When to plant lilies?
- Botanical name
- Lilium
- Family
- Liliaceae
Lilies are planted from September to October. They flower from June to August.
Lilies are perennial plants.
In cats a single bite of any part of a lily can bring on kidney failure. The pollen is dangerous too. A lily therefore has no place in a garden where cats walk.
The bulb goes in early enough to make roots before winter. Planted in spring it grows just as well and flowers later in that first year. It goes into the ground about 3 times as deep as it is thick. Lilium candidum is the exception and sits shallower.
Lilies through the year
- planting
- flowering
In short
Growing conditions
Are lilies toxic to cats and dogs?
Yes. Toxic to cats and dogs, toxic parts: roots, bulbs, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds.
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
- Signs
- Colonies of small aphids sit on the shoot tips and the underside of the leaves. The leaf curls and puckers, and sticky honeydew is left on everything below. The viruses they carry are more dangerous than the feeding itself.
- Prevention
- Go easy on nitrogen, because soft sappy growth is what aphids are looking for. Encourage the predators (ladybirds, lacewings, parasitic wasps). Use a reflective mulch, which puts them off settling, and a strong jet of water to knock the colony off the tips.
- What to do
- Potassium soap works on contact and only while it is wet, so it has to reach the underside of the leaf. On drought-loving plants and in heat it can scorch, so apply it in the evening.
- Signs
- White blotches and streaks show over the leaves and flowers. In a heavy attack the petals turn brown and the buds do not open at all. On stored corms and bulbs there are rough grey brown patches.
- Prevention
- The thrips overwinters on stored corms and bulbs. It is most active from July to September. In a warm room it breeds all year, so keep the store cool.
- What to do
- Put up with light damage, see to a clean lifting and encourage the natural predators.
- Signs
- There are round holes in the leaves and chewed edges, and on the leaves a bright red beetle. The larvae hide under heaps of their own black droppings and strip a leafy shoot bare in a few days. It also eats the petals and the stems.
- Prevention
- The adults appear as early as late March and stay active until October, so check the plants every time you walk past. They are easiest to find in early spring, before they lay their eggs. Heavy feeding in early summer means a smaller bulb and poorer flowering the following year.
- What to do
- Pick them off by hand, beetles and larvae as you find them. There is no insecticide, only a repellent and the encouragement of natural enemies (birds, ground beetles, parasitic wasps).
- Signs
- Holes appear in the middle of the leaf rather than along the edge, young plants are eaten down to the ground, and there are slimy trails in the morning. On low-growing fruit there are gnawed pits.
- Prevention
- Remove the hiding places beside the bed: boards, stones, dense weeds. Water in the morning and not in the evening, so that the night is dry. Spread a band of coarse sand or gravel around the bed. Cover young plants with fleece. Pick them off at night, which is still the most effective measure.
- What to do
- Baits with iron phosphate are held to carry less risk for pets and children. Put them out in bands beside the bed, not scattered over the whole surface.
- Signs
- The half round notches along the leaf edges in summer are the work of the adult beetles and do the plant little harm. The larvae are the danger: white grubs with a brown head eat the roots, the plant suddenly drops its leaves and dies, most often between autumn and spring.
- Prevention
- Most at risk are plants in pots and troughs. In a bed the damage is rarer. At repotting check the roots and the compost and pick the larvae out. You find the adult beetles in the evening with a light, when they crawl over the plants.
- What to do
- Pick the adults off in the evening, set sticky traps indoors and change the compost, removing the larvae as you go. There is no insecticide. As biological protection, water beneficial nematodes into the compost at the end of summer, while the larvae are still small.
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Related plants
The plant below is in the same botanical family (Liliaceae).
Sources about the plant: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, Iowa State University Extension, Merck Veterinary Manual, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 28 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: Clemson Cooperative Extension, University of Illinois Extension, University of Maryland Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Utah State University Extension.