Lilies: Advice and help on my Crinum Powellii Lily please!, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Sorry if this will be a bit long....

I was searching for some information on a Crinum Lily I bought at my HD (I work there) about 5 years ago. I potted it up in a 10" pot, and it grew, and grew-- endless leaves for about 3 years. NO flowers!
In the winter, I would take it inside and let it go dormant in my basement. The leaves would eventually shrivel up and i would pull them off.
In 2003, for the first ime ever, it grew one stalk from the base of the largest bulb, and flowered. It had never done it before--or since!

By last year, I realized that it had become EXTREMELY pot bound in the 10" pot it has been in all this time. SO! This Spring (2005), I decided to try and separate it. MY GOD!!!! That was the hardest job! Even though I washed all the soil off of the root mass, I still ended having to cut all the bulbs apart with a serious knife.

Anyway....I repotted each separated bulb in a new 6"-7" pot. I now have about 6 of these. The 2 largest clumps I planted in an 8" and a 10" pot. I also cut back all the leaves to the top of the elongated neck of the bulbs, hoping it would help them root in. Less stress and demands on the system!
All the pots are now outside in filtered sunlight. They are taking their time re-growing. Understandably....a recovery time for the plants. In the bigger pots, the leaves are SO long, they are breaking in half. I read in the Plant Files that leaves on this Lily can grow 5-6 feet long! Yikes!!!! What do I need to do to make them flower?????

I have some doubts if I have planted these correctly from day #1. I was told to plant them, similar to Amaryllis, with the top of the bulb above the soil level. Now I have been reading, here and there, that they should have been planted about 4" below the soil level. Since mine have been half in--half out all these years, (or did they jusr grow that way???) and also now when I repotted them the same way, maybe that is why they have not bloomed for me. What do you all think?????

I will take some pictures of the leaves growing--and post it here. Do you have anything to contribute to this non-blooming problem of mine???? Maybe it is that the bulbs have NEVER been really underground. How deep are YOURS planted? Have they bloomed?????
I was told by a Horticulturist, when I bought them, that they are not hardy in my area. I am in zone 7a, in Baltimore.

Here's a picture of some of the pots they are in. From the original 10" pot, I got 6 divisions that are now in the 6" pots, and two bigger clumps that are now in the larger pots that are in the picture.

Do I HAVE to bring them inside and let them go dormant in the winter? Why are these different from any other lilies that are hardy and come back every year? Would they do better, and survive, if I planted them in the ground? Please advise!