FWIW - don't treat lilies like bulbs. If they dry out you only 'might' be able to get them up to flowering again.

Best plan is to either plant them at their proper depth 'yesterday'. Second best is to plant them into a fairly big container and keep them cool, and damp but not soggy, with mid-morning sun and no deep freezing. Third best is to bury them in damp gritty untreated sawdust or plain gritty sand and get them planted quickly when the sprouts show. Prepare ahead for the plot where you want them. Lots of compost and a big X marks the spot - leave it free.

They like cool feet and heads in the sun. They prefer a good, rich soil with great drainage. They're comfortable growing among shrubs or tall perennials so there is coolth at the bottom and wind protection.

If you're growing them for picking - plant them with stakes just like gladiolus or tall dahlias - and plant in rows that you can get to.

The asiatics tend to produce lots of offsets...

Everything vetivert8 said is true. I go one step further and divide my Asiatics into 4,6 or 8 before replanting. It was a real surprise to me that the new divisions produced as large a plant as if the bulb(yes they are a bulb)was left intact. It is important that a part of the base plate, where the roots were or are, be included as part of each division. Al

I'll ask this here because I know Al will know the answer..when do the other lily bulbs; i.e. OT, Species, etc start showing up at the big box stores? I've got a few holes I'm waiting to fill in the garden.

Thanks.
Matt

We have only had a Lowe's here for a few months and they are twenty miles away so I am not very familiar with their operation. Home Depot and Costco both have a limited selection of spring bulbs, don't expect anything unusual. No summer bulbs will be available until late winter, again nothing unusual. They sell quantity and price, not selection. Al

It will vary by the store too. A few years ago I got great lilies at Lowe's in a rural area. All the kinds appeared at the same time, with all the bulbs like tulips. there were no OTs. But I did get asiatics, orientals, trumpets. Nothing exotic. A new Lowe's finally opened in my area and they had no lilies at all, nor any of the Lowe's nearby.