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I am new at planting lilies. I have some Asiatic and Oriental lilies now that just finished blooming. Should leave the stalks with leaves as they are as I would with daffodils, or can I simply cut them down now?
Susiebert, the reason you leave all the greenery on ALL bulbs is the foliage dying down allows the sap / juices / nutrients etc to slowly fall down into the bulb and this both feeds the bulbs for flowering the following year and also helps it stay alive during the bulbs dormant season.
The reason you should cut OFF the flower heads is because unless you want to take seeds from the pods after flowers have died down, it is best to remove the flowers as the are past their best as the bulb will use up a lot of energy making the seeds, even IF you want seeds, I personally would only let ONE flower produce seeds as the best way to propogate more bulbs is after a couple of years, dug up some bulbs and you will find loads of little baby bulbs (bulblet's) and you can pot these up , 2-3 years later you will have flowering sized bulbs the same as the parent plant.
Some type of Lily bulbs actually make the new little bulblet's on the stems, easy to find as they sit attached to the stem at the leaf axels, you pick these off soon as you see the tiny black tips show, just pick them off the leaf axel and plant in a pot, store in a cool area till you see the new growth, be careful as it looks like grass for a couple of years but you can get many new plants this way, other lily bulbs have there off set's (bulbs just at the base of the stems, usually JUST under the top of the soil so always be careful when working around lily bulbs, always mark their position with a cane as when the foliage has been removed it's difficult to remember the exact spot.
Good luck, have fun with your new baby bulbs and enjoy.
WeeNel.
