I just bought some lilies from my local Lily Society sale. I know lilies are never truly dormant so IÂm wondering how much time I have to plant them.

I donÂt know how fresh they are but they look pretty good: firm, roots dry-ish but not shriveled. The Society bought the lilies from commercial suppliers, they said they used several, but at least some came in bags with The Lily GardenÂs sticker on them.

My garden is really crowded. The place where I usually put the tall ones is full of big dahlias right now. Once the dahlias have been frosted and are cut down there will be a lot more room to get in there. ItÂs mid-October, frost could come anytime, but the end of Oct or very early November is usual. The ones for that area are Orienpet Silk Road and Trumpet Copper Crown.

A related question: I need to move some existing lilies. Due to mislabeling I have a lot of very similar looking white ones in several areas. They are all great ones, anyway, but I want to move some elsewhere. Can I just plunk the new lilies in the same hole? I could not find bulb fertilizer but only bone meal. It is finely crushed, almost like dust. How much of that should I work into the soil at the bottom of the hole? Package said ½ teaspoon but that seems like so little; I think they were thinking of tulips and daffodils.