted at the back of the border or the center of island beds, while dwarf Lily varieties are placed at the front. Tall Lilies may be planted among or behind shrub roses and small to medium-sized shrubs such as Spireas, which help provide support and reduce the need for staking.

A wide range of companion plants will bring out the best qualities of your Lilies and share their space with a serene balance. Select any ornamental grasses, perennials, annuals, or shrubs with the same growing requirements as your Lilies. Most Lilies do best in full sun and well-drained soil, but some varieties prefer partial shade. Most Lilies do well in slightly acidic soil, while others, such as Martagon Lilies, love alkaline soils. Be aware that a few rules need to be respected to ensure your Lilies will thrive among these plants.