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Over winter
Can anyone give me some ideas please. During the summer i bought some Lilium Regale bulbs. I planted in pots to move around the garden. Produced lovely flowers. On previous years i have dried and stored the bulbs in a shed. Each spring i am left with a dried rotten bulb.Does anyone overwinter in pots cutting, off the dried stem.
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That's what I do with the few lilies I grow - let them die down in the pots, move the pots to a quiet corner and protect the pots from frost damage with bubblewrap. In early spring I repot them in fresh compost.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
You can do either jad1. Liliums will happily over winter in pots as long as the drainage is good. I normally lift them after a few years and take off the bulblets and grow those on to give me free bulbs. The secret to keeping the bulbs year to year is to dry them in cold GH or sunny window sill for a week then store them in paper bags over winter. Some do look very dry the following year but they nearly always flower well when potted up the next year. So don't give up on them too early.
I have tried both over the years and now leave them in the pots. As soon as the stems have died back, put the pots somewhere sheltered and on gravel or crocks so they don't get waterlogged.
When I have taken the bulbs and stored them, I tend to only get about 7 flowers per stem at best the following year. After a few years in the pot, I get up to 11 per stem. However the bulbs are large so do need repotting once in a while
Mice love the bulbs too, so if you do store them, make sure they are in a very secure place.
Many thanks for the advice. I think i will leave in the pots this year.