We had our Christmas last Saturday, and the only one missing of the six of us was my sister, Connie, who at the last minute, surprised us all and flew up from Arizona. Tomorrow I'll be making dinner for my brother and me, and a friend.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all. This year, Christmas has come quick and has had a bit of a sour note for me but nonetheless it is time to enjoy with family. Have a happy and be safe.

Wishing a Merry Christmas to all!

Happy Christmas!

Nice trumpets, Paul. Are they flowering already, or pics from last year? I'm in the midst of asiatics. Trumpets are a way off. Down here we get to enjoy a christmas with the lilies... my favourite presents - ones that open themselves! (Ok, so sometimes a not-so-little-elf might peel a tepal or two )

Rick, something about your lovely image reminds me of gooseberries. (Something else we used to have with christmas sometimes when I was a kid - gooseberry pie!)

Some christmas pics:


I'm so lucky my daughter loves lilies too. And for christmas she wanted to make bonsai. I've never tried it before, but I happen to have a few coastal and dawn redwood seedlings kicking around, so I bought some pots and we had a go!



Of course bonsai is a lifetime commitment!

I'm going to find some more lily pics to post...

Some more lilies (all seedlings):

dellac said:Rick, something about your lovely image reminds me of gooseberries. (Something else we used to have with christmas sometimes when I was a kid - gooseberry pie!)

The cactus (Coryphantha vivipara) berries are edible, and they taste very good. No sugar needed!

dellac said:Of course bonsai is a lifetime commitment!

Maybe not as long as you think. This one is only 18-20 years old from a 2 year seedling. I had initially wired the trunk, but everything else is done by judicious pruning. None of that special bonsai mix or root pruning, either.
Larix decidua. That's a volunteer Cerastium alpinum there, too.



By the way, in my opinion Larix (especially) and Juniper for bonsai are the most hardy and forgiving species in regards to harsh conditions. (Temperature swings and forgetful watering.)

Right - gooseberries need ALOT of sugar! Those cactus fruit look good.

Bonsai! Excellent. Thanks for the tips. Yours looks great. I love larch. I thought I wouldn't live long enough to see great results, but obviously it doesn't take as long as I thought. Imagine what it would be like to start one when you're 7, and grow it through to old age.


More lilies. This lovely 1c is one from Neil Jordan's Tas township breeding:


And these half siblings:




are from this pod-parent I posted earlier in the thread:

I like your other seedlings better, Della. I never was fond of the petals looking or recurving so differently than the sepals. Although, I do like this martagon seedling of mine:

I like that martagon too.

Thanks for the good criticism - helps me see better and think about what I'm looking at.

The seedlings seem to take their time getting both sepals and petals back - some make it all the way and some flowers stay perched in mid-flight, (if such a contradiction is the right way to put it) often on the same plant. But it's a feature that comes from the pod parent. I don't know if it is that particular feature (probably not, because on some lilies I don't like it) or something else sculptural about the texture and relief of the tepals that I like, but it makes it one of the breeding directions I like to explore.

Della, I like this flower form and coloring a lot. It stands out to me.
Edit: Just to clarify, this is Della's seedling. I was just stating how I liked it.

Halinar Seedling& it smells bewdiful


A nice Hudsons SLG


Grenadier , in brilliant form

Real nice purple trumpet Anthony!

Joe, I love the lily picture you posted. Color and form both. Agreed. So nice to see all of these flowers when we are surrounded by snow.

Anthony, the lilies are lovely, I too particularly like the shading on that trumpet. And Granadier had a nice contrasting coloration. Very nice

Rick, thanks for the info about larch and juniper. I'll look for them in our bonsai shop here. I also agree with you on the differently recurving sepals and petals. I also loath those "wonderful" new Dutch introductions that have wide petals and narrow ( and usually recurved) sepals. All wide or all narrow = ok.

Della, your seedlings look great! Lots of 1bc lilies to work with. I need more of those!

Anthony, I have grown Halinar's purple trumpets but no longer have them. I started buying seed from him back in 1997. His list then was almost 4 pages long and included irises, alliums, daylilies and hostas. I still have lily seed of his in my freezer .

G'day Della -- most of all my divisions are flowering now, except for speciosum and the main orientals.I have a line of early orientals that even flower in October, not many, but a few to work with.One is superb!

You have some interesting asiatic seedlings.Have you used any of Joe Halinar's genetics to toughen-up asiatics to Aussie conditions? Do you dip into any other species, especially davidii and its variants? You can see in my pics which asiatics carry Halinar blood.He was suggesting at one time to ''re-create" cernuum through tiger stock.I haven't brought cernuum to flower stage yet, but hope to by next year, so another tangent to explore.

Here are a few of my asiatic seedlings, some good, others so-so.

I have to agree on Joe Halinar's Asiatic seedlings. I don't have all of my originals but some of my best ones have way outlasted expensive hybrid bulbs.

Paul, your lilies look great! I especially like that pastel one toward the end with the completely recurved tepals. It reminds of one Halinar seedling I no longer have. We nicknamed it "Moby's Doughnut".

Paul , You left the Claremont Show Group , As I was walking in -Anthony.. People , I have not entered my back garden, for a few days... But it has become 'Trumpetland'.. MY GOD.. The smell & my love for the smell .. I hope to start a new thread tomorrow... [Some are my babies]

Connie, I was just thinking I could take a bite out of that adorable lemon donut...

Some beauties you have there, Paul. The first pic is is an intriguing color.

When I first say the downward facing recurved I didn't care for them. But I finally ordered Ariadne from The Lily Garden here in the US. They sent me IONA. I rather liked it though it was very tiny. I ordered Ariadne again but she sent something else and a note saying I would like it better and it would do better here. Not sure I care for her reasoning. But we shall see. I planted it (along with others ordered) last fall.

My lilies don't get all that tall. The tallest was Conc d'Or @ 36". Mine seem rather ho hum compared to all of yours. And of course you are hybridizing your own lilies with the 'mixing and matching.' Fascinating to see the outcomes.