Hi Aliska,

Only my LO's are coming up (and I imagine Asiatics would be if I had any) but none of my Orientals are showing at all and I'm in zone 7. My Regal lilies also are not up but they're planted relatively deep.

I wouldn't be concerned about the Stargazers yet, Orientals are late summer bloomers (much later than longiflorum and just past the trumpets) and so would be expected to come up last.

It wouldn't hurt to throw some mulch on top of the lilies that have started to come up if you're getting cold for a few nights in a row.

-Helen

This is my first time with lilies. What are LO's? My mulch is wet in the bags. I have some heavy plastic, lots of it, could I use that, weigh it down w/bricks so it won't blow off, not stretch it too tight, and take it off in the morning?

Thanks for the reassurance about the stargazers. I wish I hadn't planted them where my daughter put them for me (I told her to put them there) because I need the room for roses.

Can I carefully dig them up and plant them in pots (less than a dozen)? I got some really big pots and could plant them 8 inches deep? If I can do that, should I overwinter them in pots or plant them outside somewhere else in the fall?

I've got a heavy old comforter in the car. Could I throw that over the daisies and take it off in the morning? They are pretty tough, seemed to last after a lot of frosts last fall, but this is their second year, they should bloom this year, and I don't want to lose them.

I wish I could hire a helicopter pilot to drop a huge plastic bag over my apricot tree. I've been griping that on about every thread here lately, can't think of any way to protect them.

LO's are Longiflorum - Oriental hybrids. Longiflorum is the Easter Lily. Your projected minimum temps (29 degrees) are not so cold that I'd worry too much about the lilies. My LO's got a little "freezer burn" when we had a spell of cold temps for a few nights but are otherwise OK. If it were me I'd just pile some of the wet mulch you have around them - or do nothing and take my chances. But it depends on how much of a risk taker you are vs. how much effort you want to put in. I'm lazy so I'd take my chances! :)

As for digging them up: If they're in a spot where you'd rather put something else go ahead and dig. Just be careful not to break off the bulb's shoot which is growing underground at this point. You also want to get as many of the roots as possible. To do this dig a large dirt ball around where they were planted (the shoots can travel a bit underground before coming up) and then go in with a hand trowel and your hands.

You can plant them in pots if you want (and overwinter in the pots or plant in the fall) but if you have another spot for them I'd go ahead and plant them in the ground now. Stargazers could look really nice with the rose you want to plant. Depending on the type of rose you are getting you might consider putting them together.

-Helen

I wish you could have your conservatory. I'm thankful I at least have a little sunroom facing south. I started seeing them in upscale magazines, then some wealthy people with an old home that caught my fancy added one large one onto the front of their house facing our magnificent river on the south, English-style cons, blends in fine and really adds interest to the front of the house, don't know what style arch house is, fancy but not fancy, oh my, I took some photos of all that. Finally I had an 8X10 made and took it to them. They loved it. I guess I'm guilty of covetousness sometimes . . .can't help myself when I see how some people are able to live, but I don't begrudge them.

Back to lilies. I thought last night was just a "trial run", now I see both stations say the current temp is 24. That is 12 below freezing last night it was only supposed to dip to 31. I've got stuff covered with large pots weighed down w/bricks, big jar over my baby rooted rose, and I had to resort to heavy plastic, 2X4's, pop bottles filled with water for weights for most of the rest of it, very crude, I was tired after all that.

Thanks for your explicit answer. Probably best leave well enough alone with the stargazers rather than poke in there. I thought they would look nice with roses, but I ordered a couple too many they are on their way, now look, days of this with no relief in sight. I'm trying to not be too negative, but with my luck, I'll plant around lilies that are duds and end up having to get some more at some point.

I'm not uncovering my stuff until the temps climb above freezing. I covered my lilies w/heavy plastic and 2X4's, the mulch is heavy and wet and I just got done messing with that when I planted a couple of trees. Never heard of landscape cloth, don't know how low temps it protects against, glad I didn't go for sheets, they won't be enough in this.

I even tied garbage bags around my new cherry trees although that may not be necessary, didn't want to take any chances losing the buds and later leaves they will need to get established well.

Guess I'll do an errand and check the temps when I get back. This is a real setback for me, the extra worry and work. Thanks for your kindly answer.

Congrats on the hydrangeas. I was looking at some when I stopped at Aldi's, poked through the bin, they had some regular ones, at some point I'd like some, saw a nice purple butterfly bush, all cheap, wasn't sure it was viable, tore myself away from that and came home with just what I went after. I buy there first for certain things, then go to the regular stores, can't beat their prices. You never know what they are going to have there. Mostly junk but sometimes something good I can use.

As for feeding your Stargazers. In my yard all lilies do good except the orientals which Stargazer is. For my alkaline [7.0 to 7.5 ph] soil the orientals all need to be fed with a Acid fertilizer. I also put some peatmoss around the base of the orientals this increases the acid in the soil around the orientals. It took me a couple of years to figure out why my orientals were not looking their best & why I had such a lack of flowers. Now that I know the trick I have great Stargazers, Arena's & Tom Pounce. Also in my zone 5 stargazer blooms in early July. I wish I knew how to post some shots of them because I have some beautiful shots of stargazer.

