They are pretty forgiving, but I always try to get them back into the ground as quickly as possible. Keeping them outside in the shade, as stated above works well for a surprisingly long time if there is no choice. When you replant them, work a bag of composted manure into the holes. Dig deeply and wide too. For best flowering, you don't want to disturb them again for many years. I have two clumps of Milk and Wines that I will have to divide this fall. I can't even begin to count the number of offsets I see. Scott Ogden's Book, Garden Bulbs for the South says if you want fewer offsets and more blooms, you should plant them deeper. If you want offsets, plant them shallower. Anyone know exactly how deep is deep? I have always planted them with a bit of neck sticking out above ground. I suppose I will have enough of them to experiment.... Crinums are my absolute favorite bulbs for the south. Nothing else gives so much for so little effort.

I am another one to find this blog really really late. I just moved south from the Philly area and am just nuts about the pink crinum lilies =ever since I saw them in a garden tour here in beaufort, SC. I drive down to Delray Beach to take care of my mother in law's house several times a year and if anyone out there has some to share I would love to come a get a couple. Susan

Oh my goodness..I didn't mean a thing by what I said. I was asking a serious question. Why must you take everything I say with some kind of malicious content when there is none there ? I'm getting tired of your pettiness. You seem like a woman who has lots of LOL's in her sentences , but much heaviness in her heart. I'm sorry that we can't start over and really get to know each other, but apparently that's how you want it. For example, you will always have to have the last word...go ahead...and you know, God bless you, and may your gardens grow like crazy and you be a very happy woman. I'm just sick and tired of the crap from you, when I keep trying and trying to do nothing but be your friend. It's bitterness that eats at the soul. No fake LOL's here...I think it's very sad, and I mean that from my heart. Now I'm going back to packing up clothes for the Hurricane victims...why don't you go look at every post I've made and see what else you can add to it ? I'm through with it....I give up. I've tried to become friends with you so many times, but your sarcasm and emails, I'll admit, got the best of my temper. So you know...fine, we wont' be friends, it's not like I don't have MANY of them here. God Bless...let's just part ways...

On nights when the temperature is going below freezing, cover the lilies. Cover in the evening before sundown to preserve as much heat as you can. Don't wait for it to drop to freezing. By then, the top part of the soil has lost too much heat. Don't skimp on the amount of area covered. The center of the covered area will be the warmest; The temperature lowers toward the edges and at the edge, it will be near the temperature of the uncovered ground. The next day, do not uncover until the temperature has risen above freezing. This could be a loosing battle. If the cold snap is too severe or lasts too long, nature will have its way in spite of your efforts. Covering at night works only when the temperature does not fall more than 2 to 3 degrees below freezing and for only a few hours at night.