Question
I bought three Asiatic Lily plants (matrix red), which were blooming at the time, in April and planted them.  After the blooms fell off, they have never bloomed again. Is there something I should be doing to encourage blooming?

Answer
Hello Nona

Lilies are best planted as bulbs or growing( not flowering) plants as they can establish better before they flower.

The reason for this is that lilies that are in flower much earlier than normal have been forced to flower at that time when they should still be growing.

When any bulbs are forced, it takes all the energy out of the plant and they use up all their stored food.

I have Asiatic lilies and they are in bud now but they will not be flowering until about end of this month and into July.

Another couple reasons is that some are stem rooting and this means that the plant produces roots at the top of the bulb as well as the base, so they need planting deeper.

They also do not like disturbance and this can cause no flowers is the next season but the plants should flower the season after.

The final reason could be that the bulbs have not been planted deep enough and they need planting at 2-3 times their own depth. If they are stem rooting then they need planting a tad deeper.

I hope this helps.

Take care

Jonathan