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frances108

my week-old stargazer is dying

frances108
12 years ago

hello! my boyfriend gave me a potted stargazer lily (a foot tall with a fully bloomed flower and 2 buds, the other bud was still green) for valentines day, and i fell in love immediately because of its magnificence. i transfer it every morning at the patio since i have read that it loves the morning sun, i watered it 2 times this week since its also been exposed to rain. the problem is, after a couple of days of receiving it, its lower leaves started to turn yellow and then withered until the upper part leaves looked the same. the first fully bloomed one already withered, while the first bud bloomed beautifully and then died after a few days. i pulled the dead leaves off so im now left with a yellowing stem with a single flower (the one from the green bud before). is my stargazer dying? i have no idea what to do since im very new at this, but i really want to save my beloved flower. what should i do? please please help me.:(

Comments (10)

  • Pudge 2b
    12 years ago

    Hold off on watering it frequently. If you stick your finger in the soil, it should be dry down to your second knuckle before you water. You also need to make sure it's in a pot that doesn't hold water - there must be holes on the bottom of the pot to allow it to drain and also provide some air for the roots.

    The plant may be suffering some shock from a couple of things - first of all it went from the greenhouse wherever it was growing to the store where your boyfriend bought it. Then it went to your home, and then it was put outside in the direct sun. Plants need to get accustomed slowly to all these different factors and it may have just been too much for it.

    The stargazer lily needs sun to grow and bloom, but once the flower buds are starting to bloom, it's better to keep it indoors away from direct sunlight. The blooms last longer that way.

    Your stargazer is a bulb that grows one stalk, flowers, and then dies back. It doesn't keep on growing and blooming throughout the year. But it doesn't die completely. That bulb in the soil holds nutrients and after it dies back it rests for a while, then it will grow another stalk and bloom again. But that's hard to do keeping it in a pot. Your best chance of seeing it bloom again is to plant it outside.

    Good luck.

  • Pudge 2b
    12 years ago

    Unfortunately, they're just not meant to be indoor potted plants. Next time you're in a plant section with your boyfriend, ooohh and aaahhh over some tropical hibiscus plants - they're great potted plants that will grow and flower all year long :)

  • frances108
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    hmmm. okay, i'll see to it. thanks a lot for your help!:D

  • buyorsell888
    12 years ago

    Do you have a patio or balcony? You can pot it up and leave it outside. They are garden plants.

  • lisapagon70
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I believe my children gave me a stargazer lily flower for Mother's Day all the flowers fell off and I read about cutting the stalk which I thought was the stick by the stem so I cut them off close to the stem and now nothing is growing only a little part of it's coming out was I supposed to cut the stem please let me know? I really need this plant to keep growing it means alot to me thanks

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    8 years ago

    True lilies - like your Stargazer - grow a single stem from each bulb and produce a cluster (usually) of flowers at the top of that stem. Once the flowers have finished blooming or dropped off, you should cut off the stem just below this flower cluster. This will leave you with a tallish stalk/stem with leaves coming off but not much else :-) And this is the way it should be.......lilies are very seasonal plants and only provide a single flowering each year.


    To keep your lily alive and growing and able to produce flowers next year, it really should be planted outdoors. It is nearly impossible to keep lilies alive and healthy indoors for any more than a few weeks. Find a bright sunny location with well draining soil, dig a hole, carefully remove the soil containing the bulb (with the stem attached) from the pot and place in the soil so the top of the rootball is at soil level. Water in well and let the stem mature through the summer. This means allowing the leaves to dry and brown and fall off naturally. In fall, you can cut the now brown stem back to just a couple of inches. Next spring, a new shoot will emerge from this location and develop into a tall leafy stem that will produce flowers just like your Mother's Day gift did but later in the season......more like July. This is the normal bloom time for Oriental lilies like the Stargazer.




  • carissagillett
    8 years ago

    We recently bought a La Mancha Oriental Lily and after 2 days 6 out of the 10 blooms browns/wilted. We got 2 new blooms the next day but it is already wilting after 4 days..

    We kept the lily in the pot we bought it in and have been watering it daily.. It also receives about 6 hours of sunlight..

    When we bought it was drooping because it had so many blooms so my husband was fixing the stalks and tying.. which cause many of the pollen to come off.. could this be a factor??


    is there anything else we can do to this beautiful flower??


  • darlygieabellanosa
    8 years ago

    Hello! I have stargazer plant for the first time, and something happened to it. I accidentally broke the stem, leaving half of the plant. The flowers were not in its full bloom so I kind of hesitate to cut the stem close to the ground in order for a new stalk to grow. I hope you could help me how properly to deal with it.

  • User
    8 years ago

    Leave it as it is (outside, I hope). The remaining stalk and leaves are needed to build up energy for next years bulb, regardless of the attenuated bloom season this year. It will not grow another stalk this year. Tuck it somewhere sunny but out of eyesight so it doesn't annoy you...and don't go mad with the watering can if in a pot.

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