All the Dirt on Gardening

  Both true Lilies and Day Lilies are blooming in abundance right now. What's the difference? It's more than just their names since they are planted, grown, divided and propagated differently.  The top photo of a Lily in our yard lily bulb . is a true Lily or Lilium that is grown from a bulb that looks like a garlic bulb. True flowers are trumpet-shaped, bowl-shaped, funnel-shaped and recurved. They have six petals. True Lily  Propagation  You can separate lily scales and grow more lilies from them as illustrated in the photo. Or you can dig the mother bulb and separate her bulbils (tiny bulbs surrounding the main, large bulb) to be planted into pots while they grow or plant directly in a prepared bed. While most true Lilies have their bulbils underground right around the top of the mother bulb, Tiger Lilies have their bulbils along their stems. Harvest them and plant them in moist compost until green emerges and then put them into individu...

This is a really good time to divide Asiatic Lily bulbs, both to increase flowering next summer and to spread them throughout your garden! There is very little work to it and simply dividing and watering in this fall will result in more beauty for next summer. Now that the leaves have yellowed, you can still see where they are. Grab a shovel and a bucket to hold the bulbs and go out there. Start in one section of the garden where the plants are still standing, working your way through the beds over a series of days if necessary. Put the shovel in the ground a few inches out from the main stem so you get the bulbils still attached when you lift the dirt. Then, cut off the stem an inch above the soil. Dump your dig onto newspaper and separate the mother bulb from the children. Do not compost any stems with fungus on them. Here's a how-to video from Ken at www.lilyflowerstore.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOLBduaaurg You can replant all the children or only the largest...