Hi everyone,

I have a few Silk Road lilies and I love them. This year they grew to about 7 feet tall and gave me lots of very beautiful flowers. Of course, I left the stalks up to nourish the bulbs, and had plans to dig them up and redistribute them once the stalks had yellowed because they were multiplying and looked overcrowded.

About two weeks ago, we had a bad storm and most of the stalks were bent to the point of almost breaking. Thinking they might still be able to send nourishment to their bulbs, I staked them straight and prayed. Over the coming days, the stalks turned black and looked pretty much dead. So I thought, well, time to dig them up.

Today, I dug up two of them, which were really four this last spring. I planned on dividing them into four bulbs and replanting them ASAP. But when I dug them up, I found something I have never seen (I'm new to lilies). I found that the stalks have roots, and the bulbs are HUGE and feel bound together! I'm afraid to break them apart and don't really know how to do it, and I don't know if I need to leave the stalks and their roots in the bulbs, or ????? What should I do? And how should I do it?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I have a lot of other bulbs and need to plant them all soon so the sooner I can deal with the lilies, the better. I really hope I'm not killing them.



This one is upside down--the stalks with their roots are on the bottom of the picture.

Joanna, I will try to help you. The fact that the stems have roots is pretty common for species lilies. Mine do the same. Some grow little bulblets on the stem that can be detached and planted. I have some bulblets potted up now. I do not think you have killed them. I would replant them as soon as possible, then cut off the stems at ground level. I haven't dug mine in several years and probably won't unless the start to lose vigor. I have noticed that a couple have passed on , but that had set bulblets in the ground which will bloom when they get big enough. I read on one of the lily threads, I think, that some people plug the hollow end of the stem with a little glue to prevent winter rains from sluicing down to the bulb and rotting it, but I haven't tried that. Eventually by spring the remains of the stem will degrade and will be easily removed. I wouldn't try to split them right now, I
would put that on the garden list for next year. I think they need to go back in the dirt now because winter is nearly here. I use popsicle sticks to mark where mine are so I don't dig them up when I am planting spring bulbs.

Thank you Lynda, I won't be able to dig them up again next year, and I did want to divide them. Do you think it would damage them if I pulled them apart before replanting?

And am I understanding correctly, I should leave those stem roots on?

No, I think you can separate them ok. Yes, leave the stem roots on. Plant the whole thing to where the stem roots are covered with several inches of soil, and then cut off the stems. Oh, I forgot, I mulch my lilies, keeps them cool in the summer and protects from temp swings that we have here in the south during the fall and winter. Despite that, my orientals always sprout the green tops early, sometimes at Christmas. I used to panic, but it doesn't seem to bother them. I still cover the foliage with leaves or a little extra mulch, though.

If you want to split them, try teasing them apart Very Gently. That will tell you if they are ready. If they come apart easily, maybe allow them to callous a day or two before replanting. Otherwise, if they resist separation then plant them back in together.

The stem roots will be removed with the stem stub later. No worries there. Don't strong arm the stems out until they are loose and ready to separate. This will be quite a while later. Keep an eye out for bulblets, though I don't see any offhand. Silk Road is pretty tough and as you can see, vigorous.

And as Lynda recommends, mark well the places you plant them and mulch.

Well, the site went down for a while and I totally panicked! So I amended the soil, and replanted them as they were. I did try to gently separate them first, and they seemed pretty resistant, so I planted them as they were and left the stems on. I hope they'll be okay. If they come up in the spring like they did this last spring, there'll be several stalks per bulb and I'll have lots of flowers.

I did leave the stem roots on, but planted the tops of the roots at the soil line. I do hope they'll be okay. I didn't want to leave them out for long.

You are right Connie, no bulblets, but then, I didn't loosen the dirt.

Thank you both for your advice. Let me ask for next year, do they always have those stem roots? Or were they there because I dug them up too early?

Yes, I think most lilies have stem roots. These roots feed the bulb so in the spring when noses are few inches up sprinkle some low nitrogen fertilizer around them (4 or 5-10-10) or similar. The roots at the bottom of the bulb are more for anchoring the bulb.

This sounds kind of weird, but I use an organic tomato fertilizer for my lilies a 3-5-7, seems to work fine. I don't think you panicked, Joanna, they will probably be just fine. Glad to know it wasn't old stupid me but the site itself that went down! I was at a loss as to what to do and decided to sleep on it. Got up, got right on, and here I am. As you can tell a night owl from working nights for 12 years. Just retired, but still on the old work schedule.

Oh, yes Lynda, those old habits die hard, don't they!

I have some bulb fertilizer that I'll use on them. I'll be adding some top soil this weekend, and will fertilize then too. AND, finally, I'll plant my bulbs as well. I checked them last night (in the midst of the remaining panic) and they look okay.

We're due to have our first snow of the year on Nov. 11th with temps dropping down below freezing at night that week. I feel like I'm just barely getting those bulbs in on time!

Glad you realized the inability to access the site wasn't your doing (I go through the same "introspection" when things like that happen). There's a great site I use to check whether it's me or the site having the problem--it's https://www.isitdownrightnow.c...

Works every time!

Hi Joanna
Love talking lilies.
My trumpets bloomed beautifully this year, too. Post bloom, some stems tipped over and laid horizontal. I left them alone and ⁸they went dormant like they normally do. I trimmed the stalk when they turned dry & brown and then uprighted the bulb and pressed the dirt firm. I'll re-think my staking next year.
I won't lay chicken wire protection and mulch heavily until the ground freezes in late fall.
Remembering our glorious summer:

Simply beautiful, Kathy! A friend of mine suspended a cattle panel horizontally above her lilies and they grew up through them. Held them upright perfectly, no blowing over or falling over from the weight of the flowers. I am thinking about doing that next year.

Lynda ! What a great idea for staking.
Thank you.

Your welcome.

Oh, my! Those are some outstanding lilies Kathy! I am blown away! I think trumpets are my favorite too, but I got stuck with a lot of Silk Road kind of by accident. Long story.

Lynda, what a great idea! But how would that work? I sure hope mine come back and if they do, I'll want to do what I can to prevent them from breaking again. And if they don't, I'll get some new trumpets!

Kathy, which are those in your gorgeous pictures?

My friend had her lilies planted in a bed that had a big tree at the edge. She suspended the cattle panel from it. If I am not mistaken those are lilium regale.I love these, hope to be planting some to round out my collection. If I get some of these, then I will have aisiatic, oriental, tiger, Turks cap, oriental-trumpets and the trumpets. I would like to have Madonna lilies, but I understand they are hard to grow. Oh, and Formosa lilies, I don't have any of those. I recently found some smaller versions of those, the regular ones get really tall.

WOW!

Joanna, just google lily bulb catalogs. Some good ones to look at are b&d lilies, Brent and Becky's bulbs, the lily garden( I think). There is a world of beautiful lilies out there. Of course, I want them all! I planted two species lilies this spring, some catalogs list them as Turks caps, they bloomed in the summer.


This one is called black beauty.

I want them all too Lynda! Thanks for the recommendations! I love Brent and Becky!

The one in the pic came from Brent and Becky's. I have been a customer for years. Top rated company in my book.

Joanna
Trumpet lily in pix are Regale. I bought it & much more from Easy to Grow Bulbs (highly recommend them). Regale was only supposed to grow 48" tall, but these were eye level (5') and as you can see, in their third year, just full of blooms.
Lynda
I can't grow Madonna either. Just get foliage, no bloom.
The lily season is my favorite:



Most of my asian lilies are from local store closeout racks. No flowers or identification, so I really didn't know what I got until the following year. All the lilies multiply freely so my collection grows.