A didgeridoo would keep them warm, If it was placed on the fire!

Oh my, do I detect some didgie resentment?
Who knows, I might feel the same way if I was exposed to it as much as you probably are down there.

Funny I did a google search and came to this. I was in Lowes today and saw a the lilies and remembered my casa blanca did not come back last year. Odd because in my old house I had them for more than ten yrs before I sold that house. I wonder what happened.

It could not be weather, I only moved fifteen minutes from my old property.

Maybe soil.

Maybe sun. My old property was shady it was so shady I grew the lilies with ferns. They bloomed later and the blooms lasted longer

I purchased six I will try some in the shade garden again and see if that is the secret for my longevity.

Joann found this. The ones I plant in the sun I will use my auger and plant then deep will go a foot and half.

We may be thinking it is the cold killing them and it is the heat being above 85.

Lilies love full sun, as long as the bulbs are deep enough to keep cool when temperatures rise above 85 degrees. They should also be mulched over during the long Chicagoland winter.

http://www.lifeandlawns.com/20...

@leftwood
So Rick, what is your advice on planting depth for lilies? @Cinta has me wondering if I planted my trumpets too shallow [9"] and she's talking 18" depth. It's April 5th and my trumpets are up 4"(zone 4b, south exposure, close to house). We have at least one more month of hard frosts. Will planting deeper cause a later emerge and bloom?

Your goal will be to keep the soil as cool as possible. Leave the soil bare through the first half of January to expose it to as much cold as possible, and then heavily mulch to keep the cold in and the sun out. Planting deep will mean later emergence, but there is a trade off: the deeper you go, the poorer the water drainage is and the uglier the soil gets (in several ways). Remember too, that the soil must be good for the roots to grow well below where you place the bulb.
I think this all makes it pretty unlikely that any lily will do well at a 18 inch depth. Meanwhile, maybe invest in some big buckets to have on hand to cover them if nights get too cold. And no watering - that will speed the growth.

I'll betcha Lorn has done some experimenting with trumpet planting depth, but he has that super great soil already.

I agree you have to have good soil. If you are planting in only a few inches of good soil over clay I do not know if you could go as deep. I have great soil deep. The trees have given me forest soil conditions.