Pot grown lilies need attention at this time of year

Lilies are great for growing in pots, a method that allows them to be plunged into beds as a gap filler or brought on to the patio for spectacular summer flower.Wether you already have some or are thinking about trying them, you will get the best results if you invest some time now.

Cut the old flower spikes back to the base.Autumn is when new roots are formed so carefully scrape off the compost from the top of the pot and replace with fresh.If the bulbs appear congested tip them out and repot, either into a larger pot or separately into individual pots.

Pick large healthy bulbs when buying, smaller bulbs may produce inferior flowers and damaged scales are likely to rot.When handling lily bulbs make sure you wear gloves as the bulbs are known to cause skin irritation.Choose a deep pot and line the bottom with some crocks.

Species lilies often root up the stem so should be planted deep down in the pot, other types should be plant at twice their depth and spaced at 5cm (2 inches) apart.For most lilies the ideal compost mix is three parts John Innes no3 to one part grit and one part ericaceous compost.Lilies are such hungry plants that you could even throw in some controlled release fertiliser as well.

Look at a wide range of Fall bulls and Lilies from MyGardenCenterOnline