Bulb · Liliaceae
Asiatic Lily
Lilium
Drop the bulbs in once and Asiatic lilies reward you with the first big blooms of summer, year after year.
Full sun
Every 5–10 days
USDA 4–8
2–5 ft · 0.6–1.5 m
Overview
Asiatic lilies rank as the easiest true lilies to grow, and they usually beat every other lily into bloom each summer. Each one rises from a bulb that returns a touch stronger every season, lifting up flowers 4 to 6 inches across that face up or outward in nearly every color except true blue. Most carry little or no scent, a real plus for anyone who finds the thick perfume of other lilies too heavy.
Settle them in and they ask for next to nothing. Full sun, soil that drains fast, and cool roots are the entire recipe, and the bulbs shrug off winters all the way down to -20°F (-29°C). Tuck them into a sunny bed and they multiply on their own, building fuller clumps you can lift and split every few years.
One point deserves blunt honesty: these are true lilies, and they are deadly to cats. Every part, right down to the pollen and the water sitting in a vase, can trigger fatal kidney failure in a cat. Share your home with a cat and you grow this only where the cat can never reach it, or you leave it out of the garden altogether.
Care
The short version: full sun and fast drainage are what Asiatic lilies want above all else. Keep the soil evenly moist yet never soggy, lay down mulch to hold the roots cool, and split crowded clumps every few years to keep the flowers rolling in.
Light
Asiatic lilies flower hardest in full sun, six hours a day or more. They take a bit of afternoon shade where summers turn fierce, which stretches out the bloom, but heavy shade leaves them stretched thin and stingy with flowers.
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist through the growing season, and never let it bake bone-dry while the plants push growth. Water every 5 to 10 days, more often in heat, but ease off the instant the ground turns soggy, because wet feet rot the bulbs. A blanket of mulch locks in moisture and keeps the roots cool.
Soil
Drainage rules everything here. Plant in well-drained loam, silt, or sand worked through with compost, shooting for a slightly acidic to neutral pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Heavy, waterlogged ground is the quickest way to lose the bulbs.
Temperature
These are tough, cold-hardy bulbs that ride out a span from -20°F to 90°F (-29°C to 32°C). They count on winter chill to bloom well, so they hit their stride in cold-winter gardens where plenty of other bulbs falter.
Humidity
Plain outdoor air suits them fine, so chase no number. Airflow counts for more than moisture overhead, since crowded, stagnant spots are exactly what lure botrytis blight onto the leaves.
Feeding
Mix a balanced or low-nitrogen bulb fertilizer into the soil as the shoots break ground in spring, then feed once more as the buds swell. Hold back on nitrogen, which drives soft leafy growth and steals from the flowers.
Pruning
Pinch off spent blooms so the plant pours its energy into the bulb rather than setting seed. Leave the rest of the foliage standing until it yellows and dies back on its own in fall, then cut the stems clean to the ground.
Repotting
Lilies thrive on being left alone, but a clump rooted in place for 3 to 4 years starts to crowd itself and the flowers shrink. Lift and divide it in fall the moment you spot smaller blooms or a knot of little bulblets ringing the parent.
Size & spacing
Stems shoot up 2 to 5 feet (60 to 150 cm) tall in a fairly slim clump. Set the bulbs 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) deep and roughly 12 inches (30 cm) apart so air flows freely and the roots stay cool.
When to plant
Asiatic lilies follow a tidy seasonal rhythm. Set the bulbs in spring or fall, planted deep and a hand's width apart, and they surge up come spring to throw open the first lilies of the year in early to midsummer.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Plant bulbs in spring or fall, 6 to 8 inches deep and about 12 inches apart
- Harvest: Early to mid summer; Asiatic hybrids are usually the first lilies to bloom
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–8
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Almost every lily problem circles back to one culprit: soil that clings to too much water. Keep an eye on the bulbs and lower leaves for the early signs below, then move fast before rot or blight gets a grip.
Soft, mushy bulbs and growth that stalls or never appears
Squishy bulbs and shoots that sputter or never break ground point straight to bulb rot, and the soil causes it, not the bulb. Water that lingers smothers the bulb and opens the door to fungi. Dig up anything that feels soft or smells sour, toss it, then mix compost and grit into the bed and replant where the water drains away fast.
Fix:
- Lift and discard rotted bulbs
- Improve drainage by amending soil with compost and coarse material
- Replant healthy bulbs in a raised or well-drained site
Gray fuzzy mold and brown blotches on leaves and buds
Cool, wet stretches wake up botrytis blight, a fungus that turns water-soaked patches into tan or gray fuzz. Snip off every marked leaf and flower and bag them rather than compost them. Open up space between the plants, aim the water at the base instead of overhead, and rake out dead foliage in fall so the spores have nowhere to overwinter.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected foliage
- Improve air circulation and avoid overhead watering
- Apply an appropriate fungicide if severe
Curled new growth with a sticky residue
Tight clusters of soft little insects riding the new shoots and the backs of leaves give away lily aphids, the source of that sticky honeydew glazing the foliage. Blast them off with a sharp jet of water, then hit the stragglers with insecticidal soap. Keep checking, because aphids ferry viruses from one lily to the next.
