Foxtail Lily Growing Planting Guide

Foxtail Lily How To Plant And Care Foxtail Lilies?

Foxtail Lilies add a solid attraction to your garden with their tall slender dramatic spires. The foxtail lily is also known as desert candles and their colourful spikes of bright yellow, orange, white or salmon pink flowers provide a visual appeal to your garden. This plant is botanically known as Eremurus sp. and belongs to the fleshy rooted perennial group. They will flower during the summer time and it is ideal to plant the Foxtail Lilies during late summer to early autumn or during the spring time.

More About Foxtail Lilies

The Foxtail Lilies are unlike the normal lilies as they have tuberous roots and do not grow from a single Foxtail Lily bulb. The spikes of flowers are long thick and bushy just like the tail of a fox. They are clump forming perennial flowering plants that will thrive in well-draining soil and plenty of sunlight. The plant has rosettes of strap-shaped leaves that produce dense and bushy small star-shaped flowers on leafless stems. These 6 feet tall fragrant plants normally flower during early to mid spring. The flowers will then give way to small seed pods that are about the size of small marbles. These seed pods will bear winged seeds. The leaves and the flowers of the plant will grow from the central crown of the plant which in turn has grown from the fleshy roots.

Planting Guide

When you are looking to plant a Foxtail Lily, it is ideal to favour a location where the soil is well draining. Enriching the area with organic compost is a good idea. They will not grow and flower well in areas where the soil gets overly dry.

Outdoor Beds

• First, find a location where water drains well. Adding organic compost, manure or peat moss to improve the soil condition will help the plant to grow well.
• You should find a location where the Foxtail Lilies you plant will get enough sunlight. They love to be in full sun. They will develop strong stems when grown in full sunlight.
• Before planting dig at least 4 to 5 inches of soil to place the brittle tuberous roots of the Foxtail Lily. You should have a gap of at least 2 to 3 feet when planting Foxtail Lilies.
• During planting, you should make sure that you cover the entire tuberous roots of the plant with soil. The crown and the bud have to face upwards and must be a couple of inches inside of the top soil.
• Water the plant after planting and allow the soil to settle around its roots.

The Foxtail Lilies are good candidates to be grown in pots and containers. It is better to plant the Eremurus in borders and beds than containers.

Care For Foxtail Lilies

The Foxtail Lilies do not require much care once they get established. When the plant blooms, you can cut the long-standing flower stalks to use in bouquets. After the blooming season is over, trim off all the flower spikes. Leave the foliage as it is. Watering the plant during its growing stage is very important. Never keep the soil too soggy or waterlogged. The plant will tuck into dormancy by midsummer and the leaves will start to turn yellow and fall off. You should remove the foliage at this time. Once late autumn or early spring comes around, you will see fresh new growth develop.