Susie, as northerner said, the lilies will freeze if you leave them in pots above ground over the winter. Are you sure that the bulbs rotted because of the soil being too damp? As you said, the bulbs have been there for 10 years. Has anything changed that would cause more moisture, such as a large tree or a hedge that was removed? If not, I doubt it's because of wet conditions. If you say that you had squirrels eating the shoots, the bulbs might still be there. Have you checked? Is there another place in your garden you could bury the pots over the winter, like a vegetable patch where they might be safe from squirrels? You could keep them there while the shoots are still tender enough to be appetizing for squirrels and other rodents like rabbits and mice or voles. and then move them. I lost a lot of my lilies last year to voles who ate the emerging shoots and some other creature that dug up the bulbs. I got some new bulbs at a good price a while ago and what I did was loosely wrap some chicken wire around each bulb before planting them in pots. I'll bury the pots in the vegetable garden soon. In springtime, I'll remove the bulbs from the pots and plant them in their designated spot. I'll bury a piece of chicken wire a few inches deep in the ground above the bulbs so squirrels can't dig them up and I'll be protecting the emerging shoots with crates or maybe those wire wastepaper baskets you get at the dollar store, or maybe just by throwing a nylon net over them. Seems like a lot of work, but if you're a lily lover like me, you know it's worth it.

From what you are saying you purchased a pot of blooming lilies. I have seen them in the stores and they have incorrect info in the pots. I think these people should be in court. They are leading people to think these are indoor blooming plants. Alina they are saying cut them back and they will bloom again. But if you do not know you would think they are going to bloom again in the same year. Vague info that only an experienced gardener would know that they mean next year. jenbplus3, the correct info should be..... After the plants finish blooming and the leaves die. Cut the plant down and they will bloom next year. The Asiatic bloom in the Spring. The Orientals will bloom later either early summer or late summer. You will probably have blooms for 2 to 3 weeks from each plant but they only bloom once during that period and will come back the following year. They need a cool period to bloom the next year is the reason they should be planted outside. If you want to grow them in pots you will need to keep the pot outside in a protected area that it will get cold but not too much moisture so the bulb will not rot from being cold and wet. At this point do not water let them dry in the pot and finish browning. If you keep it moist the bulb will rot. I hope this helps.

I guess I worded it wrong what I meant was there is a database for Day lilies Not that I know of. Maybe someone on the daylily forum would know. There are thousands of them, and so many there are hybridizing their own (controlled cross pollination and growing from seed, amazing, one cross, 5 distinctly different lilies, one a real gem they want to register). I suppose you can do the same with orientals if you know how to do it and can get them to grow from seed and wait. About the only thing I know is to go to some of the better-known vendors' websites so you can get into their website and search their catalogs. Bet it came from the netherlands. I googled bamako +lily (to weed out the city, etc). But the web page is just a blank blue now. So I check the cached version. Same thing. So I guess we've hit a dead end. Hang onto that lily! Google says Mak Breeding Lily Breeding Exclusive Cultivars for link, then "In almost all important lily groups like Orientals, Asiatics, LAs we can offer ... Ballroom (LA), Bamako (Pot OR), Belletti (AZ), Belo Horizonte (AZ) ...", that's all it will let me see, and the link being (no sense in posting it as useful, it's not useful to me). But IE7 isn't picking up some web pages for me now. So I don't know what's happened. The link is http://makbreeding.nl/en/ This is just a guess, but it may just be a batch that somebody imported and for one reason or another ended up where you bought it. I'm not an expert on this stuff. A little more detective work, which I'm too tired to do, may turn up more on makbreeding and who they are. if the patent expires like it does for roses? I'd have to be a patent attorney which I'm not to answer that precisely, but I would say yes, and I don't remember what the time limit is but there is one. Now if it isn't patented in the US, I don't know where that would put you. All I know is from a copyright infringement standpoint. Somebody in another country steals your work and uses it. Sometimes you can get them to take it down or cease and desist, but usually not. But it's still unethical imo. Same would apply to a patent no matter where, but who's going to enforce it? Maybe somebody somewhere would know more. I just pick up factoids and read what some have been through here and there. I saw a Casablanca in bloom today and my white is not it. Didn't think so but only because of what the other poster said. I thought having some really tall ones would be cool. So I got one kind, 3, first year they're 5', supposed to get over your head in time, plus they all lean, what else is new for me, only a few don't? Stargazers no matter what the variety stay a nice height. Yeah, I can relate about ordering. That's why I put some on the back burner. But to get the ones you really want, that's what you have to do. One daylily site they run $45. Yikes. 'Spose if I wanted it badly enough I'd order one and pay the shipping, 'cuz that's the way I am, but then I don't buy something else. I don't expect one vendor to have all the things I want so just pay the shipping, goes with the territory. Sometimes I order something, pay everything, then they have a sale so I order more from the same place lol. I've tried but they always look horrible So do most of mine. After the Japanese beetle siege and realizing that if I want really pretty roses, I'm going to have to apray. And prune right. And winter protect right. My once bloomers I rooted, well they bloom once and are done, but are beautiful while they last, and I don't have to fuss over them at all, don't even have to water them after the first year. My others, I'm going to cull some out because they look terrible. The rose forums are an invaluable resource here. The really knowledgeable growers give them about three years. If they don't perform, they're history and they find something that will. Most of them live in warmer zones, and one in S CA where they don't have near the bugs and troubles I do. I have one rose that is barely holding its own but doing better since I started pampering it. So what do I see? One in the south growing up a tree with so many blooms, I swear it is mocking me lol. The same rose tops a beautiful pergola this gal and husband in KY built on a corner of their deck. It's gorgeous. When I catch up with her again, I'm going to ask her what on earth she does with THAT monster when the Jap beetles hit. They love mine, and it's only pink. I'm sure by tomorrow some unknown ailment or bug will get them. :) You've grown cynical just like me. Same here. So I have one pair of Austin roses that are perfect specimens, nothing bothers it, leaves don't get eaten, mites, all that. But that's the one the Jap beetles love the best. I swear, you can't win. But I'm too stubborn to give up, and people going by don't see all the defects anyway. So there you have it. A non-expert, novice, lily newbie. That would be me :-). But I share what I've learned the hard way. The plants that are causing me the least trouble, just wait lol, are the once-bloomer roses (and they do get leaf stuff but nice blooms before the worst hits), daylilies, orientals, some perennials and hostas.

I planted a few oriental lilies the fall before last and got very good results. I used the varietal Josephine that I got as bulbs via a catalog order and also some called Maru that I got as freebies from a friend that bought the potted and already blooming kind at Lowes [and was letting them die in their pots so he gave them to me]. Anyway... I planted them in the front bed with ammendments and bonemeal because the soil is clayish. I left the bedraggled stems on the ones already growing stand so they could capture what little energy they could on their few leftover leaves. Last year all of them came up and were extremely healthy. Every one of them bloomed as well. There was one in the shade of a tree and it's leaves were rather floppy and pathetic compared to the others but that tree has since been removed by roommate who was worried about it falling on our cars. I was so impressed by them that I bought a bag of mixed oriental lilies and put those in the other spots were there weren't any. They are pretty big and showy so I planted more muted stuff like bee balm and ajuga around them so the yard has an overall balance. Of Note: My roommate uses pine needle mulch in the front yard so the soil is rather acidic, and as other posters have said, oriental lilies seem to like that. Looking forward to seeing how much they have multiplied this coming spring. Also of note: They emerge from the ground rather late so just be patient and remember where you planted them.