Star Gazer Lily: How to carry over after flowering in a pot

A friend just asked me how to carry over a Star Gazer Lily from this season to the next flowering. I am not a lily person so I didn't really have a definitive answer for her.

I live in the Aleutian Islands and while some people have had great luck with growing Day Lilies outdoors ann& wintering them over in the ground next to their homes, I have lost every lily I ever tried to plant outdoors - to slugs.

Anyway - if anyone has information to share on potted Stargazer lilies I'd appreciate it so I can pass on the info.

One thought I had would be to handle a potted lily as if it were an Amarylis. I've had some in the same bowl for 10 years now and the bulbs are HUGE now - threatening to break the glass... after flowering, I cut off the stems, withhold water for a month or so, and then water them like all the rest of my plants i.e. whenever I remember to do it, or if the leaves look droopy - whichever comes first.

Thanks!

When I first purchased a collection of lilies, I let them dry out like glads. THIS IS WRONG. They must be watered and do not let them dryout. Since that time, I water when I think they are getting dry, even during the winter months. I also put some bonemeal in the containers. I transplant them every few years when they multi and the container is full of bulbs.

I just went to this site and I think they may have something of interest for you
http://plantlilies.com/read/pots.html

Many thanks to you both for the information. I have passed it on to my friend. I went to the www.plantlillies.com site and had a great read. I am now thinking of trying again to grow some lilies outdoors. As I mentioned - we have gazillions of Kamchatka fritilary growing all over the island. I have a bunch around my house in various exposures which range from total deep snow cover all winter, to fully exposed ground that gets slammed by brutal dry icy winds and freezing slush. So, I will try to find some similar lilies and plant accordingly.

So, off on a new plant adventure I go :)

And, perhaps later on in the summer I will dig up a few of my Kam fritilary and rub off the little ricelets and grow them on to good size and put a few up for trade or something. Let me know if you'd be interested. I can also send a few full size bulbs and leave the ricelets in the ground for the next generation.. Oh, and when the plants are in full flower next month I will get some fotos and post them.

Oh, yes - one more thing - over the years I have noticed that slugs adore these wild lilies. I will go to work in the morning marveling at the lovely flowers and come home at night and they are mostly gone with only slug trails and left where the petals were. They don't seem to affect the seed pods tho.

Any ideas on how to drive slugs away without using commercial slug bait? I don't want to mess up the tundra around the house.

Again - thanks