Hi - this is my first post as a fairly novice (but enthusiastic) gardener.

I ordered some lily bulbs some months ago and they just arrived today!

They were ordered to plant into pots and give as gifts, for sentimental reasons (i.e. in memory of someone named Lily).

The advice I've been reading is to plant the bulbs in autumn or spring.

My question is - would it do any harm to plant them in the pots just now and give them as Christmas gifts? Or do I really need to keep hold of them until the spring before planting them?

Many thanks.

"Caitlinb" wrote in message
...

Hi - this is my first post as a fairly novice (but enthusiastic)
gardener.

I ordered some lily bulbs some months ago and they just arrived today!

They were ordered to plant into pots and give as gifts, for sentimental
reasons (i.e. in memory of someone named Lily).

The advice I've been reading is to plant the bulbs in autumn or spring.

My question is - would it do any harm to plant them in the pots just now
and give them as Christmas gifts? Or do I really need to keep hold of
them until the spring before planting them?

Many thanks.
Caitlinb

Someone else will probably give you a better answer, but to me it depends
somewhat on what kind of lilies you have and whether your recipients live in
areas where it's too cold to plant them outside this time of year.

But probably you can pot them now for forcing. Of course if you do that
they may not bloom again later, assuming you want this memorial gift to last
long term.

On Dec 13, 1:51*am, Caitlinb wrote:
Hi - this is my first post as a fairly novice (but enthusiastic)
gardener.

I ordered some lily bulbs some months ago and they just arrived today!

They were ordered to plant into pots and give as gifts, for sentimental
reasons (i.e. in memory of someone named Lily). *

The advice I've been reading is to plant the bulbs in autumn or spring.

My question is - would it do any harm to plant them in the pots just now
and give them as Christmas gifts? *Or do I really need to keep hold of
them until the spring before planting them?

Many thanks.

--
Caitlinb

Plant them up ASAP. Lilies, unlike many other bulbs, are never fully
dormant and deteriorate rapidly if left unplanted for any length of
time. They can certainly be forced by keeping indoors but they can
also be stored in a cool location until they can be planted outdoors.
If your soil doesn't freeze, they can actually be planted in ground
right now :-)