As mentioned, stick with retailers that is guaranteed, check with your relatives, friends and even their retailer websites for customer feedbacks about their plants. When buying water lilies, check the bottom of the leaves for pests, discolorations or any evidence, like chew marks, of being infested. Choosing, Planting And Caring For Your Garden Lilies Lilies give life and color to any garden and brighten it up beyond your expectations. These hardy bulbs need very little care but can surprise anyone by eventually growing into a large cluster of flowering stems. To have a longer-lasting series of blooms, you can choose a combination of early, mid-season and late-blooming cultivars. Also, do not allow the plant to have standing water. To know if you need to water your peace lily, check the soil if it is still moist. Also check the leaves of the plant, if it is slightly drooping then you may want to add the frequency of watering the plant. Fertilizer. Adding fertilizer once a month would be enough. Once you see that the green leaves are starting to grow, you have to supply the plants with nitrogen. To help the plants bloom and to increase the production of bulbs, you have to fertilize these with phosphorous and potassium. The fertilizers must never come in direct contact with the bulbs, so you need to water in meticulously. If you need the type that is easiest to grow and doesn t need too much maintenance since they can grow with any type of soil that drains well, opt of for Asiatic lilies. But if you are very particular about size, fragrance and color, choose Oriental lilies because these have exotic and large as well as sweet perfume. Like the other summer plants (dahlias, peonies, gladioli), lilies can be planted in the spring which can then blossom that very summer. Actually, the best assortment of varieties of the hardy lilies is available in the spring. Also, the bulbs of these hardy lilies are very easy to plant and cultivate.