When and how do you transplant Easter lilies?

By Helen Sierra, Ogle County Master Gardener That gorgeous lily you got for Easter can be resurrected as a garden plant. Maybe it won't immediately have flowers as large as when your Lilium longifolorum, the variety usually available at Easter, was forced at a nursery to bloom. But Easter lilies are very hardy and can be transplanted into the garden, to bloom year after year. I've replanted Easter lilies successfully. Here's what I've done: Let the lily flowers finish blooming. Hold back on watering a bit as the plants wither; just give them enough water to stay alive. After the area's frost-free date, May 15, or earlier if the weather begins to stay warm (or you're an optimist), transplant the Easter lily into the garden. The leaves may be withering, the flowers long gone, but there's life yet in it! Trim off the dead foliage. I usually cut the stems back a bit and also give the roots a haircut, especially the longer roots. Of course, lilies love humus soil. But my garden is Clay Soil Central so I always add amendments such as compost, decayed leaves or denatured animal manure to the soil. After planting the trimmed lily plant, water it well. I usually add an all-purpose fertilizer to the water to encourage root growth. After years of gardening, I've learned that all transplants survive the process a lot better if they're protected from wind, rain and hot sun for several days. I put upended old plastic milk crates, the kind with an open weave, over the plants. The crates may be ugly but they allow just enough good elements to help the plants prosper but won't let Mother Nature blast the struggling transplants. After three or four days, when the plants start looking perky, remove the crates. Once transplanted, the stems may need to be trimmed again if they die back a bit. They may or may not bloom again the year they're planted. For winter, either mulch them with about 4 inches of straw or other reliable mulch, or dig the bulbs up and store them like cannas or dahlias. I overwinter my lilies in the ground and right now, a bunch of fat Easter lily stems are emerging. For those on a tight gardening budget, look for bargain Easter lilies once the holiday is over. The potted plants may be too droopy to showcase on your dining room table, but transplanted into your garden, "clearance sale special" Easter lilies can give you years of lovely white flowers. For additional information, contact your local Extension Service office, or check the U. of I. website, http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu. The Ogle County office is at 421 W. Pines Rd., Suite 10, Oregon, 815/732-2191.