It will depend on the type of lily and what you mean by "medium sized bulbs". Personally, unless you are dealing with the little dwarfs like the 'Pixie' series, I don't believe lilies are very well-suited to hanging baskets. Most will get too tall for such a situation and also grow rather erect, which is not very amenable to a hanging basket planting unless used as a center focal point amongst other, more cascading plants. For a regular 12" diameter pot of reasonable depth, you should be able to fit in 5-7 averaged sized (14-16cm) bulbs. Long term container culture will also require replenishing the potting soil annually and supplementing regularly with fertilizer.

The bulbs are about 4" diameter. That is why I call it medium sized.

4" diameter lily bulbs are pretty darn generous and will most likely grow to produce some tall and robust lilies. Again, I would suggest that these are not well suited to hanging baskets and to find a better type of on the ground container. The number to include in each container will depend on the size of the container. They can be planted relatively closely, but not touching - I'd leave at least an inch between each bulb. The depth of the container is also something to consider. Lilies can extend some deep roots and should have adequate soil levels both above and below the bulbs. As they grow and produce blooms, they can also become top heavy, so keep that in mind as well.

Thanks for the comments. I know it is best to plant these in well drained and fertile soils. However, we have bunnies, human thieves, deer and squirrels. That is why I have to plant them in large (12-14") hanging baskets. I probably will place 5 bulbs per basket - 1 in the center, 4 around the side. I will place the plants in south-west windows. The basket is truly a bit shallow. But I think, slightly root bound may reduce the possibility of bulb rot (which is quite common in cold/wet north-east). I will add proper quantity of fertilizer. Some of my friends never water their lilies after flowering, is that a recommended practices?

shic, I'm with Pam (gardengal), and even willing to make a much stronger statement: lilies (except pixies) are NOT suitable for hanging baskets in general, more so in a shallow ones.
Reason #1. Even dwarf(ish) lilies grow to 24-30" and in many cases may require staking. Now try to imagine them in your situation.
Reason #2. Proper planting depth for the lilies is 6-8" and even 10" wouldn't be overly deep for some sorts. If your bulbs are 4" in diameter (wow! those a very large bulbs, maybe 4" =10cm in circumference?) and you need to leave at least 2" of soil under and 6" above them, then you'd need at least 12" tall pot. I don't recall seeing such deep hanging basket, sorry.

If it isn't too much to remember to do, I'd be interested if you could come back in the fall and tell us how this project turned out.

Here are some questions I'd like to hear about:

We still don't know what these are, but I'm guessing Oriental Lilies? Did you buy dwarf, lowgrowers?

How many bulbs were you able to stuff into one basket?

How tall did the stalks grow, as compared to expectations for bulbs planted in the ground?

How long did the blooms last, and how many per stalk?

When the blooms faded, did you leave them in the basket, or plant out in the ground? Did you move the basket elsewhere for the stalk to mature for next years flowers?

When you repot them for the next season, I'm wondering if the bulbs will have grown in size, as they do in good fertile ground where there's room to pull themselves down and get 'comfortable' or have they shrunk? Also, was there room for the bulbs to multiply/divide -- did you find smaller bulbs had grown in there as well?

And did you water, if there's no rainfall where they're hanging? Do your friends who don't water, also grow in baskets?

Any other comments on how they turned out would be of interest, too.

Nell

These are labeled "Mixed Hardy Perennial Lilies". I don't know what they really are. The picture looks like Asiatic lilies. It says they grow to 3Â. It is unfortunately not a dwarf type. My plan is try one hanging basket (4 bulbs) and one large-deep windowsill container(12" tall, 6 bulbs). I will keep track and hopefully upload pictures of them.

Okay, I just bought this container yesterday from WM. It is 13" deep, 12"x12" surface. I put the bulbs 6" deep. I stuff all 10 bulbs into the container (about 3 rows, 3 colums). I sit it at a south-western window. I am waiting to see the beautiful flowers ... Agree?

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