Yes you can. Some people even get resprouting and blooming again that very season. Virtually all Easter Lilies (the white ones) do have LSV - Lily Symptomless Virus, that could spread to other lilies, and may or may not cause problems.

You don't have to wait for the stalk to turn brown to cut or remove it, but is best to wait until it is completely yellow. Cutting earlier than that will mean a somewhat smaller bulb for future growth.

Rick

Rick,

Thanks for the advice. I will plant them in the garden and hope for the best!

-Bellarosa

We bought two lilies also that I plan to put in the yard for future enjoyment :)

From the link below:

What to do with your Easter lily after Easter

* Lily symptomless virus, carried by virtually all Easter lilies, can be readily transmitted to other lilies in outdoor gardens. If infected by the virus, commonly grown lilies such as Asiatic and Oriental hybrids will show reduced flowering and vigor. Because of this risk, it's safest to simply discard Easter lilies after they finish flowering.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Easter lily in North America

Thanks for posting this. I did not buy any Easter lilies this year, but have in the past, and planted them out in my garden. I did it maybe 3 years running. I DO have a lot of lilies, both asiatics and orientals and others. The Easter lilies never did well in the garden. I think I saw one bloom last year. They are surrounded by much taller plants. If I could tell which was which, I'd be tempted to pull them out, now that I know about this virus. But it is probably too late, anyway.

Well am I glad I read this! Our church discards their Easter flowers when they fade and I usually bring them home rather than have them thrown in the dumpster. I plant some of the Easter lilies and discard the rest after shaking the potting mix off to use for my flower pots. The Easter lilies aren't reliably hardy in my USDA zone. My questions: does the virus overwinter in the flower bed? Is the virus present in the soil that I use to pot up other plants? Is the virus the same one that can be spread by tiger lilies? Thanks.

I always plant my Easter lilies in my garden and they come up year after year. HOWEVER, one group is now blooming red! What could have happened? I have day lilies as the only other "lily" in my planting bed. Live in suburban Chicago.

Message to Kathi Dahlstrand:

All my replanted Easter lilies have turned red also.
Planted one from this past Easter and have it
marked. See what happens next year.
Mother nature is a funny animal.

I planted an Easter Lily gift in my garden several years ago. It has "colonized" well--must be a half dozen plants growing there now. Lovely blooms in June.

They are planted not too far from my expensive bulb lilies--not real close, but not that far away. However, none of the expensive bulb lilies have shown any negative symptoms for the past 4 years they have all been neighbors.

Of course, my one case proves nothing, but in my case, planting the Easter Lily in the garden has posed no problems.

Kate