2008 Lily sprouts

Here is mine! Madame Butterfly from Faraway Flowers. It was about 6 inches from my west facing foundation. I couldn't bear to leave it out in the cold. This is a 12" across pot.

intercessor,

I'm new to growing lilies from bulbs (I've had them growing in the ground for many years but they were already plants when I got them). Will your bulb flower in that pot for you?

MollyD

This was a big bulb, so probably. Although I never grew a big lily in a pot before,so...?

I have. I had to move out lilies to kill the Aegopodium so the lilies all had to go in pots and they all bloomed. Now that the pest of a weed is gone the lilies have been replanted.

Hi Pirl,

Did they bloom in the pots or only once you got them into the ground? Also I've been trying to find out if they're heavy feeders but haven't found a site that says anything about feeding them.

MollyD

Hi Molly,

Yes they bloomed in pots and again, the following year, in the ground. For me they're not heavy feeders and that's a really good thing. If I had to give every plant the food it might want I'd never get my gardening done.

Pirl

LOL I always give my delphiniums a whole lot of food (organic and non organic) since they are very heavy feeders. Everyone else gets a much more moderate feeding.
When is the best time to move lilies? I have a bed I want to re-do this year but I can afford to wait till the lilies are ready to move. There are also a lot of daffs/tulips and crocuses in there.

MollyD

This is Asiatic 'Sweet Kiss in a pot I overwintered in the garage!

Nanny would you know how cold it was in your garage over the winter?

MollyD

I would have no idea Molly! I would imagine it is the 30-40 degree range since it is not heated. Maybe colder during a couple of really cold snaps we had.

Thanks Nanny. I was just wondering how low a temperature they could take in a pot.

MollyD

Hi Molly, I've had lilies bloom in pots as well-and come back the next spring, and even increase. I'm not into using lots of fertilizer, generally, and so far so good for my lilies. I've had some of mine overwinter outside in pots-but we've had a mild winter this year, I think our low was the mid-twenties. Not everything is up yet, so I can't say if I've lost any due to the cold, although I doubt I did. I'm more likely to lose them to rot from being too wet.

I had a bunch of bulblets that I didn't get around to replanting last Fall, so I threw them in this container with peat. They've been sitting in my unheated porch since then. I've never potted lilies before but think I'd better start.....

LOL! Maybe I'll try that technique!!

Thats how some of my baggies in the fridge look!

You make it so tempting, Moby.

If you don't pot them up it looks like they'll just break out of the container on their own!

Oh good grief, that reminds me, I have a bunch of scales I probably should be looking at...

Moby what's a bulblet? Is it like a very small bulb?

MollyD

Yeppers, that's what I think they are, baby bulbs. Kinda like Kidlets, only in this case bulblets. :)

LOL I'll have to keep my eyes open for them. How long to they take to grow to "adult bulb" size?

MollyD

How long does it take? Hmm... I'm sure someone can tell you a better than I because I don't pay much attention to them until they get large enough that they need to be separated.

Some lilies are more prolific than others and spit babies babies out left and right, but this is generally how it goes ~ the first year little bulbs (bulblets) develop on the stem, the next you'll get leaflets, then next a spindly stem and after that you'll have a nice size stem of lilies. But those are my poor observations. ;)

Here you can see (in the stem roots) that a bulbet has developed nicely, has been growing on it's own and is ready to be replanted.

Moby - I know you moved but before that how often did you dig up your lilies and check for new bulbs? The thought of doing it, even every two years, is daunting.

Pirl, I know I live in a place where lilies grow particularly well, but I find I barely have to look to find the bulblets. For me, they grow from the top roots, not down by the main bulb, so there really isn't a lot of digging to find them. Sometimes for me they're right at the surface, too, so it's pretty easy to tell. I've also had them basically just fall off when I was moving a lily.

In colder climes, are the bulblets deeper in the soil?

On the surface up here, give or take a couple of inches.

I'm going to have to look at some lilies I've had in the ground about 2 years. It never occurred to me that they might be increasing that way for me!
Thanks Moby and everyone else!
MollyD

You're welcome, Molly. Sometimes you can see the tops of the bulblets just at the soil surface and as mentioned, they can be found between there and the original bulb. I have a couple LA's that increase like rabbits, and then there's my 6 (?) year old African Queen that hasn't ever increased.

Pirl, I never have dug lilies just to check ~ they'll let you know they need to be divided by how cramped they are, but first you'll notices leaflets at the base of a stem. As long as your blooms have room to open, they're fine. But if a clump has stems poking out in every direction it's probably time ~ or whatever suits your personal aesthetics. :)

Thanks, Moby. I just couldn't envision digging them up just to check.

I do have quite a few on the soil surface but, in the past, I've simply left them and they do their magic trick of planting themselves deeper and growing.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/655898/

Molly - just to throw in my little bit of info....Dad has had asiatic lilies in pots for over 10 years.....they come back year after year, bloom like crazy, every few years he would separate the bulblets in the fall and plant them in the garden.....the pots go into the (unheated) garage for the winter....no water until they start poking through the soil in the spring...then when its warm enough they go outside....

the garage is generally only 10 degrees warmer than outdoors.....

Thanks MrsJ.

MollyD

I have a really big pot (about 2 ft tall and around the diameter of a 20" bike tire) that I put some orange asiatic lilies in about 12 years ago. I replenish the soil level every few years, add a handful of compost and some water with miracle grow every few weeks and they have been coming back every year.

Last year was a big show year but I can tell from the seedlings I'm seeing that it will be a couple of years before they do it again. My asiatics that are in the flower bed always have their bulbils up and down the stems nestled in by the lily leaves. I always forget to pop them off so I think they either dry up on the stems or if they fall off, they probably don't have good enough contact or sufficient water to get going. I

On the subject of lily sprouts, Saturday while cleaning the leaves from my mom's garden I found the tiniest bulblets just laying on top the ground, now it was only like 45 here in zone 6. i gathered them up and planted them in containers, they already had sprouts and roots!
Weirder yet today while planting my early spring plants I found some in my garden, just laying on top the soil with roots and tops on top the soil, I planted them too. I am pretty sure the ones at my Mom's are Orientals Star Gazer, mine are Asiatics. I have never seen any just laying there on top the ground like that let alone in 2 different gardens. Guess the ground really heaved this year.
Kathy

It happens every year, here, that I always find bulbs on top of the ground but if you left them alone they'd still find their way into the earth and down where they belong. Honest!

Hi Molly: I wandered down the thread and found your question on lilies in pots. I'm in Pittsford NY and have had lilies planted in containers which are left out all winter, moved them to this new house and hope they return. They wintered at the old house for four years.I even use the containers as nurserys for the babies from White King's that are in the ground.

OOPS wrong picture

here's another one

I miss spoke, the lilies in the ground are White Henry's 10 years old hated to leave them.
Glad to see further posts have lilies in pots much longer.
I also have some bulblets at the stem above the soil, I'll transplant them. These are King Henrys six feet tall,

Thanks ge1836 ! Glad to know that in this area they can do well in a good size pot. I'm about 3 miles from Bristol Mountain hence the colder zone.

MollyD