Growing Lilies

How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Lilies

Oriental Lily

Lily Oriental Colorado

Longfield Gardens

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Everyone loves lilies. With large, showy blooms, lilies add striking elegance to the yard and garden from early to midsummer. Grown from bulbs, lilies are perennial flowers that will return year after year and require minimal care, provided that you plant them in the right place. 

Lilies have six plain or strikingly marked tepals (“petals”) and are often trumpet-shaped, sitting atop a tall, erect stem with narrow, long, lance-shaped leaves. They come in many beautiful colors, including pink, gold, red, orange, and white.

Asiatic and Oriental lilies are the most popular garden lily varieties. Asiatic lilies bloom first in early summer (in June), right after peonies. They are not fussy as long as they are grown in well-draining soil. They are the shortest type of lily (about 2 to 3 feet tall) and come in many colors, from pastel to tropical. They don’t have much of a fragrance, but they do add bright color to the garden. It’s the Oriental lilies that have that famously strong fragrance. They are tall and stately (4 feet), and tend to grow more slowly, often blooming about the time when Asiatic lily flowers are fading (mid- to late-summer).

What are “True Lilies”?

True lilies grow from bulbs and are of the genus Lilium. Daylilies (Hemerocallis), despite having “lilies” in their name, are not true lilies. Daylilies have many leaves that grow from a crown, whereas true lilies generally have only one stem or shoot that grows from the bulb. Similarly, peace lilies, canna lilies, and calla lilies are not true lilies. Learn more about “true” lilies.

When do Lilies Bloom?

Lilies tend to bloom from early summer to fall, depending on the type. By carefully blending early, mid-season, and late varieties into your garden, you will enjoy their magnificent blooms from spring through first frost. At home in both formal and naturalistic settings, most lilies also take readily to containers. Plus, they make great cut flowers!

asiatic-lily_full_width.jpg
Asiatic lilies come in a range of bright, beautiful colors.

Planting

When to Plant Lilies

  • Plant lily bulbs in the fall, a few weeks before the winter brings freezing temperatures. Bulbs planted in the autumn will have well established roots in the spring. The bulbs benefit from a winter chill to produce big blooms.
  • We do advise planting in spring in areas with particularly harsh winters. Container-grown lily plants can be planted anytime during the summer.
  • Buy the bulbs close to planting time. You don’t want to buy the bulbs in the fall and wait until spring to plant them.

How to Plant Lilies

  • Select a site with soil that drains well. How can you tell? After a good rain, find a spot that is the first to dry out. Water trapped beneath the overlapping scales on the lily bulb may cause rot, so a well-drained site is essential.
  • Lilies need lots of sun. For dependable blooms, lilies need 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. If it’s too shady, the stems will attempt to lean towards the sun or get spindly and fall over. 
  • Lilies are best suited for Zones 3 to 8. They do not thrive in Zones 9 and 10 without a period of refrigeration; they need a cold, dormant period.
  • Most of the popular varieties prefer acidic to neutral soil, but some are lime-tolerant or prefer alkaline soils (e.g., Madonna lilies).
  • Loosen the soil to a depth of 12 to 15 inches. The deep planting encourages the developing stem to send out roots to help stabilize the plant and perhaps eliminate the need for staking. Also, deep planting keeps lily bulbs cool when temperatures soar.
  • Enrich the soil with leaf mold or well-rotted organic matter to encourage good drainage. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.
  • Plant the bulbs 3 times as deep as the height of the bulb and set the bulb in the hole pointy side up. Fill the hole with soil and tamp gently.
  • Space bulbs at a distance equal to three times the bulb’s diameter (usually about 8 to 18 inches apart, depending on the variety).
  • For a good effect, plant lilies in groups of 3 to 5 bulbs.
  • Water thoroughly. 

See more tips on how to grow lilies.

