Today, I decided to separate my Spirit of America - Western Species. I planted one (1) bulb 2 years ago in a 5 gallon container.



This is what I found

Yeah, I guess so (time to divide)!

Holy Cow!!! Whatever your doing, keep doin' it--this plant loves you! Beautiful flower and a great picture too!

Western North American lilies grow like that (rhizomatous) and tend to crowd themselves too much even if not in a container so best to divide them at this point.

Holy cow!

Amazing!

Nice, healthy bulbs there.
And good examples of rhizomatous bulb growth.

L. rubescens or L. washingtonianum

I was talking to a forester (Stan) a few days ago and I mentioned about natives in our area. He indicated on the land that he surveys (Bald Hill Road abouit 10 miles from the Redwood National Park) that a white lily that fades to pink (couldn't remember) if it had dots, grew there. I mentioned that if he ever found mature (brown) seed pod I would be very interested.

Yesterday I got a knock on my door, there Stan was there with a bucket of dirt. This is what I found







He also had two (2) stems with green seed pods. I placed them in water hoping that they might mature.
He told me where the location of the lilies and I plan on going up there next year when they are in bloom to take photos.

Looks like some nice bulbs you have there. It will be interesting to see what you've got next year. Very cool

Stan must know what a good custodian/guardian you would be to bring them to you.

Did you realize that the bulbs are sometimes an easy way to tell the two species apart?
Assuming they are all the same species, they are L. washingtonianum, because some have notched scales. L. rubescens never has notched scales. Based on the geographic source, yours appear to be L. washingtonianum var. purpurascens, as the dividing point seems to be about Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen, south of which (along the Sierra Nevada) is var. washingtonianum, and north and west of which is var. purpurascens.

Speaking of scales, do see if you can produce some bulblets from the broken off ones. Sometimes species can be a little stubborn with this kind of propagation, depending on which they are or what time of year, so don't be discouraged if it is unsuccessful.

Thanks for the information. The pieces that separated from the larger ones were planted as I normally plant scales. I wasn't sure if they would produce bulbs like other lilies, but it doesn't hurt to try.