They are native to the high-altitude deserts of central Asia. They like well-drained sandy or gravelly soil, lots of sun in Spring when they grow and bloom, and a dry Summer dormancy. I feed them with a little NPK fertilizer early each Spring. If your winters are freezing, provide some coarse mulch over the dormant roots. Bait for slugs and snails. If your soil is very acid, sprinkle some lime around the plants. They will not bloom until the root has grown large enough to store a lot of food. They will rarely bloom in a shady location.

Lilydude, thank you so much for the information. I can see I must move them to another location in my garden.

Dig them after they go dormant in midsummer. The roots fan out wide, so you will probably cut some. Store the roots uncovered in a dry place out of the sun for a week or two; this will let the injured roots callus over, and minimize the risk of rotting. Then replant them in your new location. Plant them so that the central bud is just under the soil surface. The roots are brittle, so be careful. They can stand a little water in Summer after they go dormant, if the soil is coarse and well-drained. But they would prefer to be dry. So this plant would be a great choice for an unirrigated garden, along with NW and Mediterranean natives.

Thanks again Lilydude! I will follow your advise and hopefully I'll have the long awaited beautiful blooms in a year or two. Kayli

Lilydude answered my question thank you, which was similar to Kayli's.
I'm posting this 3 yrs after the original question but Lilydude's NPK fertilizer-- might that be an all purpose feed for enhanced flowering ie 20/20/20? Thanks.

The only way to know for sure what fertilizer to use is to get a soil test. Nobody wants to do this, including me, so I use the "don't worry, be happy" philosophy of fertilizing, which is to throw some NPK fertilizer on and let the plant decide what it needs. 5-10-10, 10-20-20, 20-20-20, they're all fine. (Avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers like lawn fertilizer.) I find that a little bit goes a long way. 1/4 cup of 10-20-20 around a big Eremurus is more than enough in my soil, especially if you've also applied some lime to adjust the soil pH. Dolomite lime is best.

These plants are tough and will grow without fertilizer, but if you feed them, they will become spectacular.

Thanks again Lilydude. The young foxes are slow to emerge here in 6a in April. The second year's emerging foliage is much more robust and hopeful than before. So I gave them a shot of 20/20/20 and they're good to go. I'll add lime as well.
Can't wait to see these guys in bloom some year. I guess as gardeners, we all anticipate so much more when they're special like the Foxtail Lilies.

I never fertilize mine and they do just fine, blooming in about the 3rd or 4th year from seeding. (I let them self sow.)

Don't be too disappointed if they take another year to bloom. They need to be quite large. If they do bloom, you will get hundreds of seeds off each stalk, unless you cut it off when the blooms are nearly finished. I suspect that cutting the stem off will help the plant to preserve energy.