Toad Lily Plant Care

If you want to add elegance to your fall garden, the toad lilies are what you need. The speckled flowering plants are gorgeous with their graceful arching stems. The variegated foliage with dainty blooms stands out when other plant blooms start to fade.

A Spectacular Show of Toad Lily Flowers

A welcome sight to late summer gardens is the toad lily. There is nothing more unique than the blooms. You have to stop and look twice. You’ll find the blooms in soft pinks, whites, purples, yellows, or a mix of all.

The amazing thing is that the common toad lily flowers remain bright into fall when other plants fade. The toad lily plant grows in shady garden areas. The plant has a tropical appearance.

The flowers have six petals and follow an upright position. Some toad lily species appear in pendulous blooms. The petals and stigma display show speckles ranging in color. The flowers are small but numerous.

Many gardeners say it has orchid-like blooms and plays a vital role in providing nectar to animals. You find the toad lily plants attracting butterflies and hummingbirds in late summer. The leaves are fuzzy and lance-shaped, with some having brown mottling.

Toad lilies have a native habitat in Asia, and the gold varieties brighten up any garden with shaded corners.

How to Care for Your Toad Lily

Just like the amphibian toads, the toad lily plant thrives in shady environments. Except, it does not look as dull as a toad. When they bloom in the fall, it brightens up your garden. But as winter approaches, they do need some care.

While the toad plant is a welcoming sight in your garden or grown as an indoor plant, you need to be cautious when handling it as parts of the plant are toxic to dogs and cats.

_{Best Potting Mix to Prevent Wet Feet}

The toad lily belongs to the lily family and has similar needs for potting mixes that are slightly acidic. While it can prevail as shade plants in arid soil, it is not the best ground.

To keep your hairy toad lily happy, provide it with organically rich soil that remains moist. Another important thing is that the water needs to drain freely.

The same rule applies whether you grow them in containers or as garden plants.

_{Lighting Needs for Toad Lilies}

Toad lilies thrive in full sun to partial shade, but they can also grow in dappled shade. Some varieties can handle full sun or full shade.

If you grow your toad lily in full sun, make sure to provide a lot of water. This will prevent the leaves from getting scorched.

Your variegated varieties will fade, if grown in too much shade, becoming green with fewer toad lily blossoms.

_{Watering Needs for Showy Tepals}

The toad lily Tricyrtis hirta is a hardy perennial that can survive on little water. But your plant is a happy chappy if you provide them with moist soil.

Just make sure that the soil isn’t overly moist as it can lead to root rot. Furthermore, toad lilies are like drama queens if it’s underwatered. So, the key is to strike a balance between the two.

If they look droopy and the top inch of the soil gets dry, give them a drink of water. It helps if your plant grows along woodland paths in the shade. But if grown in full sun, best provide them with enough moisture.

_{Temperature Needs for Shade Garden Toad Lilies}

When it comes to temperatures, toad lilies grow well in the sun in cool climates. But you need to keep the soil moist. Not providing them with enough moisture leaves the foliage spotted with brown edges. And, they will permanently go into a dormant state. You won’t enjoy a superior floral display either as they will not flower.

As toad lilies grow from underground rhizomes, they need winter protection. The creeping rhizomes form colonies, and the crowns close to the surface benefit from having insulation against frost. You can cover your plants with an organic mulch of leaf litter, straw, or wood chips.

Spread the mulch over the crown after winter pruning.

If you have your toad lily growing in containers outside, you can move them indoors to protect them from the cold.

_{Tricyrtis Care Fertilizing}

Feeding the toad lily is not a must if you have worked some organic material into the soil. But you may also give it a weak organic fertilizer to enhance its growth.

_{Propagation of Common Toad Lily}

With those eye-catching flowers to use in floral arrangements, you want to share them with family and friends, for sure. The best way to multiply your plant is through propagation.

You can use cuttings, division, or planting the seeds.

_{Seed Propagation}

For propagating indoors using seed, you need to collect the ripe cylindrical seed capsules. Then, place the seeds in the refrigerator for up to a month.

You can sow the seeds in the ground in late fall or early spring after frost passes. It’s best to grow the seed in moist soil under bright indirect light to maintain the temperature for six weeks.

_{Using Cuttings}

Take a cutting of four inches long from the toad lily stem in early summer. You will notice new root development below the leaves.

Take a cutting with leaves at the top half. You can dip the cut end in rooting hormone and plant them in damp soil up to the upper leaf axils.

Place them in a well-lit location and keep providing moisture to help develop a robust root system.

_Division

Another method to prepare your toad lilies is through division. You can remove your plants and divide the rhizomes into different sections to plant in spring. For best results, choose baby plants with a new growth bud found on the underground rhizome.

_{Growth Zone}

The toad lilies are hardy growers in the USDA zones four to nine either as outdoor plants or indoor plants.

_{Winter Pruning}

Once toad lilies finished blooming in late fall, you can prune the flower stalks off the base. Doing this allows the foliage to die back by itself. The flowers remaining will form seeds.

When the seed ripens, you can produce new seedlings in early spring. You can divide your plant but best done after the third season of growth.

If your toad lily looks yellow or untidy, you can cut the foliage off at the base for wintering.

Toad Lily Varieties and Similar Plants

Every year you see new hybrids hitting the market, and the toad lily is growing in popularity.

_{‘Amethystina’}

The toad lily blooms with white flowers and is doused with brown-reddish spots.

Tricyrtis hirta ‘Alba’

The toad lilies also produce white flowers but have a yellow throat and look great in a moon garden for several weeks.

_{‘Eco Yellow Spangles’}

The toad lilies are late bloomers in fall that have red-spotted yellow flowers.

Toad Lily Diseases & Pests

Tricyrtis species do not have many pest problems compared to other plants. But even with their robust habit, they still fall prey to slugs and snails.

Furthermore, while deer do not like the toad lily, rabbits love them to dine on. Finally, a fungal disease that causes damage to your plant is anthracnose leaf spot.

You find the fungus attacking toad lilies in the growing season. You notice numerous brown spots on the underside of the leaves.

Other noticeable signs are water-soaked lesions on the flowers, stems, and leaves. The lesions are dark and look sunken. With time the centers become covered in a pink mass, causing the plant to rot.

You can increase the air circulation around your toad lily and remove any rotten leaves around your plant.

Also, remove the infected plants from the garden to prevent spreading. Finally, you can use a copper fungicide on a plant not infected too much.