Should I dig up my lilies? Is it something I must do now?
myermike_1micha
5 years ago
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StevePA6a
5 years ago
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years agoRelated Discussions
Newbie here: what do I do with my lilies now?
Comments (2)Stop watering temporarily, then only water about once a week unless it's very hot and dry, or unless it rains, in which case you would NOT water. Your lilies can stay in the ground, provided they are 5-6 inches below the surface. If you want them to come back bigger each year, you have to feed them. I do this by leaving the dried stalks in place, then I dig around them in a circle about 12 inches out from the center. I dig a trench about 3-4 inches deep. I fill the trench with a mixture of blood meal, bone meal and a bit of epsom salts. Then I cover it up and water it. If you leave it dry, animals will smell the blood and bone meal and dig it up. You have to do this for each lily. Lots of gardeners don't use the bone meal, because they believe flowers call mainly for potassium, but bone meal contains a lot of phosphorous which helps build big bulbs and healthy roots. My Orientals and Orientpets are all over 7 feet tall and each one has had over a hundred blossoms this summer. So I say, something must be working right. Every gardener has her own system and there's no single right way. Someone else may have good advice too. Lainey...See MoreShould I be digging up my hostas now?
Comments (4)Hi JB, Most hostas are hardy to zone 3, so yours should be just fine outside in the ground without being mulched, but they will be one of the very last things to come up in spring, so donÂt start worrying that they didnÂt make it when everything else starts to grow againÂjust sit back and wait for them. TheyÂll also be one of the first things to freeze, just as a warning! If you just put them in this spring/summer, with a couple years to grow and develop they should be just beautiful. If youÂve been trying them for several years and not having any luck, if theyÂre being planted in heavy clay, next time you plant some, add a substantial amount of organic matter (good quality compost or moist Canadian peat) to the soil in the area where youÂre planting them. That will help hold moisture and nutrients, and hostas usually appreciate a lighter soil. Skybird P.S. Kath, that looks like the sunny side of the house! Are yours doing that well in the sun? They look great!...See MoreCan I dig up caladiums now?
Comments (10)heres an idea ... presuming you must use some decorative pot ... next year.. use a pot in pot system .. so you could cahnge out the interior pots now.. and put the ugly ones out back swomewhere.. and perfect the decorative pot at the front door of your castle ... i also wonder.. if they are not in some transitory stage.. and in a week or two.. put out a new flush of nice leaves.. in my MI .... in severe heat [called july/august] ..... they can go thru stages.. but they usually dont go into dormancy .. short of me screwing them up somehow.. until the sun starts its decline.. and night temps start falling considerably .... so we are back to .. why are yours.. or why are you thinking.. they are going dormant??? .. which be the main reason to lift them now... if it isnt a decorative pot.. then just start a new pot.. and put this one out back.. instead of right next to the door where its bugging you .... ken...See MoreVole got one of my Fragrantissimums. :-( Should I dig it up/move it?
Comments (2)Give it shade from something like a lawn chair so it isn't losing water via leaf stoma as fast. Firm the soil around the roots and water it in. Hope it still has enough roots left. IME often the voles are just tunneling under rhodies rather than eating the roots, so it's exposure of roots to air that are the problem. In my garden they don't seem to eat the rhodie roots, though I can't grow this type....See Moremyermike_1micha
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
dbarron
5 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years agomyermike_1micha
5 years ago
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StevePA6a