Are you talking about daylilies or true lilies?

I suspect the OP is referring to true lilies, Lilium species. But I'm not sure it matters as neither plant can be kept shorter than it wants to grow and still flower as intended.

As to separating the lily plants, true lilies do tend to multiply when happily sited. And like most bulbs, they look best when left as a cluster. If you want to separate them and spread them out, wait until fall when the stalks have dried Then very gently lift the clump being careful not to damage the bulbs and separate. Replant as soon as possible after lifting and separating.

you can maintain height.. by taking the flowers as cut flowers.. and enjoy them in the house.. and then cutting them back to your preferred height ... but not cutting off too much green... but you can not do it before flowering ...

after flowering.. the plant is storing energy.. in the roots or bulbs.. for next season .. or to multiply ... so you dont want to severely impact said energy storage too much ... [all plants.. not just your lily]

all that said... you will be the first garden in all humanity ... if you simply do not dig up.. a misplaced plant ... all of us.. would just move them at the appropriate time .. and plant something else ... so.. just do it .. imo ...

a garden is not really a plant and forget thing ... its an evolution over time .. honed thru all the mistakes made ... welcome to the club ....

ken

Thank you. I am referring to true lilies. I have done a lot of research about lilies but hadn’t see if using them as cut flowers reduced their height at all or anything. I have seen lots about thinning every 3-4 years but not much on when the best time is or how best to go about it. I was hoping that maybe they could be contained at about 2-2 1/2 feet tall and still have the beautiful flowers. I am not known for being a great gardener but am really trying. When we built our house the new tree died the week before we closed and the joke was I am so bad I killed the tree before we even moved in. I appreciate any and all advice.

Miranda I was going to post here that if you really want lilies in that spot, you can move those particular lilies to a better-suited spot and try asiatic lilies. In my experience, asiatic lilies are shorter. I believe they grow to about two feet or so. Or at least mine do.

But I just did a quick google search and see they grow 1-6 feet! Wow, mine never got above 2.5 feet, but it could be the variety, or the growing conditions. So, you see? I'm known (at least to my non-gardening friends lol) as being a fairly good gardener, and there are still things to learn!

I think if I were you I would still move those lilies and then look very carefully at different lilies to see which might work in that spot. I wouldn't just buy a bag of them at a Home Depot type store, but go online and look at reputable lily dealers that have descriptions on their websites. The good thing is lilies are easy to plant and easy to move if needed.

I'm envious of you. I used to sell bouquets and grew many lilies. I no longer sell, but I couldn't sell my lilies anyway as I've been affected by that darn red lily leaf beetle. Truly one of my biggest garden nemesises (nemesi, lol?) I still have a good chunk of my lilies, and I enjoy them, even with holes, but the foliage is the rattiest looking stuff you ever saw.

:)
Dee

Red lily beetle = scourge of true lilies, for certain. I basically garden mostly organic, due to personal laziness as well as environmental concerns, BUT I have given in when it comes to the lily beetle. It is very difficult to pick them off by hand, as they are extremely skittish, and if you drop one, it lands with its black belly uppermost, so is almost impossible to locate before it gets away. Therefore, on days with no breezes, I use Bayer Rose and Flower spray, VERY carefully and only target the beetle itself. That works.

I never had red lily beetles until a couple years ago. If you pick them off and squish them dead, they won't have the chance to devastate your lilies. When I spot them, I put a container under them and knock them into it (your choice the dispatch method, I just squish with a hori hori knife). Get them early in the Spring before they get the chance to lay eggs on the leaves. Other than the odd spot here and there, my lilies look normal and are budding up nicely.