I was thinking the same thing Rick.

Hold onto your hats , for pics , because Ive got some mean stuff growing .. Kroell/Hoell/Halinar & greisback seedlings .all at the crux this year! then add Oysteins -Lykkegaard seedlings we got a party!

Southern Lily Shenanigans! When will visual records of that lily party start flowing?

Just finished reading the emails, Joe and Rick. All very interesting stuff. I'm inspired to try harder with L. pumilum varieties if they're difficult to out cross. Gives me an excuse to dab even more pollen, and that's something I find hard to resist!

I still have L. cernuum var. album; it put up two stems again this year, but both are blind... so no pollen there. I must have tried it on well over a dozen different flowers last summer, to get only a few seedlings from one pod, so I'll try Golden Gleam on many dozens! I really want to incorporate it into my L. davidii infused lines, and I'll just keep trying.

Interestingly enough Della, I pollinated Sunny Morning last year with pollen from Pumilum and before I knew I could possibly save pods, I opened the pod because the plant was senescing very early. For what reasons I don't know but anyway as I opened the pod, I did come across a few live seeds with embryos. Now when I pollinated it wasn't protected but there wasn't a lily in bloom anywhere near Sunny Morning. So either it took or the mart album pollen I put on another made it's way in there but I think it worked. Unfortunately I don't do any embryo rescue yet so in the notes it goes with hopes for next year. I know you had previously mentioned wanting to do embryo rescue Della, any luck?

Martasians! I think David Sims did have success using L. pumilum with martagons, didn't he? Try again next year, Joe - it's exciting.

Haven't gotten the timing right for cutting into pods for rescue - nor a good system that works for me! I've recently moved, so maybe down the track I can build a clean room with the right facilities. Attempting it on the kitchen table in the middle of a half-finished cottage in the midst of free-range kids and cat and plaster dust... isn't going to work out this year.


An overcast morning here, after rain, but Tiger Babies is flowering:



Tiny Padhye has been too, but this year it has something funny going on with the way buds are opening:

How tall are your Tiger Babies? Mine are really short and small. Maybe 12-14" tall. They may not be getting enough sun where there are.

Mary, these are about 70cm (roughly 27"?) tall. They're planted in a pot that is sitting up higher than the visible background. I was thinking mine were looking shorter and a triffle 'virus-y' (or malnourished!) this year. In your situation, unless it's crowding or some severe mineral defiency, I can't imagine what would keep them around 12-14". It seems that lack of sun would cause them to stretch and be taller.

Heres the[Hudsons] Asiatic fascinated stem , in bloom .. Looking somewhere like a 'Roter Cardinal'?

Mary , I have a few Tiger Babies at about 3 1/2 feet and some purchased later at 2 ft.. This one has an extra petal 'fused' in the middle[ ALL BLOOMS]

'Tiger Babies' really is an all time favorite for me. The color is outstanding and is is prolific as compared to similar. Here it's about 3 feet in full sun. Thanks for showing me that sweet bloom on such a dreary day here.

It's loved by everyone,--yet one I still don't have.

gwhizz said:Mary , I have a few Tiger Babies at about 3 1/2 feet and some purchased later at 2 ft.. This one has an extra petal 'fused' in the middle[ ALL BLOOMS]

By "[ALL BLOOMS]" I assume you mean that essentially there is an extra petal(oid) in every bloom. This is not that unheard of, especially in seedlings. In the case of plants originating from a mature bulb that did not show this characteristic previously, the phenomenon will not repeat, unless the special impetus that caused it is repeated (extremely unlikely). It would be rare to know what that impetus or that combination of forces might be. In the case of seedlings, they are more easily influenced by outside stimuli, so unusual growth is more often seen. But the tendency here, though not as strong, is still a return to normalcy.

Lorn, I took a few scales of mine last year. I can spare a bulblet or 2.

Joe, yes, one or two is all I'd need. Some people might think this funny, but I enjoy the actual growing and the raising a lily to blooming age as much or more than most people enjoy them just for the flowering cycle alone.

I know most of you would have seen this Hudsons slg last year . It is extremely hard to photograph

That's a beauty. When I do crosses on asiatics I'm hoping for seedlings with pendant flowers lik yours.

So pretty. I do remember how much I liked it last year too. Really a stunning flower.

Lovable!!!

Well, I think I will dig up my Tiger Babies and the other ones next to them (can't remember the dratted name) as they are also pretty short. Do you think if I put them in pots and out in full sun they would be okay. I think they multiply like mad so maybe a pot would be to constricted. Although I do have some big pots -- maybe 15" deep and 24" across - with drainage. I worry about them because they are black and I think I cooked some dahlias in black much smaller pots one summer. They were on the deck railing in direct sun.

I grow most of my mature lily bulbs in black pots, and haven't cooked them that way.... yet! Can always hide a pot beneath foliage in the garden somewhere during summer. What does happen sometimes though is potted bulbs might get too dry in autumn. I think the bulbs lose alot of active roots and get flabby, then when the winter rain comes, they can't cope with the sudden moisture and rot. I think they rot because they got too dry, not necessarily because it was too wet.

I remember that one now, Anthony! Nice. Have any pollen to spare, perchance? Can we scale it?



From this morning, Patricia's Pride and Crossover: