The lilies have finished blooming: what to do next?

Lilies are as luxurious as candles, standing tall in flowerbeds, eclipsing all other plants around them. But their reign is short-lived, and the gardener who cultivates this beauty in their flowerbeds wonders: the lilies have finished blooming, what next? Cut, feed, dig up, water—what should one do with faded lilies? Having lost their luxurious bloom, they immediately lose all their beauty and appeal. And one wants to quickly remove them from sight, lest they spoil the picture. The former joy is gone, there's nothing left to admire; a wilted lily is a most unattractive sight—nature is unfair.

When the lily fades

After a period of vibrant bloom, comes a period of unsightly decline, and you wonder how to cover this former beauty so it doesn't spoil the appearance of your flowerbed. So, when planting lilies, keep this in mind. It's good if by the time the lily has finished blooming, you have some annuals growing, covering the wilted plant with their green mass. After all, you can't just cut it off right away! Even its seemingly lifeless stem and drooping leaves nourish the bulb, preparing it for the next season. The more nourishment the bulb receives, the more lush and beautiful the flower will be next season.

Once the lily has finished blooming, continue watering and fertilizing it, especially with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. Increase your watering, and if possible, purchase a special lily fertilizer, and next year the beautiful flowers will be even more pleasing to the eye. Also find out: Do daffodils need to be dug up for the winter?.

When to prune a lily

After the lily has finished blooming, wait about a month for the bulb to absorb nutrients and prepare properly. Then you can prune the plant. Prune carefully, being careful not to damage the newly formed annual roots; they will provide the bulb with additional nutrition. Watch carefully, as they form almost at the ground level. If you try to remove a faded lily too early, you risk ruining the plant; it will have difficulty establishing itself and may even die. After digging up the bulbs, remove any dead parts, dry them in the shade, and treat them with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Storing lily bulbs

Then you can store them either in the basement in a box with sawdust and peat, or in the refrigerator, placing the bulbs on the bottom shelf.

Frost-hardy varieties like Asiatic hybrids overwinter well, even in severe frosts. They aren't dug up, but simply covered during the winter, protecting them from extreme cold with a layer of compost and, in cold weather, with snow on top. In the spring, as the weather warms, the covering is gradually removed, and the bulbs begin to awaken to life, once again delighting us with their lush blooms in the summer.

Transplanting a lily

If your lilies have finished blooming and you see they've grown too big over the summer and you want to replant them and move them to a new location, August is the perfect time. Trim the stems back to about 5 cm, carefully dig up the bulbs with a pitchfork, shake off the soil, and examine the bulbs closely.

Remove any rusty scales, trim long roots to 10 cm, and carefully separate large bulblets into individual bulbs. Then, soak the clean bulblets in a soft pink solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour and, without drying, replant them in a new location. Ideally, plant the bulb three times its height. Add sand to the hole, spread the roots so that the base rests on the sand, sprinkle with ash, and cover with soil.

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