Saving Your Easter lily
Saving Your Easter lily
The blossoms on your Easter lily are starting to fade, you look at the plant and wonder “now what”. Here’s what you can do. After the last flower has withered, cut it off and keep the plant growing indoors until the weather warms up.

Lilies are great repeat preformers and can be planted in the garden after the danger of frost has passed. Place them in a 6-8” deep, well-drained sunny location and water immediately after planting. Lilies like their “feet in the shade and heads in the sun”, therefore mulch at least 2” deep. This will conserve moisture and keep the weeds away.
It is important to let the leaves and stems die back in order to replenish the nutrients and energy needed for next year’s growth. Once they turn brown, cut off the stems of the original plant and wait for the new growth to begin. It is unlikely that your lily will re-bloom this year but look for it in subsequent years to bloom in June-July.
Fertilize monthly, when the new shoots emerge until flowering with an 8-8-8 or use a slow release fertilizer in the spring. Apply the fertilizer 3 inches away from the stem and water.
Easter lilies grown in the cooler zones such as Northern Illinois are marginally hardy. It is recommended that they be planted 8” deep and heavily mulched over the winter, in case of a hard freeze. It’s worth the effort.
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WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO MOVE AN ALREADY PLANTED EASTER LILLY TO A NEW LOCATION?
I purchased an easter lilly last year. After it had bloomed I put it outside still in the pot. We live in Hawaii but I have it in a shady spot and it has sprouted many new shoots. Can I separate them without killing them?
I have never had an Easter lilly before and I think I jumped the gun. I didn’t research first like I should have. I bought the plant and then brought it home and planted it outside. Will it still survive or should I dig it back up and keep it inside until it has finished flowering and then plant it outside?
Hi, I just purchased my first Easter lilies today.I live in south FL (80’s in the day and 70’s at night) do I leave them in the pots they came in or replant in another pot or the soil? How often do I water? do I keep them indoor or outdoor? Any other helpful advise for my region? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
How much sun/water does my lilly require? Not all buds have blossomed. Other info. very helpful.
Reblooming Easter lily
I received an Easter Lily for a gift and i do not have a yard to plant it in. I live in Arizona and it is hot here in the summer and the coldest it gets in the winter is 45-50 degrees at night day 85-90/ summer 95-100 degrees night and daytime it gets 110-120 degrees. Please help i really would like to know step by step how to keep it and store it until next year after it dies completely out. Right now i have 3 flowers left and it is beautiful and healthy. after they die what do i do? As i said i have no yard or basement i live in an apartment. Please help if you can i really love this plant. Thanks much Missy!
I live in NYC and placed my Easter lily outside on my terrace in the original pot in May after the flowers had faded. It is in the morning sun and has been watered regularly. The stalk is now brown; however, there are two plants coming up on each side of the stalk. What I should do next. I am new at gardening and unfortunately need step by step instructions. I thank you in advance for your help.
I kept the easter lily I bought this year in the balcony in an 8 inch pot. Now the leaves are finally turning yellow in August. I also noticed there are 4 to 5 green bulblets along the soil line. I am wondering if I can leave the pot as it is after the stem died back and wait for next year’s bloom or do I need to dig it up and remove the bulblets and plant them in separate pots? Thank you for your advice!
It’s November and my easter lily is starting to grow, is this good or bad? Should I try and chill it and plant it later?
I live in Arizona where the summers are scortching, I was just given two easter lily plants. Is it safe to plant them outside, or do I need to do something different.
I would like to heard your comments and advice about growing Easter Lily from seeds.
Actually, need all your knowledge and experiences on this procedure for pot flowers and for cutting flower.
Thank you……..
we built a four season room onto our house. our easter lily did wonderful there. we would like to keep it a house plant. should i repot it into a bigger pot now and continue to water until leaves turn brown, then cut it back to soil level. i am hoping it will continue to grow in this room without having to take the bulbs out, please advise. thanks
The comment made often is… you now have a replenished bulb, so now store in a cool dry place… can we dig up the bulb and store it by itself in a brown paper bag like we do gladiola bulbs, or do we need to let it in the soil??
IN STORING AMARYILLIS BULBS IN THE LATE FALL, CAN THEY BE PUT IN THE REFRIGERATOR TO SLOW THEM DOWN FROM STARTING TO BUD IN THE SPRING,?
