If you’re planting lilies in a group of three, we would plant them 8 inches apart, depending on the size of the lilies.

The flowers will likely not have enough strength to produce seeds, unfortunately. Once they’re cut, they really only have enough energy to finish blooming before dying.

Hi Les,

To store for travel, dig up your bulbs and gently wash them, removing all dirt. Discard any rotten or disease-ridden bulbs. Fill a cardboard box (or several if you have a lot of bulbs) with alternating layers of dry peat moss and bulbs. Top the last layer of bulbs with a final layer of peat moss. When possible, store in a cool and dry place to insure that no moisture gets into the box. We hope this helps!

Lily bulbs should look similar in shape to a large bulb of garlic, except lilies do not have the papery covering or “skin” that garlic and onions do. Typically, you want to leave lily bulbs in the ground until the foliage (stem and leaves) dies back naturally. If you have already pulled them up, then you can just cut off the stem and foliage, leaving about an inch on the bulb. Little bulbs growing at the base of the stem are called bulblets; if they are growing farther up the stem, they are bulbils. Both eventually grow into new bulbs, but take a long time to do so. 

If you’re located in a climate where a true winter freeze doesn’t occur, then you can plant the bulbs in the fall. However, if you typically see freezing winter temperatures, then you’ll want to store the bulbs until spring. The easiest option would be to replant them in the pots they came in and store the entire pots in a cool, dark place for the winter. The key to storing lilies is to keep them cool and to not let them dry out, which is why storing them in soil is a good idea. Just make sure they do not get too moist, as they could rot.

As far as possible you want to replicate the conditions the lilies would experience in the ground. As noted above, Before winter, add 4 to 6 inches of mulch, simply to delay the ground freeze and allow the roots to keep growing. Leave the mulch until spring once the last hard frost has passed. See your local frost dates. If your ot is not deep enough to allow that much mulch, you could put the pot into something else that would facilitate that (from a box to the ground). Also above it says Keep moist in winter. How much depends on local conditions. Adequate mulch should keep the “moisture” from freezing. Speaking of freezing, a too shallow container (or bulb depth in ground) can result in frost heaves (essentially freezing and thawing cycles) in the soil that can lift the bulbs and expose them more than is desirable.  Rain, followed by dryness, then rain again can also contribute.

Alternatively, we often recommend lifting the bulb, storing it in a cool, dry place in peat moss that you occasionally dampen, then replanting it in spring.

We might suggest dividing the lilies, but if you lifted and looked at some and they don’t appear to need that… Then, we were beginning to think that maybe your altitude put you on the extreme end of the hardiness zone. But you’ve had success in the past. How about the soil pH? If you have lilies that prefer neutral to alkaline soil, the pine needles—esp if you have mulched with them over a period of years—may have altered the soil pH. Check it and amend, as needed. Fall is the best time to lime. Here in info on pH: https://www.almanac.com/content/preparing-soil-planting And more on soil amendments: https://www.almanac.com/blog/gardening/garden-journal/organic-soil-amend...

We suggest high-potassium fertilizer above; ever done that? It would be lacking.

As for planting deeper; per above (you should review all the tips above), the holes should be 2 to 3 times the bulb’s diameter. If you think that’s it, we suggest checking the pH, amending as/if necessary, and then planting in fall.

Hope this helps!