Bob Hobden wrote:
[...]

Most of the species Lilies insist on ericaceous compost, they are lime
haters, but most of the hybrid lilies seem to grow quite happily in
neutral soil. That said I would always go for ericaceous compost for
lilies especially if I lived in a hard water area (as I do) and
didn't use rain water (which I sometimes run out of).
Don't forget to give them a good feed every few waterings.

I've long ago lost my little roll of indicator paper: has anybody tried
and tested the rule-of-thumb way of making soft water for lime-hating
plants? I mean, half a pint of vinegar to a gallon of hard water. I'm
nervous about trying it, as I don't know how hard their "hard" is.

And I'm dubious about Crusty's advice: I've always assumed that lilies
want a nice polite leaf-mould, not a bucolic load of dung. And even if
they do like some muck, they'd certainly want it very well composted.

--
Mike.