Planting Lilies
Richard (Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:51:19 PST)

Getting my seedling lilies into the ground today. Plants were tray raised last year. First time I worked out warm stratification. I'm trying to repeat again this year.

However I removed the seedlings from the tray too early and they never did go dormant. They were stored for winter in a cooler in peat medium at 34F. New roots started appearing on these (Lilium washingtonianum) and Lilium columbianum in early December. Feb 14 is first chance in moderate weather. I hope no harm was done.

http://flic.kr/p/dUVx47/

They were very difficult to hand plant because of tangled roots. Another set of bulbs I field raised was much easier to put in they were fully dormant, just beginning to put out new leaves and easy to put down. These I harvested when the plants had finished growing, had darker color and little or no root development.

Richard Haard
Bellingham, Washington
48 45 N, 122 20 W