Cutting back lily?

Question

Hi,

We have a lily in our back garden which has gone out of control. I was wondering how I could go about reducing it in size, preferably to half size or less.

Thanks in advance

Matt

Answer 1

what do you mean by out of control?... too tall?... too many of them?.... too many flowers?... does it fall over?.. what?...

there are lily plants that can reach seven ft tall and bloom wonderful white trumpet lily flowers.... and some TurksCap lilys can get to five or six ft before blooming.... there's a Crinum lily that's not so tall, but has huge long floppy leaves nearly six ft long... so what's yours?>....

Answer 2

You should be able to cut them down, or dig them up.  The type of lily effects this, daylilies are prolific and can spread like made, are sometimes hard to dig up, and will come back sooner than other lilies.  Tiger, oriental, easter, and other lilies tend to be slower growing and can be dug up and removed.  

If it's daylilies I'd go out, dig a few inches out from the bases, and dig down to get the roots.  Some daylilies will be up to a foot down, so there is a chance you'll miss them.  You might need to pry them up, since they can be tough to get out.  Other, more bulbous lilies can normally be dug close to their stems and lifted more easily, many grow just a couple inches down.  

I usually give away my extra lilies, or better trade with friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, or online for other plants :)