Cold hardiness & minimum temperature

Is Tiger Lily (Lilium tigrinum)cold hardy? Hardiness zone & min temp

Also called Tiger Lily, Devil Lily, Ditch Lily.

More about tiger lily

About Tiger Lily

Lilium tigrinum · also called Tiger Lily, Devil Lily · flowering

Tiger Lily produces vivid orange, black-spotted pendant flowers with strongly reflexed petals in mid to late summer, each stem carrying 10–20 blooms. Robust and easy-to-grow, it spreads via stem bulbils. Severely toxic to cats — even small exposures cause acute renal failure. Widely naturalised across temperate gardens.

Cold limit: USDA 3–9 · RHS H7 (5–28°C)

What tiger lily's hardiness rating actually means

Yes — tiger lily is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 3–9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. Its RHS rating of H7 means: Hardy in the severest European continental winters. On the US scale that maps to USDA 3–9 — the zones where it can be left outdoors year-round.

New to these scales? The USDA hardiness zone map explained covers how the zone numbers work, and you can find your own zone with the zone finder.

Minimum temperature — and what happens below it

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Tiger Lily is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

Concretely, for tiger lily as it gets too cold:

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established.
Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root.
First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.

Can tiger lily go outside or overwinter — and where?

Plant it out within USDA 3–9 and it overwinters with little or no help.
It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy.
The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

Work back from your local frost dates with the frost-date calculator: the last spring frost and first autumn frost are what really decide when tiger lily can be outside. US growers can check USDA zones; UK growers should use the RHS hardiness ratings, which match the H7 figure above.

Tiger Lily hardiness — frequently asked questions

Is tiger lily cold hardy?

Yes — tiger lily is genuinely cold hardy. Rated RHS H7 and USDA 3–9, it lives outdoors all year and needs winter cold rather than protection from it. An outdoor plant. Tiger Lily is hardy across USDA 3–9; it belongs in the ground or a frost-proof container, not on a windowsill, and many types actively need a cold winter to perform.

What is the minimum temperature tiger lily can survive?

Minimum survivable temperature is roughly below about −20 °C. Tiger Lily is built for winter — once established it takes hard frost and snow in its stride.

What hardiness zone is tiger lily?

Tiger Lily is rated USDA 3–9 and RHS H7 — Hardy in the severest European continental winters.

Can tiger lily survive winter outside?

Plant it out within USDA 3–9 and it overwinters with little or no help. It does not want to come indoors — a warm winter room actually weakens a hardy plant by denying it dormancy. The real risks in its range are waterlogging, wind-rock on young plants, and a late hard frost on new growth — not ordinary winter cold.

What happens to tiger lily below its minimum temperature?

It tolerates winter lows to about −20 °C once established. Below its rated zone, the visible damage is browned or blackened top growth and, in the worst case, a killed crown or root. First-year, newly planted, or container-grown specimens are noticeably less hardy than established garden plants — the roots are exposed.