Do lilies get stronger year after year if left in, ie, planted permanently?
United Kingdom 
My Stargazer lilies flowered jolly well last year in a pot. I kept them in the same pot over winter rather throwing them away and buying a new lot. This spring they came back up again and are now about to flower for a second season, and they are looking plenty robust, girthful stemmed, tall, etc. Last year's flowering was excellent, but I am wondering whether I can expect an even better performance of blooms from them this year than last? If so, would this be the better way to grow lilies? Does anyone have any experience re this? I'd be ever so grateful to know. Best wishes to all.
2 Jun, 2009
Answers
yes and no.
yes if you keep them well fed and watered they will increase in number.
no as sometimes instead of 3 really strong shoots the bulbs split so you end up with 5 smaller shoots. then they bulk up and the next year they will be better still. I'll try and load some pictures to show you what i mean.
I have put mine into larger pots and some into the ground, buried deeply 4/5".
2 Jun, 2009
Bulbs in pots benefit from being fed during growth and then repotted in fresh compost each year once all the foliage has completely died away. As Sbg says, they will produce offsets that can be removed from the parent bulb to produce new plants
2 Jun, 2009
I tend to plant or replant a lot of bulbs each autumn. I repot in fresh compost usually. But sometimes my severe disability causes me to fail to change the compost in some of the pots. If I find any smaller bits of bulb have formed on the side of a main bulb, I have always been in the habit of removing those and discarding them. I have 'Stargazer', 'Regale and 'African Queen' this year. And no lily beetle shown up yet! Amazing. Perhaps it is more common in London than in Bracknell because of an abundance of lilies as food source in the capital(?) Thanks to all.
2 Jun, 2009
They do seem to do well in pots, but in London, we have a big problem with lily beetle, to the point where I've stopped bothering trying to grow them.
2 Jun, 2009