Care

How to Care for Lilies

  • During active growth, water freely—especially if rainfall is less than 1 inch per week.
  • Keep lilies mulched so that their roots are cool. The mulch should feel moist, but not wet. Read more about mulching.
  • Apply a high-potassium liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks from planting until 6 weeks after flowering.
  • Apply a thin layer of compost each spring, followed by a 2-inch layer of mulch.
  • Stake tall lilies.
  • Lilies do not bloom more than once per season, but you can remove the faded flowers so that the plants don’t waste energy making seeds.
  • After the lily blooms, you can also remove just the stem itself. However, do NOT remove leaves until they have died down and turned brown in fall. It’s very important not to cut back the leaves until the end of their season because hey help provide nourishment to the bulb for next season’s blooms.
  • Cut down the dead stalks in the late fall or early spring.
  • 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. See your local frost dates.
  • If your region doesn’t have snow cover, keep soil moist in winter.
  • When lily shoots grow through the mulch in the spring, start to remove it gradually.
  • Divide plants every 3 to 4 years as new growth begins in the spring. Just lift the plants and divide the clumps. Replant the new bulbs adding some compost.

White lily

Pests/Diseases

  • Gray mold is sometimes a problem, especially in a wet, cool spring or summer. Make sure lilies are not crowded and have plenty of air circulation.
  • Viruses, spread by aphids, may be troublesome, although some cultivars are virus-tolerant.
  • Red lily beetles, slugs, and snails may occur.
  • Deer, rabbits, voles, and groundhogs may eat entire plants. If these critters are a problem, plant the bulbs in buried wire cages to protect them from getting eaten.

Harvest/Storage

Displaying Lilies in Vases

  • Lilies make wonderful cut flowers. However, avoid cutting off more than a third of the stem, which can reduce the plant’s vigor and longevity.

  • If you are growing lilies strictly for cut flowers, consider planting them in a designated cutting garden, where you can plant fresh bulbs each year.

  • When cutting lilies, choose those with buds that are just about to open, with a bit of the flower color showing. The higher up buds will open as the bottom ones fade.

  • Just one lily stem in a vase can be a show-stopper.

  • As soon as you get lilies inside, trim the stem ends an inch or so, making a diagonal cut with a sharp knife.

  • If you worry that the orange pollen of lilies might cause stains, simply snip off the stamens in the flower’s center.

  • Before arranging in a vase, remove the lower leaves on the stems so that no foliage will be underwater.

  • A good lily arrangement will last two or more weeks. Change the water every few days.

  • To help prolong the flowers’ life, add cut-flower food to the water. Lilies require only half the amount of food recommended for other flowers.

Learn how to keep cut flowers fresh.

Recommended Varieties

There are many types of lilies which bloom at different times. You can enjoy lilies all summer long if you plant bulbs from different varieties.

Asiatic lilies are the earliest to bloom and the easiest to grow. With their upward facing flowers, they bloom early to midsummer. Hardy in Zones 4 to 9, Asiatic lilies come in pure white, pink, vivid yellow, orange, and red. Intense breeding has erased much of the Asiatics’ fragrance, but in spite of their lack of perfume, they are a favorite with floral arrangers.

  • ‘Crete’: deep pink, blooms June to July, 3 to 4 feet tall
  • ‘Enchantment’: orange, blooms in June, 2 to 3 feet tall

Trumpet lilies bloom mid-summer. Tall with trumpet-shaped flowers, they are hardy in Zones 5 to 9. Trumpet lilies grow many blooms (12 to 15 per stalk!) and have a wonderfully heady, sweet fragrance.

  • ‘Regale’: white, blooms early to late summer, 3 to 4 feet tall
  • ‘Rising Moon’: pastel yellow with a pink edges, blooms in mid-summer, 3 to 4 feet tall

yellow-trumpet-lily_full_width.jpg
Trumpet Lilies bloom mid-summer and their blooms are deeply fragrant. Just a few plants can perfume your entire garden.

