i was in the floral retail business for 12 years. florists keep their flowers in coolers, where the temperature is between 34 and 46 degrees. and most of the larger buds on the lily stem will open eventually when the stem is at room temp. good luck with your showing!

They should keep quite well in a refrigerator. Be sure it's not set so high it freezes the buds, and also be absolutely sure NOT to have any kind of produce in there (you said yours is empty now), since that produces ethylene gas that will premature kill open flowers and make buds abort.

When you take it out, be sure to use not just water, but a solution of cut flower food. You can buy it, but you can also easily make your own by adding about a teaspoon of table sugar and a quarter teaspoon of powdered citric acid (sour salt, sold in the spice/baking area or with the dietetic foods/low sodium foods) to a quart of lukewarm water.

Thanks for the help. The lily is in the refrigerator as I type.

I may want to slow the maturation of a lily I wish to show at the county fair next week
So how did you come out with refrigerating it? Did you get to enter it at the fair?

Details...Pics?

I might add too, that in the future, you might add a wet towel or some containers with water in them, to raise the humidity some, especially if it happens to be a frost free fridge.

Sue