Lily Plant Care: Sun, Water, Pots and After Blooming

Give a lily at least six hours of direct sun, plant the bulb about 6 to 8 inches deep in rich, well-drained soil, keep the soil evenly moist but never waterlogged, and leave the leaves on after the flowers fade so the bulb can rebuild for next year. That is the whole routine for garden lilies, and it works for potted ones with a few adjustments covered below.

The figures come from university extension services. NC State Extension gives full sun of six or more hours a day, soil high in organic matter with a pH below 6.0, and good drainage. South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension plants bulbs about 6 inches deep in a full-sun spot with well-drained soil and says to keep the leaves green and healthy through summer and autumn.

Check which lily you have first. This page is about true lilies (Lilium): Asiatic, Oriental, trumpet, tiger and Easter lilies. Peace lilies and calla lilies are different plants with different care; see peace lily care and calla lily and cats.

• Sun. NC State lists full sun, six or more hours of direct light, and accepts partial shade of two to six hours. The same page describes lilies as liking cool, moist roots, so a sunny bed with a low groundcover or mulch over the root zone suits them.
• Drainage. NC State warns that overly moist soil causes bulb rot, but the soil should not dry out completely either. A bed that holds puddles after rain is the most common reason a lily does not come back.
• Soil. High organic matter and an acidic pH below 6.0 (NC State). SDSU recommends applying a few inches of mulch over newly planted bulbs.

• Depth. SDSU and Iowa State Extension both give about 6 inches; NC State says 8 inches for autumn planting.
• Stem-rooting lilies go deeper. For containers, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) plants basal-rooting lilies at a depth equal to the bulb's height, and stem-rooting kinds such as L. formosanum, L. lancifolium (tiger lily) and L. longiflorum (Easter lily) at about 2.5 times the bulb's height, because they also root from the buried stem.
• Grouping. SDSU suggests groups of at least five bulbs for a fuller display.
• When. SDSU plants in spring or early autumn and divides crowded clumps in early September.

Water so the soil stays evenly moist without standing wet. NC State puts both halves of the rule on one line: overly moist soil causes bulb rot, but do not let the soil dry out completely. The RHS says the same for pots: moist at all times, but not wet.

Lilies are heavy feeders, according to the RHS, which mixes controlled-release fertiliser granules into the compost at planting. After flowering, Iowa State Extension keeps feeding a potted Easter lily with a dilute fertiliser; its two pages on the subject give every two weeks and monthly.

The RHS container guide gives the most specific numbers we found:

• Pot size. One large bulb (10 to 12 cm across) in a pot 20 to 23 cm wide; three or four smaller bulbs (5 to 8 cm) in a pot 23 to 25 cm wide. Leave 5 cm between bulbs and use deep containers only.
• Compost. Soil-based compost such as peat-free John Innes No. 3 is easier to manage for watering and feeding. If the mix is dense, add 20 percent horticultural grit and 20 percent peat-free compost or leaf mould. Lime-hating kinds such as L. auratum and L. speciosum need ericaceous compost.
• Second year. Repot in autumn, move the bulbs into the garden, or replace the top 5 cm of compost with fresh compost plus fertiliser.
• Winter. Keep pots somewhere cool, frost-free and airy, such as an unheated greenhouse, and out of the rain so they do not waterlog. In cold areas the RHS wraps pots in bubble polythene or moves them into a frost-free shed.

Most lilies bought in flower for the house are Easter lilies (Lilium longiflorum). Iowa State Extension's advice for them:

• Buying. Choose a plant with one or two open flowers and several unopened buds of different sizes.
• Light and temperature. Bright light but out of direct sun, at 65 to 70 F by day and slightly cooler at night.
• Water. When the surface of the soil is dry, water thoroughly until it drains, and do not leave the pot standing in water. If it came in a decorative foil sleeve, make sure water can escape.
• Pollen. Pull off the yellow anthers before the pollen sheds. It makes the flowers last longer and stops pollen staining, and it means less loose pollen in a home with cats; see the pet section below.

Indoors a lily is a temporary flowering plant. To keep it for another year it has to go outside, as the next sections explain.