Oriental hybrids end the season, blooming in mid- to late summer, just when Asiatic lilies are beginning to fade. From tiny 2-footers to towering 8-foot-tall giants, Orientals are always a striking choice (the shorter ones are great for patio beds or container gardens). Adored for their intoxicating fragrance that intensifies after dark, Oriental lilies produce masses of huge white, pink, red, or bi-color blooms. They make wonderful cut flowers that will fill even the largest of rooms with their spicy scents.

  • ‘Black Beauty’: dark red, blooms in late summer, 5 to 6 feet tall
  • ‘Casa Blanca’: white, blooms August to September, 4 to 5 feet tall

Wit & Wisdom

  • The name “lily” can be misleading because lots of other plants use it besides true lilies. Daylilies and water lilies aren’t lilies at all, and neither are lilies-of-the-valley or lilyturf. With so many other plants using the name “lily,” it seems that identity theft has been around since long before the use of computers and credit cards!
  • Easter lilies can be planted in the ground in the spring. They may survive several years if you mulch them heavily in the fall, especially in northern regions. If they survive, they’ll bloom in late summer.
  • In a flower bed, lilies prosper in the presence of low-growing plants that protect the lilies’ roots from drying out.

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Reader Comments

Leave a Comment

some quesion i need help please :(

Submitted by marf on

in lily flower :
- Do the female or male parts of the flower develop first?
- Are all of the flower parts developed before the flower emerges from the bud?

dividing the bulbs

Submitted by lecee on

They have grown together in a doughnut shape and are white and wet. They look like an onion. I want to separate and replant them next week. How can I separate them?

separating lily bulbs

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Let them dry, then pull apart the bulbs. Do not separate the pieces that look like garlic cloves; leave them attached. See here from the North American Lily Society: https://www.lilies.org/culture/propagation/

Lily bulbs

Submitted by Diane Caston on

I was given part of a family plant. It is supposed to be some kind of
ruffled lily. What I received is a tangle of roots with little bulbs in it.
How do I plant these?
Thanks

ruffled lily

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Our best guess is that your bulb is a day lily. All lilies are planted about the same. See above for guidance.

why have i got pink and white lillies in the same pot.last year

Submitted by pat king on

Can you explain why.

Probably because there’s a

Submitted by Marcella on

Probably because there’s a pink bulb and a white bulb

oriental/asian lilies/seeds?

Submitted by mert carlson on

i have a half dozen beautiful oriental/asian lilies w/full flowering capabilities; at each node from half way up a 3' stalk, i have a small black (what appears to be a seed) lodged at the beginning of a leaf and stalk...are these seeds? and if so, what do i do to make use of them for next year? i'm a beginner here...thank you...

Lillies

Submitted by Lois D Emmons on

The black little nodes between leaves or to the tips of the lilly plants are seeds and when they produce a short root underneath them I roll them off my finger gently and put them in a brown sack with peat moss to winter over in the potting shed, next year to plant individually.

Can you cut down the height of the stalk in the fall?

Submitted by Cheryl Britton on

I live in an apartment and they are getting to tall for my windows that crank out and I don't have anywhere to move them.

Cutting stalk of lily

Submitted by Catherine Boeckmann on

If this is a true garden lily (versus daylily), then you can remove the stem itself. But do not remove the foliage which it needs to store energy. Once the foliage dies back, you can cut it off.

deer and rabbits eating leaves of lily plants

Submitted by joe on

How can I protect my lilies from the voracious appetites of the deer and rabbits in the area?

Daylillied

Submitted by Sheila on

My daylillies have & are blooming quite a bit. I’m new st this & was wondering if the spent blooms should be removed and if so where is the best place on the stalk to remove them?

Thanks so much!!