Thank you.
I read all the suggestions which tell me a lot of what I must do for my Lilly. However, this is after I’m left with a brown stalk! I have continued to water the pot which has lain indoors throughout at 70F. I live in an apartment so can’t plant outside. I live in southern Ontario, with north facing floor to ceiling window. Would appreciate all help in re-blooming my beautiful Lillies. Thanks!
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Can I prune my Easter lilies that have gotten 5 feet tall? If so, how short and if I plant the pruned stalk, will it root? I am in Louisiana and have very tall Easter & Asiatic lilies that I would like to prune. They are way too tall for my flower bed. Also, can I plan the seed pods that have developed after the flowers died? THANKS!
My mother passed away 2 weeks ago before her beautiful white lily bloomed (14 in all). I want to dig it up and plant it on her grave this fall. Can I dig it up now and transplant it in my garden until I visit her grave in October to plant it there? What steps should I take? Thank you for your help.
I’ve been trying to find some info on Tiger Lillies. I bought a pot same time as my easter lillies. The pot has 3plants, which have now dried down to brown stalks. I s there any way of re-blooming a Tiger Lily? Or should I just throw out the pot & get a new plant next year??
Thanks for your reply. However, I do not have a garden, only an extremely shaded balcony. Is it possible for the Asiatic Lily to rebloom in it’s pot? Any special tips on how to achieve this?
Thanks!
Ok I checked out the site and not quite getting the answer I’m looking for. I recently moved into my northwestern home in Washington state and still learning how to garden out here. I have an Easter lily that is in the ground and looks as if it’s been there for a while. It looks heathly but what about when the winter comes? Do I prune it when it dies or do I wait until early spring to do anything to it?
I have an Easter lilly that was in a pot when I purchased it. I planted it in the garden – I live in Illinois. The original stalk has turned brown, but it made several new plants, one of which is large and has 3 blooms now. I would like to cut off the flowers to put in a vase for a friend. Is this OK? Will it hurt the plant to cut off the flowers?
My Easter Lily died back and I neglected to throw it away. This spring, it was still in its pot in the window and began to grow, quite tall and bloom. Now it is dying back, but it appears to have a number of bulblets up the stem of the lily. One at the base of each leave that has died back. Are these bulblets and what should I do with them to get them to become big lilies?
hello! i have a easter lilly. i’m new and have a question? the plant has bloomed and died back. the bottom of the plant has yellow and brown leaves and the top is green but has not produced a flower this year. it did bloom last year,i think i’m taking good care of it but was expecting a new bloom by now? what should i do? thank you.
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I’ve kept my Easter Lily moist thru’ it’s dormant stage. Since the bulbs need to be pre-cooled, preferably in the frig, my quesn is if I keep the orig pot in a plastic bag in the crisper in the frig, would the fruit (apples, grapes, pears) I always have in another compartment, still harm the bulbs?? Alternately, with the temperatures here in Toronto at 18Cmax/9Cmin, would it be ok to leave the pot outside on the balcony?
Also, should I repot the bulbs in fresh soil BEFORE pre-cooling?
Thanks!
Thanks for your advice. But I need more help, b’cos I noticed the bulb has started reblooming! It’s barely 1/2cm above the soil & green- I have not chilled it at all, & was planning to place the pot in the crisper today! What do I do next??
Thanks!
Once again, thank you for your timely advice! I took the pot out of the crisper today & from the looks of it, the plants seem to be doing ok. There are 2 in the same pot- one is about an inch tall, light green, while the other is white. I have placed the pot near a bright window & hoping for the plants to keep growing! Is there anything else to do for healthy plants & subsequent blooms?
I’ve faithfully followed all yr advice on re-blooming Easter Lillies & am quite pleased with their growth so far! The plants are now a foot tall, green & healthy from the looks of it. I’ve noticed 4 shoots/single leaves sprouting around the 2 main plants- should I just leave them alone? Or do I separate them? Also, I was wondering when I should hope to see the blooms on the 2 main plants? I’ve used Miracle Gro plant feed just once a week ago – was that too soon?? Thanks again for your helpful hints with all my plants!
