It depends what zone you're in. I can plant them outside and they do come back, and flower in July or August. I'm in borderline USA zones 6b-7a, very inconsistent winters.

Hi I'am in zone 5A it does get very cold here with lot of snow. but I will plant it anyway and see what happens if it comes back good if not too bad I tryed. I will plant it near the wall and wait for next year. my lillum comes back every year so this maybe will do the same wish it luck Anna

Anna Lisa, I am in zone 5 & have put many Easter lilies out in the garden. Wait until your last frost date to put it in the ground so your soil has a chance to warm. Until then remove the dead flowers if you have not done so. Keep the lily near a window so it can receive light. Water it as needed & don't worry if the stem begins to look bad because sometime it does. The bulb is what you are after.
When you plant it in the ground give it some bonemeal or bulb food on top of the hole when you are done planting & work the food into the top 2" of soil & water. The stem most likely will die back this summer but next spring in June in my area you will see a full size Easter lily. Fertilize it next spring when you see it first poke through the soil. The first year it may only have a few flowers but the next year for sure you will get many flowers & every year there after. Let the foliage yellow out completely after the Easter lily is done flowering. This feeds the bulb for next spring flowers. Your Easter lily should come back for years. I have 4 that have been around now going on their 7th year this spring.

My daughter gave it me, I took no care of it, sat on dr table away from windows don't know how long, think I watered once, let foliage die back, looked deader than a doornail.

When my regals came late, figured why not try, stuck it in with them, cut off the brown dieback (a little after I planted I think), left a hollow place where the stem had been. During the deep freeze I had them covered with a heavy plastic weighted down.

The Easter Lily looks the best so far, and was among the first to poke up, it's on the east side of the house which would be somewhat sheltered compared to being out in the open, and don't know if it will get enough light to bloom, but it looks pretty good with just one bad spot on a leaf.

I sank the bulbs at least 6" with an augur bit on my drill, was going for 9" but couldn't make it.

{{gwi:1030972}}

Just picked up one on sale 3 days after Easter! This one has 7 buds, not even opened yet. Mamoo and other experienced growers: what group does the Easter lily belong to? Is it Longifolium? Trumpet? IÂm wondering how tall it will get once established.. I already have asiatics and orientals.

linnea: Is it Longifolium? yes, it is.

i have about 3 dozen of them planted here, there and everywhere. a few years back, a stand that overpurchased easter flowers was practically giving things away, so i purchased a big box and planted them up. the next year i was so disappointed because i expected them to be "easter" lilies. but by late june, i was thrilled beyond belief as i have been every year since with all the blooms.

maryanne

I have a latin spelling for Easter Lily as "Lilium Longiflorum". I do believe Easter Lily can be spelled either way.
I did fail to say that when you plant the bulb in your garden spread out the roots if they are at all rootbound - growing in a tight circle. Also as for height, I have different heights on mine. When you look in the stores at Easter you do see some Easter Lilies really taller than some of the others. I would guess that what ever the height the plant was when you received it most likely it would get to that same height the second summer in your garden. The first summer after you plant it the Easter Lily will not be at its best but the second summer when it blooms mine are full size & in full flower. I hope this helps you. Mamoo

Hi,

I'm very new to lilies and just received an easter lily and I'm at a loss of what to do.
I'm gathering from reading that I should pinch/break off the dead flowers (I guess like fushcia's or iris?). I've got 20 flowers on it now and I'm not sure how it will do outdoors (we live in an apt. with limited ground space). Can I grow it indoors? Even if I manage to plant it outdoors it will be in a north-westerly direction with a lot of shading during the summer.
Its a wonderful plant and I want to try and keep it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

DawnNJ

I just recently read on a university extension website that most Easter lilies are infected with"symptom less virus" and you should not plant it outside if you have other lilies. Has anyone else heard this? According to the article if your other lilies become infected they will react with fewer blooms and a general loss of vigor.

Hostaholic thanks for the info. New articles are always helpful & we need all the knowledge we can get to keep up with new disease & bugs in our gardens.
Maybe the article is so new that it pertains to the current crop of Easter Lilies.
I have had my plants for 7 years now with all of them remaining healthy.
Since you are in MN maybe the article came from MN U. They are a great site & I use them often. Mamoo

Yes it was the U of M site. It didn't sound like it was in reference to the current crop and didn't say your Easter Lilies would suffer from it. It's more that it's a carrier of the virus which can spread and affect other lily varieties. Sort of like the old Tiger lilies carry a virus which can affect other lilies.

How deep should you plant these potted up Easter lilies? I just planted a couple to the same depth they were in the pot, because I didn't know if it's ok to bury any stem, strip foliage, etc. I am totally new to lilies.
Thanks for any advice. I am in zone 6, really more of a 6b with little pockets of 7 microclimate in my yard, if that helps.

Hello,
I purchased an Easter Lily just after Easter. The flowers are now dieing off. I would like to keep the plant potted and indoors, as I live in a high rise apartment building. Is this possible? If so is there anything I should be doing to ensure it will stay healthy and possibly flower again? (I already have it in a sunny place with no drafts.) Also, I would like to put it out on my balcony in the summer with my other plants (which are also potted plants that I keep indoors)... is that a good idea?
Thanks for any help you can offer!

Years ago my mother got an Easter Lily. I found somewhere that said the white blossom is not its natural color, but man forced to grow that way. I am assuming that is true, because I planted it in the garden when the blooms were done. I just took it out of the pot and put it straight into the ground without none of this fancy extra things I have seen mentioned here or elsewhere. It was fine all year. I never did anything special for the winter either, like I have seen suggested. But the following spring when it came up, there were no white blossoms at all. No I had no other lilies ever planted in the garden. The only one ever planted was the Easter Lily. The blooms were smaller than they were the previous year and they were orange with brown spots, very much like a tiger lily. It can only be what I heard that by planting the Easter lily it reverted back to it's natural state. The was no other lily and so my only lily had to be the Easter Lilly from the previous year. It was growing in the exact spot that the former one was planted.