Don’t Throw Your Easter Lilies Out (How To Keep Easter Lilies After Easter)

Those pretty indoor Easter lily plants that you buy at Easter time are really hardy perennials, so don’t throw them out after the Easter holiday has passed. Plant them outdoors to beautify your landscape instead!

How To Keep Easter Lilies After Easter

Just follow the easy instructions below to keep your lilies each year and establish a nice outdoor lily garden (see Building Beautiful Garden Borders for ideas on where to plant them). 

First, Prolong Indoor Bloom Time

To maximize your enjoyment of your lilies, be sure to prolong their indoor bloom time. To do this, be sure to pinch off the yellow anthers inside the flowers as soon as the flowers open. This prevents pollination (un-pollinated flowers last longer) and keeps the flowers white.

Easter Lilies With Anthers

Keeping your lily plants in daytime temperatures in the 70’s and nighttime temperatures in the ’40s will also prolong bloom time. Warmer temperatures reduce bloom time.

Easter Lily With Anthers Removed

Then, Prepare Them For Outdoor Blooming

If grown indoors as a houseplant, it’s difficult to get an Easter lily to re-bloom, but if planted outdoors, they readily re-bloom each year.

To prepare your plant for planting outdoors, remove all of the flowers once your plant’s flowers have faded. This forces the plant to enlarge the bulb rather than producing flower seeds.

Then, keep your plant(s) in bright, indirect light until nighttime temperatures stay above 40 degrees outdoors.

Finally, Plant Them Outdoors

Plant your lilies about 6 inches deep, in a partially-sunny site with well-drained soil.

Cover with several inches of mulch before winter in cold winter areas for winter protection. Lilies planted this way should bloom mid-summer next year and many years thereafter.

Lilies In The Garden

Finding Deals On Lilies

Right after Easter is also a good time to check for deals on lily plants at stores, they’re usually trying to get rid of them (who wants them after Easter has passed after all). Sometimes you can find them for ridiculously low prices!