Do you want to keep your Easter Lily after the holiday season? Move it outside from your indoor garden!

After the holiday, many Easter Lilies, along with colored eggs and empty candy wrappers, end up in the trash. The plants can, however, be saved and, appropriately, resurrected.

Keep your lily in good health.

Easter lilies, or Bermuda lilies, are usually cultivars from Lilium Longiflorum. They have white trumpet-shaped flowers ranging from 6 to 8 inches. If you want to increase your chances of your plant surviving after the holiday when it is transplanted in your garden, buy a healthy specimen that has only a few open flowers. Check that the lily is full of plump, green buds down to the base.

Remove the plastic sleeves from the lilies and place them in a cool, brightly lit area that is not in direct sunlight. Place the plant outside on a table at night if the temperatures are in the 60s or 40s during Easter. Bring it inside in the morning—cool temperatures, as long as they don’t dip close to watering houseplants. The soil should still be damp if crumbs stick to your finger. Water the lily until it feels dry. The excess moisture will drip out the holes at the bottom of your pot. Once the pool is drained, throw away the water from the saucer. Wait to water the plant again until the soil surface has dried.

Take it outside.

After the danger of frost is over, you can move your lily into a shady area outside to harden. Increase the amount of sun it gets gradually until it is accustomed to brighter conditions. Select a sunny spot in your garden for the plant.

You can find the bulb by removing the lily’s pot. Gently loosen the lily’s roots and a little potting soil with your fingertips. Dig a deep hole in the garden bed so the bulb’s base is 6 inches below soil level.

If you have heavy clay soil, mix compost with the clay. Add one tablespoon of organic bulb fertilizer at the bottom of the hole, then scratch it into the ground. If you are planting more than one lily bulb, space them 1 foot apart.

When the lily is planted in the garden, the foliage may have already begun to droop. Do not worry; the bulb will still be viable as long as it is firm.

Let the dying foliage die completely before you cut it. An Easter lily can sometimes grow a new stem in the garden to bloom in the late summer or the early fall of the year after it was planted. It will likely flower again in the early or mid-summer. Lilies do not naturally bloom in spring unless forced to, as with Easter lilies.

Protect your plants over the winter.

Some sources disagree about the hardiness of the Bermuda lily, but it should survive winters at least up to USDA Zone 6. By mulching several inches above the bulb, you can provide additional protection if you live in a more relaxed zone. In the spring, remove that mulch.

Place a stake next to the sprout once it appears. This stake will not only provide support as the plant grows but also prevent your pets or you from stepping on a shoot. A lily growing from a bulb will not reappear if accidentally cut off. It needs to die down its leaves for the bulb to receive energy.