I bought a massive display of Asiatic Lillies for Valentines day to impress my wife.
Of course, when spring comes, I always plant them in the garden, cut them down and wait for them to reproduce. Sometimes, the bulbs are just too fertile to just make a few babies and they bloom again, trying to create seeds. I would rather that they just produce minor bulbs along the stem to be set in for following years' blooms. NOt sure how to force one instance over the other.
Pretty sure, the way they reproduce "next" has more to do with they way they were forced into bloom in the winter than anything I can later control.
I have done this for many years. Most of the past ones are still alive and reproducing in the garden.
... but if I get one that makes tiny baby bulbs along the stem, instead of seeds after flowering, I can guarantee several more plants of the same type within a year or two.
Makes it worth the trouble to try.
Her smiles upon seeing a forced bulb two or three feet high in the middle of winter make the investment seem wise.
