Hi all,

So this week my wife gave me a bunch of lilies for our anniversary

When she bought them, none of them were open, but she thought I'd enjoy the mystery and being able to collect pollen from them (the store had removed the anthers from the open bouquets of Orientals). They've turned out to be a nice spotted red with a darker nectary flare (downside is that it's a umbel with a low bud count, but it is for the cut flower industry). Quite difficult to capture the exact colour (and the flares don't show up as dark in the photos). No detectable scent, but the blooms are quite large for an Asiatic, leading me to wonder if it's an O/A instead of just a plain Asiatic.

Any suggestions on what this might be (would obviously be a cultivar available in Australia)? First suspicion is 'Chengdu' (O/A), but photos are few and far between.

Sorry, can't help you with an ID, but it's a lovely colour... and congratulations on your anniversary!

Thanks Della!

Joshua, the lily is a nice one though I haven't any idea who it is. And a very thoughtful gift indeed! Congratulations on your anniversary.

Josh - congrats on the anniversary. How many years?

No idea on the NOID.

Like I always say: A good lily is when you find it unexpectedly. It's a nice one.

Thanks, Patrick. We've been married for 2 years now.

I would have thought Chengdu had a fragrance...other O/A's from that seemed to be reported as having some fragrance, can't find any reference to Chengdu specifically though so maybe it's not consistent.

Having read about cut flower stems producing bulbils, I decided to leave the stems and see what happened. So far, two of the five stems have produced a bulbil. This is the best one:



Will be interesting to see if I can successfully grow it on.

Looks like it wants to grow!

Well, today one of those stem bulbils appeared to say hello!

Clue us in on the chronology, please. Last pic was May 3.

When did you remove the bulbils?
Was it because the stems withered or was it just "time to do it"?
How often did you change the water, recut the stems?
Did you use tap water the whole time, or could you access rain water?
Did you give them a cold treatment? Details, please.

Sure! Here's the basic timeline:

Week preceeding 14th April - my wife gave me a bunch of cut flowers (five stems); they slowly opened over about a week
Around 2nd May - noticed a couple of bulbils
11th May - planted two small bulbils off the first stem, which was going brown
18th May - planted three small bulbils from the second stem
20th May - planted three small bulbils from the third stem; noted that the fourth and fifth stems were still green and that two of the bulbils (one on each) had sent up a small leaf
22nd May - planted six small bulbils (two with leaves) from the fourth stem, plus the largest (with a leaf) from the fifth stem (probably the largest was around 8mm across)
24th May - planted the remaining few from the fifth stem, as it was going brown

The couple that had leaves died back pretty soon after planting (generally within a couple of weeks). The media used was Richgro Potting Mix with a small amount of Osmocote Indoor & Pot Plant slow-release fertiliser mixed in.

As for water, I only have access to tap water here. I don't recall exactly how often I changed the water and recut the stems, but I think it was about every 3-4 days, trimming off only a small amount at a time.

No cold treatment was given. Edit: the small planter they are in did sit outside in a coldframe from early August, though. Melbourne winters are mild, so they would not have gotten a proper cold cycle (none of my Asiatics do).

Hopefully that answers all your questions!