I live in Michigan (zone 5). I have some lillies planted that are of sentimental value. They are in memory of my late 11 year old daughter.
I am moving (same area). Is there any way to dig up the bulbs and take them with me? If so, should I keep in refrigerator till spring, or put in ground?
Thank you very much.
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What a wonderful new design! Not that the earlier one was not attractive, but this looks quite savvy!
Just wanted to let you know that my Lillies are growing furiously, almost at 2ft now. Which means I have to constantly turn the pot so that they don’t completely keel over. I continue to water once a week & fertilise monthly – have yet to see any blooms, but from what I’ve read this may not occur till Summer. Is that right? How tall are these going to get? Should I be staking the plants at some point? As always, I appreciate your advice, which is very helpful.
Thanks!
Hi Kris,
I have a question about Bromeliads but could not find a page to post it, so am using this page!
I have 2 Bromeliads; one is the mother plant with an additional baby that is barely 2″ in growth. The other is a pup I separated & repotted, which has grown to almost 4″ in height. It shows no signs of blooming & I was hoping you could advise on how to speed things up. It has a tank which I make sure always has water. Plus I moisten the soil every week or so depending on how dry it looks. I have used Miracle Gro once a month on the soil & was wondering what else I could do to get some beautiful blooms.
Also, the mother plant seems to be slowly “dying”, with leaves every so often turning yellow & limp. Is there anyway it will re-bloom? Or should I discard it once the pup is large enough to be re-potted.
Thanks!
Hi,
My easter lily seems to have stopped growing taller & the leaves at the bottom of the stems have dried & fallen off. I have kept the soil moist & watering once evry 5-7days only, with fertiliser every 2nd watering. What is the general timeline for the plant to bloom? Does it bloom from the top of the plant as I’m not seeing anything there?? Is there any additional care / light / warmth I should be providing to ensure blooms around Easter? Both plants are staked as they were flopping over & I was wondering what else I should be doing. Patience is not my strongest virtue, so do excuse me for the barrage of quesns I send your way – with an apartment full of over 15 varieties of different plants, you are the one common source for all my quereies!
Thank you for always providing me answers:)
I would like to ask you a question… after the lillie blooms there is a big green bulb on the end of the stalk today i opened it up and found black soft seeds can these be planted and would they need to be dryed out?
thank you very much
cindy
after the lillie blooms there is a big green bulb on the end of the stalk today i opened it up and found black soft seeds can these be planted and would they need to be dryed out?
Do I let them dry out on the stalk or pull them off to dry out? How long/where to dry? When can I plant them? Will this cause the main plant to not reproduce next year? What kind of lily is this, it blooms in february. I’ve had this plant for 12 years and have completely neglected it, apparently it is happy where it is planted. Since I have found something I/soil conditions haven’t managed to kill, I would like to grow more.
After the blooms have died on my Easter lily and I have planted it outdoors, do I continue to water the plant once the stock has turned brown and cut off? We have drip lines that run year-around as we live in Arizona. We can plug the drip line to the plant if necessary.
I got a Lilly 6 years ago. Put it in a lg pot it has gone wild have about 12 plants. They all have flowers . Some are lg in size, some are tall and thin . What can i do with them? would like to keep all in same pot. How do i make them all thicker.
Thanks for letting me know what to do. I will give it a try.
My easter lily has not re-bloomed at all. Once it grew to about a foot & half tall, it stopped growing. There are 2plants in the pot & while one is a healthy green, the others leaves have slowly wilted, browned & fallen off from the bottom up. Both stalks are green & I contniue to water once a week, fertilising every 3wks or so. Since it is still a little cool at night here in Mississauga, Ont. I have not moved the pot outdoors. Am I correct in presuming there are definitely going to be no blooms this time around? Should i just go throught the entire process again & hope for the best next time?? What else should I do to ensure the darn things bloom for sure?
Thanks for your comments; I guess I will have to try it again! However, today I noticed some growth at the base of a few leaves halfway up the plant. What exactly are these? Considering the plant hasn’t bloomed, I am a little bemused by this new growth! Thanks!
Is there any chance of an Easter lily surviving the winter planted in a southern Vermont garden? Probably zone 4 although we do mulch the garden pretty well. I’ve planted two and they’re really a target for the red bug and its larvae that eat lilies. I’m wondering if this will even be worth the effort.
