When Should Oriental Lilies’ Spent Blossoms Be Taken Off?

Pruning lilies is essential for their health and growth. It involves inspecting the plant, removing dead or damaged stems, cutting back after flowering, and disposing of pruned material. Deadheading lilies encourages new growth and improves the plant’s health. Use a sharp pair of pruning shears to remove spent flowers and seedpods, either all the way back to the ground or leaving a few inches of stem for added interest.

Lilies should be cut down in late summer or early fall, after the blooms have faded and before the first frost. This allows the plant time to regrow and prepare for winter. With proper care, lilies will come back, channeling energy into the bulb. Deadheading lily plants channels all that energy into the bulb.

To deadhead a lily plant, simply break it off with your fingers or snip it off with a pair of shears. For Asiatic lilies, the best time to start is during late spring and early summer when the blooms begin to fade. Deadheading lilies during the growing season helps manage disease and prevents the plant from wasting energy on seed production.

When the foliage dies back in late fall of early winter, you can cut down the dead stalks. Tidy up the lily flowerheads once the petals have fallen, trimming them back to just above a pair of leaves. Deadhead dying lily flowers through the blooming season for a tidy, well-kept look. Remove yellow or browning stalks in the late fall after your first frost.

Pruning Oriental lilies is best done post-flowering, typically in late summer, allowing the plant to recover and prepare for the next growing season.