Lilies in pots must be repotted every year. As soon as the stem has died down, empty the pot, shake out the bulb, separate any offshoots that it may have made, and replant at once.
Very little water need be given during the winter, but the bulbs must not be allowed to become dry. It is a great mistake to winter hardy lilies indoors or in a greenhouse, as it renders the plants tender and liable to disease.
Although all lilies are perennial, that is, they come up every year, there are some kinds, notably Lilium Canadense, which show great reluctance to becoming established, and after coming up well for two or three years, suddenly disappear altogether. This is especially the case when the plants have been allowed to ripen their seed. Indeed, all lilies tend to dwindle when they are allowed to go to seed. One reason why L. Candidum is so much better when grown in neglected situations than any other lily is because it never produces seed in this country.
There are four methods by which lilies may be propagated; by seed; by bulblets, which are formed in the axils of the leaves of some species; by offshoots from the parent bulb, and by detached scales. Again the bulbs often split into two or more parts. If a single bulb has sent up two flower spikes, the bulb will probably be found to have split into two, the scales re-arranging themselves accordingly. If these two bulbs are separated, each will send up flower spikes either next year or the year after.
Growing lilies from seed is a tedious affair and is not worth its salt except when trying to raise hybrids or new species of great rarity.
The seeds should be grown in seed-pans in a mixture of peat, leaf mould, sand and moss. They take from six weeks to two years to germinate. Under glass they germinate more quickly. They never produce flowering bulbs till at least two years after they have been sown. Lilium Tenuifolium grows the most rapidly, and often flowers in the third year. Other kinds take from three to ten years to form a flowering bulb—time enough to exhaust the patience of any amateur. The vast majority of seeds either never germinate, or, if they develop so far, die before they have formed a bulb of sufficient size to send up a flower spike. Not all lilies produce seeds in this country. L. Candidum, Testaceum, Chalcedonicum, and others never do. Most kinds only ripen their seeds in very propitious seasons. So much for seeds.
The second method of increasing lilies is by growing the small bulblets which form in the axils of the leaves. Only L. Bulbiferum, L. Tigrinum, and occasionally one or two others, produce these axial bulblets. Sow the bulblets as you do the seeds. They usually germinate very quickly, and produce flowering bulbs within two years.
The commonest, quickest and best way to increase lilies is through the small bulbs which grow round the base of the parent. These may be removed when the bulbs are lifted and planted at once. They will flower in one or two years.
Before we leave the question of the cultivation of lilies, we will refer to two or three constituents of the soil, the presence of which is by some authors described as imperative, by others as injurious.
