To maintain the bulbs or rootstocks at low temperature, those of Lilium×elegans Thunb. cv.‘Benisugata’and‘Connecticut King’, Lilium×formolongi hort, cv.‘Hakuho’and the blazing-star Liatris sp. cv.‘Kouki’were stored in snow occupying a chamber made of 10 cm thick polystyrene panels, from 10 January to 10 May 1988. Some of the snow still remained at the end of storage. Bulb temperature varied from 0 to -0.2°C during storage, but rose to 0.6°C toward the end of the period. The leaf number of the plants increased, but no flower-buds appeared during storage.
Lilies and the blazing-star planted on 25 November, 1987 as a control sprouted in late March to middle April and flowered in middle June to early July. However, those planted on 10 May 1988 following storage sprouted in middle May and flowered in early July to early August. The storage caused a decrease in the stem length and node number of‘Hakuho, ’‘Kouki’and‘Connecticut King.’This may have been due to the early initiation of flower-buds at high temperature following planting.