I have to say, it must not be so rare for lily bulbs in general to skip a season or two. With two different martagon section species, I've had undisturbed bulbs skipped even two seasons in a row, and reappear the third year better than ever. An undisturbed bulb of either L. canandense or L. michiganense skipped a season once, and an asiatic, too (but I can't remember which). But six years, my goodness, that takes the cake! As I was reading your tale, I was guessing that the mother bulb rotted and surviving scales spawned new plants. But when I saw your resulting mature specimens, then no, that can't be it (unless you really were that ingnorant!
). I've always (secretly) suspected that L. cernuum is one of those that likes growing in weedy pots, much like L. phaladelphicum.
