You can quickly learn how to plant easter lily bulbs in three simple steps. This is a useful skill for every gardener because of how long these plants can last with proper care. And speaking of which, you probably have a headstart if you have a greenhouse for planting easter lily bulbs.
Remember that in starting any plant, it’s essential to have stable and ideal conditions to help them thrive. It’s even familiar for commercial growers to maintain the easter lilies in the greenhouse. Overall, even though easter lilies are native to Japan, don’t be afraid to add them to your garden, regardless of your region, because you can mimic their growing environment with a greenhouse.
How To Grow Easter Lily From Bulbs
Step #1. Preparation
The first step in planting easter lilies from bulbs is preparing the site itself. More than for overwintering bulbs, it’s also useful to grow easter lily bulbs in the greenhouse, especially when your location is not warm enough to support their growth. Remember that the bulbs will grow well somewhere with full sun and not freezing temperatures.
Step #2. Planting
The best time to grow easter lilies is after the frost’s danger has passed if you don’t have a greenhouse. Otherwise, let the lilies undergo dormancy and plant the bulbs in the fall. After taking the pot’s bulbs, you want to transplant them in the ground at a similar depth or around 3 inches for good measure.
Each bulb should also have a space of 12 inches among them to anticipate their growth, and then you can saturate the ground after planting.
Step #3. Maintenance
The final step for planting easter lily bulbs is maintenance to ensure that they will thrive. It’s typical for the plant to develop brown stems and leaves, so it’s better to clip them off at ground level. You will also need to mulch the plants to help maintain moisture and cool root zone.
Mulching is also crucial, especially when you’re planting outdoors since this will protect your bulbs after the soil freezes. Then, maintain soil moisture, and you can fertilize lightly to boost easter lilies. Gardeners often feed in spring with a slow-release fertilizer but be mindful of the label instructions to avoid burning the plants.
Caring For Easter Lilies
You can expect your easter lilies to bloom in summer, but it’s also common for them to only flower in fall. Regardless, you must ensure that you are providing their needs and requirements to avoid drawbacks. For example, you want to maintain soil moisture without leaving the plants in standing water.
Therefore, the best way to water easter lilies is by soaking around the bulbs and letting them dry in between watering. You can also mulch to help with moisture retention and prevent weed growth. As for maintenance, you can fertilize in the middle of summer.
It’s also worth emphasizing cutting the foliage to ground level once they turn yellow and dry. However, don’t be tempted to remove them after the blooming period so that your plants can still nourish their bulbs. Lastly, be mindful of your cleanliness and diligence in practices to avoid problems like rot and aphids.
Care For Potted Easter Lilies
If you have easter lilies in pots indoors, you can extend them by removing the anthers. You can also clip off the dying flowers at the base to help the plant focus on the emerging buds. More so, one can assume that maintaining soil moisture and temperatures will help with potted lilies’ lifespan.
What To Do With Easter Lilies After Flowering
In general, you can’t keep the easter lilies as a houseplant after its flowers wither. However, you can grow it outdoors to encourage reblooming. Keep in mind the three steps discussed earlier and loosen the plant’s root system upon removal from the container.
Cover the bulb with soil after planting and provide water and fertilizer to help it thrive in the garden. These will also be your practices throughout the season until you see the foliage dying. Once this happens, you can expect new shoots, which can occur in the middle of the year, or next summer.
Easter Lily Winter Care
Because easter lilies are not winter hardy, you have to remember some tricks when overwintering them. You can have them in the greenhouse or start mulching in the fall. However, it would be best to dig up the bulbs altogether in the fall and store them in the greenhouse.
You can also set your plants outside if you’re in zone 8, but those in zone 9 can put the greenhouse at 40 to 45°F and keep the plants indoors for six weeks. This will provide the bulbs their winter chill at a controlled rate and prepare them for the next flowering season.
Conclusion
Growing plants from bulbs are relatively easy as long as you know their requirements. For example, those interested in learning how to plant easter lily bulbs only need to understand three steps to guarantee gorgeous-looking lilies later in the season. Start by choosing the ideal location and ensuring that the danger of frost has passed before planting.
Plant the bulbs at the same depth as they were in the pot with appropriate spacing among them. You can then maintain the easter lilies by cutting back once they develop brown foliage. You must also mulch to protect the plants if you grow them outdoors.