Hi all. I work at a nursery and I rescued from the trash all the bulbs that were past season; cannas, callas, amarocrinum, glads, lillies, hymenocallis, ixia, begonia etc. I planted about 150 various lillies (lillium)(orange,red,pink,white,yellow) in my vegetable raised beds around the tomatoes, peppers etc. I had to put them there because I knew they needed planting immediately and that was the best area with soil ready for planting. Some of them were sprouting in the packages. Do you think they will make it and what can I do to give these late bulbs the best chance? They were all firm......
just planted 150 lilies from garbage....
Sprouted lilies aren't necessarily a bad thing. Be very careful as the sprouts can snap quite easily, thus giving no blooms this year.
Plant the bulbs about 4 - 6 inches deep, if the sprouted noses are more than 2-3" long, then plant them with the noses just above soil level. Good luck!
it is not ideal, but as gadeners we are usually always willing to take the long shots with plants. I think most of them will surprise you with the magnitude of their gratitude! LOL
And if they croak, so what, they were doomed until you rescued them anyway. :)
I would LOVE to go dumpster diving with you good job LOL
Gloria
Thanks everyone.....yes I guess the worst would death to all (but at least no money lost). Im going to be hopeful for 150 beautiful blooms. The funny thing is this is the first year I took an interest in lillies and bought some way earlier, that are now about a foot high in the front yard!
Gloria ~ yes, I will not lie...the 'garbage hauls' are one of the huge benefits of working at a nursery! (but try working in freezing, pouring rain all winter...lol)
My friend Cathy ownes a small nursery and she works so very hard some times I don't know how she dose it
Gloria