When to plant Pinepple Lillies?

I would definitely wait until it has warmed up - a lot. They come from southern Africa and will appreciate the warmest and most well-drained spot you can give them. In the meantime, leave them in a cool, frost-free place or pot them up for later planting out. I would also be inclined to give them protection in future winters with some old ferns or something similar to keep the worst of the cold from them

hi weemama, yes i agree with Andrew it is best to wait, i have two different varieties of them. and they do seem to be fully hardy outside, but then we have'nt had any snow at all this year Essex is far warmer than where you are, but having said that they do need to be planted quite deep anyway. which proberly also helps, but they are very worthwhile plants, and a real bargin for the price you paid.

Did a bit of checking Weemama and what can I say - Andrew is right lol Not that I thought he wouldn't be!! The book says you can plant them up once the danger of deep frost has passed so I reckon you are looking at April.
The planting depth is really shallow if you are putting them directly into the garden (level with or just under soil) yet if you plant up in a pot you put them deeper (2-3" deep).
So if you want to get them underway this month maybe a large pot is the way to go?

Thank you everyone for your help , thats the great thing about this site , I never feel too thick to ask a question as there is always people who are happy to try and help , I love it. Im going to start them off in pots in the Greenhouse once I start to heat it in a couple of weeks so they will be ready to plant out when ( hopefully ) the weather is better . Thank you .

sorry Maple but through trial and error i have to disagree with planting depth, yes do wait until after frost before planting, - i planted mine about march/april i bought 4 and planted them as instructed on the packet quite shallow, and when they come up they were very leggy and did'nt do too well at all, infact one of them just snapped off before it got to flowering stage. i really liked them and bought some more from ebay. later on in the year, and by the advice of the person i bought them from i planted them much deeper, about 8-10inches and they were lovely! they still had flowers on up until september, so it goes to show that it does'nt matter if you do plant a bit later. feel free to veiw pictures of them in 'my garden'. i also did some checking on google about them at the time and they should be fully hardy in most parts of the UK, dispite the fact that they do come from a hot climate they should tollorate winter here, providing the weather is not too severe, and they are in a fairly sheltered location. i have left mine in without protection, so i am hoping that is true, but as i said we do get the mildest weather here in the south, i get away with all sorts that i proberly should'nt so if you do decide to leave them in over winter next year it would be a good idea to give some protection as Andrew and Maple have saggested.

I used to work for a bulb importer and you can plant bulbs a least two months later than what is stated on the package. The pound shops are a good buy for bulbs etc's there stock is generally purchased from some excellent dutch growers.

Debs

Last year, in a panic due to the weather, I raided our local Poundland and bought loads of bulbs, planting them (in Fife) the last weekend in April. Most of them flowered, a bit later than planned, but were an excellent buy , mainly the gladioli (20 for £1!!). Good luck with yours.