Stupid Lily question

One of the challenges of my job is a man called Fred. Fred is 53 years old physically, and about 8 to 10 mentally. He gets barely enough SSI to pay his rent, so we keep him in odd jobs for groceries. He scrubs the bathrooms, and laundries, runs errands, that type of thing. A lot of the time, it is like having another child to discipline. :-(

Very much like a child, when Fred screws up, he then tries to please me. Consequently, when he found an almost dead plant in the dumpster he was getting aluminum cans from, he brought it to me thinking it would please me. I stuck it in a bucket of water and it is coming out of it, but it obviously is a leftover Easter lily.

Help? Will it grow? Is it a house plant, or can I put it outside for him to tend? What do I do with this? I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I have no clue!

Solitare, how interesting. It won't survive as a house plant because it needs to go through cold to bloom again. However, your zone may be conducive for outdoor planting. And even if it is not, if you can plant it in a protected area, like near the foundation of a building and mulch it for winter, it has a very good chance of surviving and blooming again. If it doesn't, I'd be very willing to send you one that is quite hardy (asiatic) that Fred can take care of. In fact, there are probably dozens of people here who would love to help Fred start his own lily garden.

I have a flowerbed up against the Bath/Shower house, that is next to Freds RV. It is on the south side, sunny, and that building I keep quite warm all year long. Also it would be protected from the worst of the winds. Would that be a good spot? If you think it can be an outdoor plant, we can definitely put it there for him, right beside his pink swan.

Yup, sounds good to me. What's the soil like? if you can manage it, it would be helpful to mix in a little peat. It will loosen the soil up a bit and provide the acid that lilies like. Or maybe someone has an opened bag of potting soil they could donate.

I can get potting soil. Not a problem. The soil there is not a bad mix already, although a bit sandy. Good drainage though.

Thanks. Since I have a lot of other flowers, he thinks I can grow anything, but he'd be heartbroken if it dies. Some jerk just stole his dog, and he cried for days.

When I lived in Detroit, people planted their easter lilies outdoors and they came back. That is zone 6, and I think Denver is too?(Lived there once and loved the winters!)
Sharon

Yup, we're a 5/6 depending the mood of the weather. If it bloomed next year Fred would be thrilled, so I'll baby it a bit, and get him set up with it. Should I trim it back any?

If it is still green, leave the foliage until it dies back naturally.

Ok. Thanks.

At this point, you do not cut the foiliage back at all until after a killing frost. The foliage is what provides the energy to rebloom next year. If you ever do cut a lily stem, you don't want to take more than 2/3, otherwise, you'll harm the bulb's ability to bloom the next year. I'd almost be inclined to pop a few more bulbs (if you can get them) in with it just to make sure he isn't disappointed next year. It might be a little late for you right now, but this fall you could certainly add a couple asiatics without him knowing.

I can some in this fall easily. It is still a bit bedraggled, the lower foliage perked up after a day in water, but the topmost leaves are still yellowed and droopy, so I wasn't sure what to do. I have some lilys, identity unknown, and a couple of daylilies, but I've never had to help one recover like this.

I really appreciate your help. Fred is a combination of obnoxious, old man and fragile little boy, with a whole lot of problems. This whole thing started when I fired him again for making racial slurs to customers, which is a once a week occurance and not a healthy thing to do in this neighborhood. So after apologising to the person, he brought me this to get back on my "good" side. Now he is thrilled with his Easter lily. He dug out an old pot, took the bus to the thrift store, and came back with some plastic flowers to put beside the lily so it wouldn't be lonely.

This is Fred.

This message was edited May 11, 2006 10:27 PM

Very sweet. :)

FYI ~ Easter lilies are forced for early bloom so the foliage on these may die back earlier than they normally would. Don't worry if that happens. When planting any bulbs that have been forced, it's a bit of a crap shoot but I've had good luck with lilies.

Can you see where the lilies bloomed on the stem? I was just thinking if it's like most Easter plants, the blooms were just picked off and the stem was not cut. If that's the case, I'd cut back a little bit (the yellow, withered foliage isn't doing it any good) and then just make sure it gets lotz of sun and tcl this summer. It may bounce back just fine or it may be a bit weak next year. But if it does come back, I bet the summer of 08, it will be a real beauty.

After you plant it, it wouldn't hurt to fertilize it a bit. I just use that granular fertilizer that Miracle Grow has, but any all-purpose one would be fine. Oh, and that plastic pot of flowers may come in handy too. Lilies like their heads in the sun, but their feet in the shade.

Fred sounds like a character and you must have the heart of an angel and the patience of a saint. Please provide a periodic lily progress report and, of course, any further adventures with Fred.

Yeah, Moby, you're right, the stems where the flowers look pinched. I added some liquid fertilizer to the water I used to plant with, so that should help.

I have neither, beaker. You have no idea how many times I go out the back door of the house to avoid running into Fred, because my patience is totally gone. Fred is most definitely a character, but in our little microcosm, he unfortunately is only one of many. Fred is one of the more vulnerable, that's all.