You MUST insulate containers from rapid freezing and thawing. Although bulbs are perfectly hardy in the garden where soil temperature changes slowly over many hours, unprotected pots can freeze within one hour. Excessive moisture plus subfreezing temperatures are sure death to any containerized plant. You must store your potted lilies above ground and surround containers with fiberglass insulation, sawdust, or hay for the winter. In mild climates place pots into a cold frame or unheated garage. This also satisfies the precooling requirement for greenhouse forcing. Do not bury potted plants directly in the ground. Containers act as catch-basins, excess water does not drain away, and bulbs decompose. In mild climates, winter rains can be more harmful than arctic blasts of Northern regions. If you choose to containerize your bulbs, take the extra time to protect them during winter, keeping in mind that a technique which may succeed one year, may not the next. Our "guarantee to grow" applies to garden-planted bulbs only.

Lily bulb size varies greatly depending on the bulb type (whether Asiatic, Trumpet, Oriental or species), age from seed or scale, where grown (i.e. soil and climate differences), and breeding background. Different species have different characteristics; some are slender "dog-bone" shapes, others are elongated, or round. All lilies develop into larger bulbs when left undisturbed or will divide into several smaller-sized ones. Any bulb which blooms is mature; if it's ten or three inches in circumference, the facts of reproductive life remain the same. Cool summers tend to produce smaller-sized, mature bulbs. Should we feel that a variety is not to a minimum size upon harvest, we replant it for another season's growth. Sometimes, we too make errors; if a hybrid lily bulb doesn't bloom, we would like to hear from you by the end of August at the latest to determine what might have happened.

Larger bulbs tend to produce more flowers, if characteristic for that variety. Some lilies have a low bud count for the relative size of the bulb, yet others can produce three dozen blooms with a smaller size bulb. Occasionally, we may send Exhibition-size™ bulbs in your order at no extra cost to you, but the package may not be marked as such. Please do not think that a very large bulb is a sign that the others are too small, most likely we've dipped into our propagation stock to honor all requests for a variety. Only lily bulbs which are grown for the cut flower market are graded to be the same size, all other varieties are sent as nature provided for that season.

Our prices for Hemerocallis are based on healthy 2 to 3 fan divisions, with individual plant size depending greatly on variety, growing conditions in a particular year, and the time of delivery - spring, summer or fall.

In practice however, most plants sent are THREE FANS OR GREATER - we give you the best plant in the row.

Taller-growing cultivars, including most Tetraploids, usually look more robust to the eye than similarly-priced Diploid varieties, but all are guaranteed to grow equally well for you. If you order a wide range of types, expect a variance in fan/root size. Less expensive varieties or a harvest miscalculation may result in more than three fans in a "division". Varieties in short supply will be at least two fans, with a balanced root system. If you allow us to choose substitutions for any variety which becomes Sold Out, we will send plants of equal or greater value.