Tips on growing lillies that are ideal for garden pots
Lilies are up there with roses as people’s favourite flowers and they’re ideal for growing in pots. Asiatic lilies grow to just 60cm (24”) and flower from June-September.
They produce up to 20 clustered blooms per stem, so are ideal as cut flowers.
Here’s how to plant them – and some of the other lily species.
Place a 5cm layer of crocks at the bottom of the pot. Plant single large bulbs (10-12cm diameter) into a 20-23cm pot, or plant three to four smaller bulbs (5-8cm) into 23-25cm containers.
Allow 5cm between bulbs and use only deep pots.
Asiatic hybrids root from the base of the bulb only – so they should be planted at a depth equal to the height of the bulb.
L. formosanum, L. lancifolium and L. longiflorum, produce roots from the stems too, so plant these two-and-a-half times the height of the bulb.
Multipurpose compost is OK, as is John Innes No 3, with a handful of horticultural grit added.
Add granules of a controlled-release fertiliser.
Meanwhile, lime-hating L. auratum and L. speciosum need ericaceous compost.
These should be fed with a tomato fertiliser every fortnight during summer.
In larger containers, lilies can be grown on for a second season in the same pot, but refresh the top five centimetres (2in) of compost and feed well.
You can leave pot-grown lilies outside in winter, but wrap the containers in bubble wrap.
But if it is extremely cold, then keep the pots in frost-free sheds until spring.