How to care for garden lilies: useful tips

Garden lilies are incredibly beautiful, fragrant and tall flowers that will decorate any site. The plant is quite unpretentious and not capricious, due to which it is beloved by many flower growers. The current number of varieties is amazing. Today in the flower beds you can find not only the classic orange flowers (tiger lilies), but also curly, snow-white and variegated varieties. If you try to plant lilies in the form of a composition, you get a very spectacular picture. But how to care for a lily so that it blooms and smells? Let's figure it out in order.

Where and how to plant a lily

This flower grows, blooms and develops for many years in the same place. When choosing a place for a garden lily, think about the fact that in the next 5-6 years, the flower will not be transplanted and disturbed. This flower grows well both in the shade and under the sun. However, the quality of the soil is very important for him - the soil should be quite loose and permeable.

1. Lilies are best planted in early autumn, before the first frost. This is usually done in September. If you buy onion lilies from hands, you need to pay attention to their condition. The bottom of the bulb should be without damage, the bulb itself should be in the husk - this indicates its quality.
2. Choosing a place to plant lilies, one should not forget that this is a tall plant. It looks best along the fence, in the center of multi-level flower beds, behind a sheared shrub.
3. Land for planting is prepared in advance. If you have clay soil, three weeks before planting, dig the soil, add a little sand, peat, chernozem, humus to it, mix everything thoroughly and pour over water.
4. When the soil is ready, small holes of 20-30 cm deep are torn out in it. At the bottom of the fossa, it is necessary to pour drainage. To do this, you can use gravel, expanded clay pebbles or brick shards. Spread fertile soil over the drainage, and then lay out the prepared onion.
5. Preparation of lily bulbs is as follows. The long roots of the plant should be trimmed, leaving about 5 cm of the roots. Dry onion husk is removed. It is very good to presoak the onion in a solution of foundationazole (0.2%). It will protect future plant roots from pests, fungi and rot. You can also leave the bulbs for an hour in a solution of growth biostimulant. This will enhance and accelerate the flowering of the sprout.
6. After you have planted the planted onion in the soil, a small indentation should be made in the designated place. Humus (nitrogen fertilizer) or special minerals, which can be purchased at a store for summer residents, are poured into it.
7. If the winter has passed, and in the autumn there were no lilies, but you really want to see them on your site this summer, do not despair. If desired, lilies can be planted in spring. If you buy lily bulbs in advance, they should be stored on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator, where the temperature is moderately low. Put the onions in a bag of peat and make a few holes for oxygen. Thus, the bulbs can be stored for several months.
8. Already in April, such bulbs can be planted in a greenhouse or on a windowsill in plastic cups. When the frosts end, small sprouts are planted in open ground at an angle.

Lily Care - Watering

Lily, as such, does not require special care. All care consists in timely watering and quality weeding. Water the garden lily often enough, especially during its flowering. When the plant fades, watering is reduced to a minimum or stopped altogether.It is best to apply moisture to plants under the root. Excessive wetting of the leaves can lead to gray rot.

How to fertilize a lily

Lily needs to be fertilized and fed, it is very important. In spring, the plant is fed with fertilizers with nitrogen, in the fall - without it. It is also important to note that organic fertilizers are not suitable for lilies, so do not fertilize it with chicken or cow droppings. Usually, a lily is fertilized several times a year - always at the beginning of the season, when the flower has not yet sprouted young flowers and in late autumn, when the lily is prepared for the dormant period.

Lily care during flowering

When a plant blooms, it requires some additional care measures. The most important thing is the garter. Some varieties have fairly large and heavy flowers. And if there are several buds on one stalk, the lily may break. Therefore, it is tied to a small rack.

If you want to cut flowers and put them in a vase, you need to cut them diagonally. It is also very important to pre-wash the garden scissors with soap, so as not to introduce bacteria into the cut that can infect the flower from inside the cut stem. When cutting flowers, note that the stem must remain long, at least 2/3 of the entire length. Otherwise, it will not bloom again.

When the lilies have faded, dried buds are carefully cut and removed.

We send a flower for the winter

Before the onset of winter, all stems of the plant must be cut. Lilies are cut almost to the root, leaving only small stumps of 10-15 cm. It is best to cut the lilies diagonally so that the rain does not fall on the cut and does not cause the stem to rot. After this, the place where the lily grew is sheltered from frost. You can cover the soil with sawdust, dry leaves or just plastic wrap. However, remember, if you cover the soil with a film, you need to do this on dry soil. If you cover the ground after rain, in such a greenhouse the bulbs just rot.

If severe frost is raging in your area and you are afraid that the lilies will freeze over the winter, you can simply dig them out and put them in a box with a small amount of soil. Keep the box in a cool place, and in the spring transplant the onions into the open soil.

Plant transplant

Transplanting lilies is not difficult. Pitch the loose earth with a pitchfork, clean it from the soil and choose healthy onions. Some of them are left in the old place, while others are transplanted into new soil. By the way, lilies grow best with stunted plants - bells, flax. This is due to the fact that the roots and bulbs of lilies do not like to be fried in the sun, and the flower, on the contrary, stretches to the sun's rays. Therefore, low "neighbors" obscure lily roots from overheating. If you want to see lily flowers growing in splendid isolation, you need to mulch the soil at the roots, that is, cover with sawdust or peat, which will protect the bulbs from overheating.

Mentions of lilies are found even in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. This flower has long been considered a symbol of hope, purity and freedom. Grow these delicate flowers to enjoy their incredible beauty and grace!

Video: how to care for lilies