I wish you all a happy and successful 2021! Lots of health, happiness, love and may your lily season be better this year than last.

First bloom for the season on one of the tall Aurelians:

Beautiful!

Few moments ago:



Edit: Hailstorm did some damage to my candidum:


Most of them are fine:


From scales:

Poor guy. I literally hate it when that happens. Just when we think it is too late for hail, we get it anyway.

I hope things aren't damaged too much.

The center is fine so they'll be fine.
It has been raining here for the last 10 days or so and there will be at least another 7 days. It's boring.

Just wait a few days, and you will see more damage. Usually it is just cosmetic, unless:

It has been raining here for the last 10 days or so and there will be at least another 7 days.

That's really bad. The hail has provided a lot of infection points for disease. The cold weather will slow it down quite a bit, but I wonder what will happen later on....


edited for grammar

This is not the first time this has happened. I know, it will look awful after a few days, but they should grow and bloom normally. And it's not very cold. The temperature is above 10 degrees Celsius. We will see the situation after the rain.

@magnolialover 2020 NALS Popularity Poll is still ongoing?

I just tallied the votes New Years Day. Now I get to write an article about the results.

We saw our hybridizing goals but what about species and hybrids in 2021.? What lilies you wish to grow this year? Any species/hybrid you wish to multiply this year?
My list of goals is long. First; I want to grow lilies from seed. I have over 1000 seeds of different species and some seeds of two hybrids. This month I plan to buy more seeds (species trumpets) so it will all be a big challenge considering this is my first time doing it. If I manage to grow 50% I will be more than happy.
Second; I want my lilium sulphureum to grow successfully. I was extremely happy when I bought the bulb last year. Lilium sargentiae was also my wish, but unfortunately I was unable to get a bulb. Maybe I'll have more luck this year.
Third; 'Black Dragon' project. This is a long-term project that should start this year by procuring more bulbs of this selection (I could have already had them, but due to the pandemic I failed). The goal is to propagate this lily in as many numbers as possible and distribute it not only in the neighborhood but also in Europe.
The last goal concerns lilium candidum and its distribution in nature. This is actually the easiest because I have a lot of small candidums that I have grown from scales. One part could already have its natural habitat by the end of the summer.

If you plant the candidum back into the wild, be sure to do it where other candidum already exist. The one clone you have won't be self sustaining, as it is not self fertile and not apomictic.

@Leftwood As far as I know, there are no active colonies of candidums on the surrounding hills. This will be the first entry into nature. They can be found in the lowlands in gardens or next to abandoned houses. I currently only have clones, but that will change this summer as I found a source of pollen and bulbs near my neighborhood in an abandoned place.

@Lucius93 - Luka, depending on seed import laws you may also be able to get some L. candidum seed from Chiltern Seeds: https://www.chilternseeds.co.u...

I've found they are generally quite good and have had no issues with seed quality (my difficulties keeping certain species alive notwithstanding!).

@Australis Due to Brexit, sending and receiving to and from Britain is currently disabled. This year I will collect some seeds myself. The only reason I need seeds is because of genetic diversity. Otherwise, growing candidums from seed is not cost effective and is unnecessary. If you want more candidums use scales.
Edit: Otherwise, bulbs and seeds can move freely within EU member states. There are no import/export laws prohibiting this.

Consider yourself fortunate, Luka! Here we have little choice but to grow species from seed (very few are offered and it is prohibitively expensive for the average enthusiast to import bulbs from overseas) and even interstate there are some restrictions (I don't think I can send bulbs or scales to Tasmania, for example).

Yes, Australian law is crazy.
Growing from seed is actually better although the harder way. You know 100% that you have a healthy plant and the plant can adapt to your climate from day one. However, regarding candidums, if you manage to grow bulbs from seed, use their scales for propagation because it is really easy and fast.

Australian law is quite strict, but I can understand it - we've kept a lot of problem plants and pests out thus far (and states like Western Australia and Tasmania, being isolated by desert or ocean, are pretty keen to keep the pests found in the other states out!). The main difficulty I've had in conversations with quarantine is that it really depends on who you get; some staff don't know much about plants or naming (or sometimes don't care), so if the seeds or plant tissue isn't an exact match for their approved entry case, they block it. That's why it's critical that seed packets are labelled correctly - it's actually really straightforward to get seeds into Australia, but you've got to follow the rules precisely just in case you get the wrong person!

I've made slow progress with growing L. candidum from seed, but unfortunately I think they got too much rain last winter as I seem to have more than half of my bulbs. I need to start some more seed so that I have a bit of genetic variety - after all, I'm relying on that to get plants that can actually grow here. I've all but given up on Orientals for the moment since they don't manage the heat.

Australia has remained isolated for millions of years and I partly understand the laws and support them. However, I think they are too strict for some things.

Australis said:I've made slow progress with growing L. candidum from seed, but unfortunately I think they got too much rain last winter as I seem to have more than half of my bulbs. I need to start some more seed so that I have a bit of genetic variety - after all, I'm relying on that to get plants that can actually grow here. I've all but given up on Orientals for the moment since they don't manage the heat.

Lilium candidum doesn't mind winter wet as long as they have excellent drainage. Very long rain period can harm them but it's not common. During summer they enjoy very high temperatures and full sun so you shouldn't have problems with that. Summer wetness is the worst thing that can happen to them but I don't think you have problem with that. Australia is dry just like my place.

People in Bosnia usually call lilium candidum by name Zambak. It's turkish word, obviously, but I never ask why Zambak and what that mean. Today, quite by accident, I discovered something interesting looking at the RHS Lily Register. There is registered selection of candidum called 'Sultan Zamback' which is in cultivation more then 400 years and 'Sultan Zamback' is actually the real name od lilium candidum var. cernuum. This is probably why botanists/taxonomists never recognized cernuum as variation of candidum; because it is not. It's selection from candidum.