Balcony flower-growing tips: harvest a balcony full of flowers in two months

Lilies are arguably the easiest bulb plants to grow. From planting the bulbs to blooming, it generally takes just two months, and with good care they can bloom year after year.

All you need to do is prepare the bulbs and potting soil, then bury the bulbs and water them. There are quite a lot of lily categories too - Asiatic lilies, Lilium regale, trumpet lilies and so on. Plant them once and you will get a rough understanding of these lines.

At the end of March, the pre-ordered bulbs arrived. This year I got about a dozen varieties, most varieties with three bulbs, and 15 bulbs of 'Mapira'.

The soil used was mainly what was left over from growing succulents, and the rest was peat + perlite, simple and easy to use.

When burying lilies, note that you should plant them a little deep, because the roots that absorb nutrients grow from the stem above the bulb, so you need to make sure these roots are buried in the soil.

Just a few days after planting, they began to break through the soil, growing at a speed that rivals bamboo shoots.

This pot has 15 bulbs planted in it, as I wanted to see the effect of a mass bloom. The pot and soil used were left over from growing gourds last year, with some organic fertilizer added:

In early April, a little over a week after planting, this is when you can start supplementing with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. If you used new soil, it is fine not to fertilize.

In late April, flower buds begin to appear. Be careful to maintain enough light to prevent bud drop, and keep up with water and fertilizer.

In early May, the Asiatic lilies bloom first. I mainly recorded this pot of 15 'Mapira' bulbs; each bulb has about six flowers, so the whole pot has 90 flowers, and it looks quite nice.

The petals are dark red with a metallic sheen:

After flowering, it is recommended to remove the stamens. First, it prevents pollen from dirtying the petals, and second, it prevents pollination, thereby extending the flowering period.

Count how many flower buds there are

In mid-May, the harvest season arrives.

They also look great cut and placed in a vase.

In late May, other varieties are also opening one after another. Basically one bulb can produce 3-6 flowers, and three stems are enough to fill a vase.

LA series, 'Eyeliner'. Notice the black streaks along the edges of the petals?

Lilium regale, 'Feast'. Lilium regale flowers are relatively large, open facing downward, and have a very beautiful flower shape.

Some other varieties are still opening one after another, and basically throughout May there will be flowers to enjoy.

Give them a bit of good care after flowering, and lilies can rebloom. Cut off the spent flowers in time, leave as much foliage and stems as possible, and water once a week with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer until the foliage and stems dry up. Then take out the bulbs or leave them in the original pot and keep it dry, and by the following spring they can sprout and bloom again. However, the quantity and quality of the rebloom may be reduced.

For how to store the bulbs, please see;

Last time a friend said that current bulb sellers all have cold storage, so buying bulbs now is also possible, and once planted they can bloom quickly. However, the varieties available now are generally the ones others have picked over, so it is still better to wait until the end of the year to pre-order bulbs.