Lily Bulb Shipping
We wanted to take a moment and de-mystify the lily shipping process, to help more growers learn how this versatile flower bulb can be a part of their growing programs year round.
Lilies are unique in that once they achieve their cooling weeks, they can be frozen and held in a paused state for many months! Of course, few farms have the facilities they need to store lilies at the proper frozen temperature, which is actually warmer than commercial freezer units. They like to be frozen, but not deep frozen like meat products. And they cannot be thawed and re-frozen.
To allow growers a VERY wide harvest window, we offer free long term freezer storage of our bulbs to allow for drop shipping throughout the year. This year, we’re offering lily bulb shipping from receipt of the first shipment here at our warehouse next week (early February) through August.
Varieties with shorter days to bloom that are shipped to you during our earliest shipping days can bloom by Mother’s Day under optimal growing conditions. For growers in northern climates, an indoor grow room or greenhouse can be used to help achieve those conditions. Bulbs that are shipped at the end of our shipping window can be used for holiday lily harvests as late as the end of December. (We’ve also forgotten to grow some on our own flower farm until even later, which brought us harvests in January and February.)
Customers can view information about our lily offerings, including the days to bloom for each type, in our web catalogue. We have a wide variety of types of lilies and we’re looking forward to expanding our listing next year, too.
We offer a wide range of lily bulbs in colors to suit each holiday. And our convenient online ordering platform allows you to divide orders into multiple shipments and choose ship dates that work for you. Not sure what to do? Let us know. We’re happy to add multiple shipments to your order and divide your items amongst them or show you how to use this ordering feature.
What do we mean by “wide range”? We have LA hybrids, OT hybrids, orientals, double LAs, double orientals, lancifoliums, pollen-free options, low/no scent varieties, and some wacky new unclassified varieties. If you don’t like lilies yet, you might feel differently when you start to learn there is so much more than ‘Stargazer’ and ‘Casablana.’ Join our wholesale community and have a look!
When you receive your bulbs, they can be stored in a cooler or cool dry place (above freezing) until use. Note: Do not freeze your lily bulbs again after they have been thawed. Open your boxes and lift the plastic to allow the bulbs to breathe and to look them over.
Lilies start to get eager to grow and will sprout in their boxes after a few weeks. To spread your harvest window, a portion of your bulbs can be planted on receipt, with the remainder returned to the cooler for planting over the next few weeks. It’s not necessary to plant them all at once.
This way, you can arrange your shipments to arrive every few weeks. We plant lilies one a week on our farm to allow for a very long season from Mother’s Day to the end of December.