I live in Houston, Texas. I purchased an Easter lily in the spring which I kept in its original pot. The plant dried up and I was going to toss it, but I noticed there is still a healthy looking bulb, or cluster of bulbs. (I am not sure, but it looks kind of like a large garlic bulb. Is that one or multiple?)
I am hoping to be able to restart it in the spring. I read about it needing 6 weeks of cold in order to bloom. That may be difficult in this climate, but if I get lucky it might happen. We have some winter, but I don't know if we will have 6 weeks at 45 degrees. I'm willing to chance it.
My instinct is to leave it alone until spring and just see what happens. However I am wondering if it will need to be watered or not. And at what point in the spring should it be fertilized and watered so it can sprout?
Any info you can give would be helpful.
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I kept mine in my cellar which is cool but certainly not that cold, and I got a few years out of mine. If you have a cool spot in your house, it should be fine. They are usually pretty hardy.
Keep it covered (like in a brown paper bag) so it doesn't get buggy.
Bring it back out in Feb and start watering it again and it should come back!
It could be one or multiple....without seeing it, it is hard to tell.
Post back with an update in the spring!
Keep it in a cold, dark place. A garage or unheated basement is ideal.
Alas no basements in Houston. Too close to the water table. Garages are hot here, we don't have one anyway.
A friend of mine suggested putting it in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.
I would not put it in the refrigerator...just on general principles. Do you have a closet or cupboard that is dark and cool (gets some air from the air conditioner)? That would be your best bet.
I read that the temp needs to be around 45 degrees. None of my closets would get that cold. We have a refrigerator dedicated to beverages on our patio that has some unused space in the vegetable drawer. My thinking was to leave the dirt around it, and wrap it in a couple paper bags and just let it be in there for a few months.
I can't think of anywhere else that would be cold enough.
I may be reading this wrong, but it looks like in the Q&A for TX, you can leave Easter Lilies to go dormant in the ground....meaning add them to your landscape, versus tying to keep them as an indoor plant. This is something I could never do in PA, but apparently it works in TX.
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/
The article is on PDF page 4.
Post back what you decide. I love it that I learned something new today!
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