The Summer Lily Festival in Penghu County has begun, featuring more than 57,000 blooming longflower lilies across nearly 3,000m3 of parkland.
The longflower lily — also known as trumpet lilies for their shape — is a plant species endemic to Taiwan that blooms in summer, Penghu County Deputy Commissioner Lin Chieh-hsing (林皆興) said yesterday.
A total of 57,730 longflower lilies of two cultivars had been planted across the county, including at Guanyin Temple (觀音亭), the Penghu Recreation Park and the Penghu Third Fishing Port International Plaza, he said.
Photo: CNA
The plants are expected to produce about 350,000 flowers, he added.
Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station Director Lo Cheng-tsung (羅正宗) said longflower lilies are suitable for cultivation in the county, as the species can withstand droughts, strong winds and high salinity on the outlying islands, particularly the northeasterly winds and salt spray during winter.
More longflower lilies have been planted in households and in the wild across Penghu County over the past few years, Lo said.
The flowers are an iconic part of the local landscape, staying green through winters and blooming with large white flowers during springs, he said.
The station’s Penghu branch said longflower lilies are mostly grown with the ratooning technique in garden landscaping.
However, the plant can be more healthily propagated via bulb scaling, it added.
The county’s low rainfall and humidity are favorable conditions for cultivating longflower lilies, as they not only reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases, but also provide natural protection of the plant’s bulbs, it said.
Field trials showed that longflower lilies’ bulbs significantly grew in circumference and weight after being cultivated in Penghu County for several months, it said, adding that it reflected the county’s potential to become a bulb cultivation base in developing a domestic bulb supply chain.
The best planting time for longflower lilies is near November, when the summer heat fades, allowing the plant to grow in winter and flower in spring in the following year, the branch said.
The county’s Forestry and Park Management Center said the longflower lily season is expected to continue into next month.
To promote home greening, the center has given away 11,724 longflower lily bulbs to citizens since December last year, it added.
Additional reporting by Liu Yu-ching and CNA
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