Sheila

deadheading daylilies

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are not true lilies, but they can benefit from deadheading spent flowers so that the plant doesn’t spend energy on forming seeds, and also it’s helpful for a cleaner look. In some of the newer varieties, this can also encourage further blooms. The flowers form on a long stalk, called a scape, that ends in several flower buds. The flowers on each scape may open at different times. You can use your fingers, or pruning shears, to pinch or cut off a spent blossom just below the base of the flower. Once all flowers on the scape have gone by, you can use pruning shears to remove the scape, cutting at the base of the stalk.

Potted lillies

Submitted by Julie on

For mother's day I bought my mom a pot of four lillies. My mom loves having flowers in the house so she has no intention of planting them outside. But, she still has no idea what the right amount of water and sunlight lillies actually need is. Would putting them in a room that gets partial sunlight be enough? As for water, I read that a little bit of water, enough to keep the soil moist not soaked, is enough. Is that true? How would we be sure the soil towards the bottom of the pot is moist as well? Is there any other things we should do to keep the lillies alive for as long as possible? Thanks in advance.

My Asian lilies are blooming again

Submitted by Jes on

I bought 3 Asian lilies in mid April. They already had buds and fully bloomed within 10 days. The same seems to be happening again. The 3 indiv plants are full of what looks like buds. They are in a long container and I was going to plant them in organic soil. After reading your info and advice I’m asking what you think I should do. I live in Sarasota, in SW Florida which is zone 9.
Thanks.

forcing lillies

Submitted by Joe on

i live in CA after lilies have flowered how long before i can cut them back and put in the fridge in order to force a fall foliage may i should ask can I?

Lillies

Submitted by Vicky Ross on

Recently bought Lillie's in a container. 3 per container.Do I need to space out the 3 stalks for better results?

spacing for lilies

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

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

I was recently given cut

Submitted by Melissa on

I was recently given cut lilies in a floral arrangement from work. Is there a way I can get seeds from them so I can plant my own lilies? Thank you for the guidance.

Seeds from Cut Lilies

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

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.

Rest period

Submitted by Amanda on

I recieved potted oriental Lillys for Valentine's day. I want to save the bulbs for my garden. When will they re-bloom? What steps should I take as they have already bloomed?

Lily Trees

Submitted by Wendy Wood on

I have Lily Trees & lily bulbs how deep should I plant Lily Trees 5’-8’ tall?

The lifting & storage of lilies bulbs for approx 6-8 weeks

Submitted by Les Rosanowski on

As we are moving home & we wish to lift & store for approx 8 weeks what is the preferred method of doing this please — I’m talking about 40 bulbs.Thank you

How to Store Bulbs for Travel

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

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!

Lilies

Submitted by Shirley on

I received three pots of lilies, as gifts last spring. My question is what does the bulbs look like? I have taken these , what I think are bulbs, from the dirt and there is one big glob of things that I think are bulbs, but they are all attached. Several little things attached to the stems. Do I break the large glob from the stem? Another question these things have roots do I need to plant now it's October or do I wait for early spring?

Lily Bulbs

Submitted by Almanac Staff on

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.

lilies and cats

Submitted by Janet Eckstrom on

Readers should know that ALL parts of ALL lilies are toxic to cats. Lily ingestion causes kidney damage which can be severe and sometimes fatal. So use care when deciding where to put that vase full of lilies.

Indoor lily

Submitted by Eirwen on

Hi i bought an indoor lily plant last year, it flowered and it died back.. i followed the instructions online, but this year it has grown ( 6 bulbs in pot) and is 10 inches in height but it hasnt produced flowers, only what looks like little bulbs with roots, on the top of each plant! Please advice what these are and what if anything i can do?
Thanks Eirwen

Pages

Growing Lilies

Botanical Name

Lilium
Plant Type Flower
Sun Exposure Full Sun, Part Sun
Soil Type Loamy
Soil pH Varies
Bloom Time Spring, Summer, Fall
Flower Color Orange, Pink, Red, White, Yellow
Hardiness Zones 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Special Features Attracts Butterflies

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