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Expert: Long Island Gardener - 6/1/2008


Question
I have a potted easter lilly that has died back, and I'm not sure what to do with it.  I'm in central Texas, and the heat is already brutal. Should I place it in my fridge until fall, or plant it now?

Thanks for your help

Answer
Lilium longiflorum, the ultra-fragrant, popular Easter Lily, is also one of the most tender Lilies, but still demands a cold spell to flower.

Brookings-Harbor, Oregon, is famous for growing 90 percent of the nation's Easter lilies.  Average minimum temperature in its coldest month, January, is 41 degrees F, average high is 54 degrees F.  It RARELY snows (and snow never accumulates) in Brookings-Harbor.  Azaleas do very well and the village holds an annual Azalea Festival in the spring.  The warm climate has earned it the nicknames 'Banana Belt' and 'Home of Winter Flowers'.

But their Summers are nothing compared to your brutally hot, sweaty Texas months.  Since the Lily has 'died back' I am hoping it is semi-dormant and will not mind a few months in the Summer.  Plant it outside and hope for the best, then write to me and give me your USDA Zone -- or at least your zipcode, so we can figure out what that is and the prognosis for your Lilies.

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Long Island Gardener

Expertise

Growing Tulips? Dahlias? Daffodils? Gladiolus? It doesn't get easier than bulbs and tubers. Once in a while, something goes wrong: The dreaded Narcissus Bulb Fly, which resembles a honeybee. Mosaic virus, which can ignite a field of tulips in a single season. Nematodes, lurking underground. Here on the North Shore of Long Island, the garden is full of surprises. If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I can help you pick the right bulb for every season, indoors and out, and help you fertilize, bloom and harvest for home or work. How: I have degrees in related fields, but my best understanding is all learned from trial and error. For most of my 53 years I have been gardening somewhere. No matter what the problem, I've learned the best answers are always Organic -- Earth friendly, less expensive, healthier for people and pets, easier and cleaner than toxic liquids and powders that big chemical companies sell so smoothly.

Experience

Besides degrees in related fields, and a few favorite horticultural societies, I work as a docent at our local botanical gardens -- but it's the years of work in the garden that's the real test.

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