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Bulbs/stargazer lillies

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Expert: Long Island Gardener - 7/28/2008


Question
if you cut the dying flower off of a stargazer lilly plant will another flower grow in its place or do they only bloom once?

Answer
Those Lilies bloom one to a customer.  But cutting the spent bloom is an important task.  You stop the Lily from making Seeds, a HUGE investment in energy that would otherwise be spent on Bulb health and welfare.

Another benefit:  The Ethylene Gas produced by a finished flower ACCELERATES the life of the other floweres blooming around it.  Remove the flower and the Ethylene is produced in the garbage can, where it will do not wrong.

Thanks for writing.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER

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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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