Re: Oriental Lilies
- Subject: Re: Oriental Lilies
- From: E*@aol.com
- Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 14:15:26 EDT
In a message dated 6/22/02 11:41:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jktmstarr@juno.com writes:
<< Help! I received a beautiful Oriental Lily as a gift and have no idea
how to care for it. The petals are turning brown one by one. Thanks,
Kerri >>
This is a hard one to answer. You do have to keep a lily watered if it is
potted and in growth.
You should keep it in filtered light as you have no idea where and how it was
grown.
If it was greenhouse grown and you have put it outside the readaptation may
be a factor. If you are keeping it inside, the lack of light may be the
factor.
After a lily blooms, the leaves usually remain a while and then the plant
dies down called dormancy. It returns the following year and will bloom, if
an Oriental in August of late July in the northern part of the country.
If all your leaves fall off and the bulb is still firm, plant it in the
garden and mark it as you might forget it next year. The new shoots emerge
late and the gardener often cultivates off the tip or flowering shoot by
accident as it remains underground longer than many other plants - I have
done this so now I mark them. The lily bulb (lilium) can remain dormant for
many months and through the winter and still survive for your garden next
year. Orientals are the most difficult to deal with so doing some searching
and learning might be a good thing.
It is not a potted plant that continues in bloom. It is up once, blooms and
is over. They do sell them potted and in bud around here but it is far more
economical and practical to buy bulbs in the fall and allow them to grow
naturally in the garden.
Claire Peplowski
NYS zone 4
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