The flowers on a potted Easter lily last 2 to 3 weeks at home with proper care, according to Iowa State Extension. SDSU adds that each individual lily flower typically lasts several days and can stay fresh for up to a week, so a plant bought with several buds at different stages gives the longest show.

The bulb lives much longer than the flowers. Planted outside it can return for years (next section), and the RHS notes a lily can stay in the same container for a second season if you refresh the top 5 cm of compost.

Cut off the faded flowers, keep the leaves, and then either keep it growing in the pot or plant it in the garden.

• Deadhead, do not cut down. SDSU cuts the spent flower head off just above the top leaves on the stem, and says to keep the leaves green and healthy through summer and autumn. The leaves are what feed the bulb for next year.
• Keep it growing. Iowa State Extension moves a finished Easter lily to a sunny window, keeps watering as needed and feeds it with a dilute fertiliser.
• Plant it out. Iowa State plants it outdoors once the danger of frost has passed (May in Iowa), in a sunny, well-drained spot, with the bulb about 6 inches deep. The old stem dies back within several weeks; cut it off at ground level. New growth usually appears by summer, and some plants bloom again in September while others wait until the following June or July.

Yes, garden lilies are perennial bulbs and return each year where they are hardy and the soil drains. NC State lists the genus for USDA zones 3a to 8b.

Easter lilies are less cold hardy. Iowa State Extension gives zones 5 to 11, with some only hardy to zone 7, and says they are not reliably winter hardy in Iowa, though they can survive for several years under a heavy mulch of several inches of straw put on in autumn and removed in spring.

If a lily fails to return, the usual causes in our sources are bulb rot in wet soil (NC State), the leaves being cut off too early (SDSU), or lily leaf beetle stripping the plant (next section).

The pest that ends most lily plantings in the northeastern US is the lily leaf beetle. UMass Amherst Extension's fact sheet:

• What it attacks. True lilies (Lilium, including tiger, Easter, Asiatic and Oriental lilies) and fritillaria. Daylilies are not hosts.
• How to recognise it. Adults are about 1/2 inch long with a bright red body and black legs, head and antennae. Eggs are laid in rows on the undersides of leaves, usually in May, and hatch in 4 to 8 days. The larvae are soft, slug-like and orange, brown or yellowish with black heads, and cover themselves in their own excrement.
• Why it matters. Each female lays 250 to 450 eggs, and larvae often eat every leaf, leaving bare stems.
• What to do. Hand-pick adults and eggs; turn leaves over to find the egg rows. UMass also lists neem products applied every 5 to 7 days after eggs hatch, and spinosad.

NC State adds aphids, bulb mites, slugs and snails, narcissus bulb fly, botrytis and bulb rot in poorly drained soil. The RHS lists grey mould and slug damage as well.

NC State groups garden lilies into seven horticultural groups: Asiatic, Martagon, American, Longiflorum (Easter lilies), Trumpet and Aurelian, Oriental, and Orienpet hybrids. Care is broadly the same; the differences that matter are height, scent and bloom time.

SDSU notes that some lilies grow only about a foot tall while others pass six feet, sometimes with more than 20 flowers per stem, and that most bloom in mid-summer, usually July, with some later. Tall kinds need a stake or a sheltered spot. Lime-hating Oriental types such as L. auratum and L. speciosum want acidic compost in pots (RHS).

The ASPCA lists lilies (Lilium species) as toxic to cats, with kidney failure as the clinical sign, and Iowa State Extension says ingestion can lead to kidney failure and that a cat that may have been exposed needs veterinary care immediately. The ASPCA lists them as non-toxic to dogs and horses.

If you share a home with a cat, the safest choice is not to bring true lilies indoors. If a cat may have chewed a lily or licked its pollen, contact a veterinarian, ASPCA Animal Poison Control on (888) 426-4435 or Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 straight away, without waiting for signs. Details are on our lily and cats page.

Research and drafting for this page were done with the help of AI, and every figure was then checked line by line against the sources listed at the end of the page. Sources were opened on 2026-09-25. Where sources disagree, we give each figure with its source rather than picking one. If you find a mistake, tell us and we will correct it. Two of the top-ranking lily guides (The Old Farmer's Almanac and Gardenia.net) blocked our reader, so nothing on this page is taken from them.