Fix:
- Spray plants with a strong stream of water to dislodge aphids
- Apply insecticidal soap to affected growth
- Encourage natural predators such as lady beetles
Toxicity
Here is where Asiatic lilies call for real care. As a true lily, the whole plant is severely poisonous to cats, and even a lick of pollen or a sip of vase water can drive fatal kidney failure. Dogs sail through with little more than a sour stomach, and the plant carries no serious threat to people, but no cat should ever come within reach of it.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Severe
This is the danger that outweighs all the others. A couple of bites of leaf or flower, a lick of pollen off the coat, or one sip of vase water can shut a cat's kidneys down. Vomiting comes first, then a refusal to eat and a flat, listless cat within hours, and from there it slides into fatal kidney failure unless a vet steps in fast. Reach an emergency clinic without delay.
Dogs Mild
Dogs come through this far better. A dog that chews on the plant might drool or vomit, but true lilies don't appear to attack a dog's kidneys the way they devastate a cat's.
Horses Caution
Horses escape the kidney failure that kills cats, yet the plant belongs nowhere near their feed. Keep bulbs, foliage, and garden clippings out of the paddock so they don't suffer mild digestive upset.
Rabbits Caution
Trials fed high doses with no obvious harm, but that leaves no real safety margin. Don't let a rabbit nibble the leaves or bulbs.
Livestock Caution
Cattle, sheep, and goats aren't known to fall seriously ill from true lilies, though the plant gives them nothing of value. Fence the bed off and never dump trimmings where grazing animals can get to them.
Birds Caution
No solid reports of poisoning in birds exist, so the picture stays murky. Treat that gap in knowledge as reason enough to keep cages and aviaries well clear of cut stems and pollen.
People Caution
Nobody grows this plant to eat, and chewing the leaves, bulbs, or flowers can leave the mouth and stomach sore. Keep curious children from sampling it, even though it carries none of the deadly threat it holds for a cat.
Keep this plant and any cut stems, fallen pollen, and vase water completely out of reach of cats. Even brushing against pollen and grooming it off the fur can poison a cat.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Asiatic lilies span a broad palette of colors, and a pair of true lilies earn a spot in your vocabulary.
Asiatic hybrids (general)
First out of the gate each season, these open mostly scentless flowers 4 to 6 inches across that look up or outward in reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, lavender, and white.
Tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium)
A cousin among the true lilies, it bears orange, dark-spotted flowers with petals curled sharply back, and it grows tiny dark bulbils tucked into the leaf joints up the stem.
How to propagate
Asiatic lilies multiply almost on their own, which is why one planting fills out into a clump so quickly. Splitting the bulbs is the dependable path, while seed is slow going best handed to breeders.
DivisionEasy
Fall, every 3 to 4 years when clumps become crowded · One growing season; divisions often bloom the following summer
Every 3 to 4 years, once a clump packs in tight, lift it in fall and ease the parent bulbs and their bulblets apart by hand. Replant each piece right away at its proper depth, and the divisions take hold across a single season, with most flowering again the very next summer.
Offsets & pupsEasy
Fall, when lifting and dividing bulbs · One to two growing seasons to reach blooming size
With a clump already out of the ground in fall, twist off the small bulblets ringing each parent bulb and pot them up to grow on. They want one to two seasons to bulk up before they bloom, so count them as next year's lilies rather than this year's.
SeedDemanding
Sow ripe seed in fall or stratify and sow in spring · Several years to reach blooming size; named hybrids do not come true from seed
Sow ripe seed in fall, or chill it through winter and sow in spring, but brace for a stretch of several years before the seedlings ever flower. Named hybrids won't come true this way either, which makes seed a breeder's tool rather than a way to clone a lily you already love.
Myths
A cat is only at risk if it actually eats the leaves or flowers.
The threat stretches well beyond the leaves and petals. A cat that grooms pollen off its fur or laps water from a vase that held lilies takes in enough toxin to set off kidney failure. With true lilies, every part of the plant and even the water counts as poison to a cat.
Asiatic lilies are just as deadly to dogs as they are to cats.
Dogs and cats respond to this plant in completely different ways. A dog that samples a lily walks away with little more than a queasy stomach and none of the kidney damage the same plant inflicts on cats. The lethal lily toxin is a cat problem, not a dog one.