Thanks for your reply- the new growth is now along almost the entire stalk! Am happy to see the new “bulbs” growing quite happily & there are even some now on the 2nd stalk which had browned about 6″ from the top down. Should I be fertilising at all? Or just plain water every 7-10days? Do I leave the bulbs on the stems? How big are they going to grow?
Is there a garden bug/spider that might attack easter lilies? We have several old 4-5 foot lilies in the garden that bloomed perfectly last year with full green foliage, but this year the green foliage quickly turned brown on the bottom half of most of the stalks, and some of the buds also turned to dead brown before blossoming. We are in Zone 5 in Northern Michigan.
I received an Easter lily as a gift last Easter. I have kept it in the original pot indoors, watered it moderately, and it still has the stalk and leaves, although it isn’t as deep green. I am assuming that it will eventually brown and I can clip it down to the base/soil. I am also assuming that for 4-6 weeks, I can put the pot into the fridge and then take it out in November/December and put it in the sunny window and await a beautiful new plant?
Cutting back lilies
We moved into a house with lilies in the front garden. My husband recently cut back the stalks (they were dead or dying), but he cut them off nearly to the ground. Will this destroy the bulb or will it still return next summer?
Thanks for your reply- the new growth is now along almost the entire stalk! Am happy to see the new “bulbs” growing quite happily & there are even some now on the 2nd stalk which had browned about 6″ from the top down. Should I be fertilising at all? Or just plain water every 7-10days? Do I leave the bulbs on the stems? How big are they going to grow?
All the leaves on the stalk are brown and I’m wondering what my next steps should be?
My lily seems to have a mind of its own! I noticed that not only are the ‘bulbils’ becoming larger, but now they seem to have a growth from the centre; almost like a leaf! I’m watering the plant lightly every 10days, or when the soil looks dry. The stems themselves are almost totally brown, except for these mini bulbs along the stalk.
Would appreciate if you could advise what is happening with this very intriguing plant, since I have surfed around & can’t find anything related to the strange ongoings.
Thanks!
Thank you for your response. I will keep an eye on them & am quite excited about growing new plants from these!
Planting bublets
I’m so glad I found this site. I too have noticed a ton of these little “bulblet” thingies growing on my potted easter lily and had no idea what they are. They are bright green and have a little tiny bulb and 5 inch leaves coming off of them. Some even have little roots under the bulb. None of them have turned brown, but several are falling off into the pot. What should I do with these? Just refrigerate them? Or should I plant them in a shallow soil?
Thank you! I saw all of the responses saying to let them turn brown, but these suckers aren’t just like.. little bulbs anymore. They’re little bulbs (maybe an inch across) with about 8 inches of leaves coming out of them and tiny little root balls. So.. I’m supposed to let these ‘die’ (turn brown) before I repot them or should I do it now? They’re really lose. They look like little plants but if you say to wait til they turn brown I will.. sorry, I’m SUPER NEW to gardening. I just feel grateful that a plant in my care actually LIVED let alone reproduced. I want to take good care of its babies!
Thanks for your reply. I live in Seattle (zone 8b). I also don’t have access to ground planting, only containers. Does any of that make a difference?
We have an Easter Lily from this spring and it seems to be fading we live in a cold climate so it is to late to plant it in the ground. It is beginning to turn yellowish, do we need to cut it back and put it in a cool dry place? The people who aren’t really crazy on lots of indoor plants wants this one saved. Thanks for your help.
Nothing further has happened with the bulbils- they are still a little green and barely 1/2 a cm in width. The entire stalk is brown and shriveled, and I’ve watered the pot once every 2-3wks. Would it be ok if I place the pot, stem & bulbils et al, in the fridge for 4-6wks right now? I would rather the original plant re-bloom, so would appreciate your urgent response. I am away for about a month and would like to place the pot in the fridge before I leave on Monday.
Thanks!
lily bulbs not blooming
I just bought my parents property, and there are some easter lilly’s growing in part shade. My mom said they have been planted for atleast 5 or 6 years with no blooms. I cut them all back a year ago. The stalks look great and healthy. Will they ever bloom or should i move them to a different area with better soil and a little more sun?