To post some shots, you have to upload them to a photo host server like photobucket or you may get some free space with your isp subscription. Then to get them to embed in a post here, you code like this

Leave these , they are open and close html tags. Practice a bit and you will get it. I think there is a place somewhere here where you can do that but don't have a link.

Some people post clickable thumbnails that are links to larger images (helps people on dialup), think I could figure out how to do that, but it would take some doing.

I didn't know they need acid soil and that other you wrote, thanks for that. I think my stargazers are DOA anyway. We'll find out no sign of them poppin up yet. With the deep freeze, that could be good, but I would think they should have poked up by now if they are going to.

Hi Aliska,

Lilies grow in Alaska & Canada so cold weather alone won't do them in. The bigger problem with cold weather is in the Fall. Late blooming lilies like the orientals (such as Stargazer) don't have much time after blooming to feed their bulbs before cold weather sets in. That's why Asiatics & Longiflorums are safer bets for the very cold zones.

As for your Stargazers, they're safer than your lilies that are already up because they are still underground where they are insulated from weather swings. I'm 2 zones warmer than you and my Stargazers still are not up (which I'm thankful for). Hopefully my LO's will be OK 'cause we're also getting hit with this cold snap. Yes, it would be great to have a big conservatory - but in my case that would take up most of my yard! :)

While Stargazers prefer acid soil, as a modern hybrid they are pretty tolerant of less than perfect conditions. You mostly have to be careful that they get reasonable drainage. (lilies can't take being soggy.) If you like, mulch them with peat moss, shredded pine bark, and/or pine needles and that should make them happy.

-Helen

Thanks, Helen. I won't give up then. I can't remember exactly where the boundary is, and I need to plant roses. I accidentally dug one up last fall but put it back in, didn't seem to damage it.

Best to leave them be and try to plant around where I think they are, and I have several bags of cypress mulch, guess I'll have to use something acidic in that spot.

If they do show up, do I dare give them a little Mir-Acid or should I just use the mulch you mentioned in that one area? I guess if Mir-Acid would be a good thing, you would have mentioned it.

I doubt that Mir-Acid would hurt them (given in reasonable amounts) and might very well benefit them.

I didn't mention it only because I don't feed any of my lilies. What I like about lilies is that with reasonable planting conditions they do pretty well on their own (especially the hybrids).

When I first plant lily bulbs I amend the soil with a LOT of peat moss and shredded leaves. (We have very heavy clay here.) After that I leave them alone - except for mulching in the Fall.

Mulch has the benefit of keeping the roots cool (which lilies like) and by using pine bark mulch I get a "two-fer".

-Helen

They need another app of mulch; I think I've got another thread going here and need to respond to a kelp enthusiast, maybe it would even make me better! I tend to do too much or too little, but soon I should probably give them some mir-acid but not do it as much as it says on the box. I also spray them with Liquid Fence, stinks but I don't mind.

Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it. I've got a landscaper just out of school coming tomorrow to see about helping me with all my schemes. Eventually I want a ton more lilies but want to make a careful selection and grow them in clumps of the same kind, not a potpourri.

Have been for awhile, sure hope they bloom this year! They're lookin' good so far. I ordered a few more to fill in the empty spots.

I also ordered a gorgeous Bergamo oriental hybrid and gave the three bulbs to my daughter.

I also ordered several of the white one with the yellow stripe down the middle, think it's called Aubade?

And some gorgeous purple poppies from that lilybulb.com place. And a whole bunch of seeds from ebay and all over the web.

Now to get it all planted and find the right spots for it.

I'm in Zone 4 and my Stargazers do surprisingly well.
I have to admit that it wasn't until their second year that they looked good, I don't know if it was a case of adjusting to the weather/daylight here-but the first year they looked so sad and pathetic and I didn't expect them to come back the next year.

~Michele

Thanks for the encouragement, Michelle. Some plants are amazingingly tough, and I think there are both zones 3 and 4 in MN. I know what winters are like up there! Sometimes it's bad here, too. I visited my sister near Minn/St. Paul one Christmas and it was 19 below the whole time we were there. Another winter I went for a walk and the snow was waist high after the plows had been through. My sister has trouble with critters eating her lilies, and was going to give me a recipe for something, but I got liquid fence, and that seems to work ok so far.

I sure hope they bloom this year, but maybe they won't. It's lucky they didn't poke up sooner with the deep freeze we went through although the native ones growing on hillsides seem thicker than ever this spring, no blooms yet, of course.

I just got a bargain, 3 pots of bloomed out stargazers for 25 cents each at the supermarket. She was getting ready to toss them, but the plants are still nice and green, three stems per pot. Realized when I got them home one still has a bud!

Way to go! What a good deal! We both have nine then. Mine were on sale but not that cheap, can't remember what I paid last year. I ordered a few more to fill in some bare spots, but mine seem to be doing well except one looks a little chewed, but they were a little dry and it perked up when I watered them. I don't know how to gauge performance because I never grew any lilies before. I mulched them this morning, hope that makes them happier. Still haven't been able to find any kelp locally one person thought was so efficaceous for lilies.