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Sprouted lilies destined for pots of annuals: plant temporarily?

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)

13 years ago

Bought some orientals on clearance. From what I can see through the package, many or most are sprouted, but no more than an inch or two. I normally plant lilies in the garden. But I'm thinking of putting these in containers with annuals. (At $1 a bulb, these were LIKE annuals. Orientals don't do well here in our clay soil. They don't thrive or increase like asiatics. ). They would provide a vertical element. Then maybe I'd twine one of the ivies in there around the stem once they finished blooming. Or add a few morning glory seeds when they are potted up. Yes, I'm making this up as I go along...

The question: I have at least two weeks till the last frost date here, so I won't be planting my pots for a while. Not to mention I don't have the annuals I want for them, either. Should I....plant them in a holding bed temporarily? Plant them in small pots? Or put them in the refrigerator or cool dark basement to try to retard further growth for two weeks? I've got 15 or more lilies, so potting them up would be quite a chore. I have to plant the ones I ordered for the garden, too!

I got: 10 Muscadet (white with red dots) and 4 Cobra (solid red) I also got Casa Blanca, but that's going in the garden. Probably. I also have some red tuberous begonias, and am starting some red/green and white/green and red/white/green caladiums, assuming I get those going successfully. So I'm planning on a red and white color scheme. Suggestions for accompaniments welcomed. Red coleus. Sweet potato vine.

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Comments (2)

stevelau1911
13 years ago
You can plant them in pots our outside, and they are perennials that come back every year. I grow many varieties of lilies and they usually come up as soon as the snow melts, and well before the last freeze so they are pretty cold hardy.

As far as increasing their numbers, that's actually pretty easy to do with any species of lily just because almost every part of the plant can produce bulbils. I've layed a stem sideways in the soil, and gotten several plants to form that way before.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of some of my lilies
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northerner_on
13 years ago
As said above, you can plant them out now, but what concerns me is how you plan to combine these plants. The lilies and sweet potato vine require full sun, while the begonias and caladiums are shade plants. Are you planning to have these in the same pot? If so, something will suffer.
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