Lilium Brasilia - Oriental Lily

The Oriental Lily Brasilia is distinguished by its large, star-shaped white flowers, accented with violet-pink on the petal edges, and by a powerful fragrance that perfumes the entire garden in midsummer. A modern Oriental hybrid, it bears sturdy stems carrying several flowers, ideal for cut flower arrangements. Easy to grow in light, humus-bearing soil, in sun or partial shade, this lily naturally finds its place in a perennial border or in a large container on the terrace.

Lilies belong to the Liliaceae family and comprise bulbous plants native to the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere; Oriental hybrids derive mainly from Japanese species such as Lilium auratum and L. speciosum, introduced to Europe in the 19th century and quickly used in hybridization for their large, fragrant flowers.
The Oriental Lily Brasilia (cultivar name Lilium ‘Zora’, commercial name Lilium Brasilia) belongs to the horticultural group of Oriental hybrids (Division VII), characterised by very large flowers, cup-shaped or star-shaped, strongly fragrant, and with a rather late summer flowering. This cultivar ‘Zora’ was introduced in the early 2010s by the Dutch company Vletter en den Haan B.V., under the commercial name Brasilia. The plant forms a clump of erect stems, arising from a deeply buried scaly bulb; the stems, green and sturdy, reach 90 cm to 1.20 m and each bears 3 to 6 flower buds. The flowers, 15 to nearly 20 cm in diameter, are star-shaped, slightly upright or horizontal, composed of 6 tepals with distinctly undulate and trailing margins; their base is pure white, finely veined with mauve-pink towards the edges, which are themselves washed with purplish-pink. Small violet-pink spots are scattered in the throat which plunges towards a small greenish-yellow heart. The brown-orange anthers laden with pollen contribute to the intense fragrance typical of Oriental lilies. The foliage is deciduous: the leaves, lanceolate, about 10 to 15 cm long, medium green, are inserted in a spiral along the stem; the entire aerial part dries after flowering and disappears in autumn, the bulb remaining alive in dormancy underground. Flowering occurs from July to August-September depending on the climate. Hardy down to –15 / –20 °C in well-drained soil, this lily behaves as a durable perennial, provided its base is kept cool in summer and the bulb is protected from excess water in winter.

In the garden, create an elegant border by mingling the flower spikes of the Lily Brasilia with the Sanguisorba officinalis ‘Pink Tanna’, with its small, slightly wild, bright pink spikes. At the front, you can place a few clumps of Echinacea ‘Green Twister’ with a brown centre surrounded by anise-green and rose ligules. A few young plants of Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’ with long lilac-pink spikes create a misty background. Regarding lilies, you can opt for sophistication with the double Oriental lily ‘Polar Star’, all white, and the O/T hybrid lily ‘Catina’, butter yellow and cream, both in a cut flower arrangement and in a border.

In several Asian countries, some lilies with large bulbs, close cousins of our garden lilies, are consumed as a vegetable under the name "lily bulb" or yurine, proof that this family accompanies humans both in the garden and in the kitchen.