Joshua, I tend to feel different for colors over the season. The days here are quite short now, with as it seems perpetual gray skies and a lot of wind. So looking at the warm color of that 'Whiskey' lily makes me feel like eating an orange with my eyes. A real vitamin injection and just what I wanted today, so thanks for sharing.

'Tiger Babies' is indeed a beautiful lily. So far mine hasn't performed well, but I hope yours will. Mine improved just a little in their second year and the bulbs looked pathetic both in size and root system when I replanted them to a different location this autumn. I also had to throw away a few plants during the season with visible signs of virus. If they don't improve I might try bulbs from another source to see if they perform in a more healthy fashion.

Thanks for the comments, William. Time will tell regarding 'Tiger Babies' - can only wait and see what it's like next year.

I have also heard through different lily people that there are different strains of 'Tiger Babies'. I have it from a couple different sources. They look the same to me, but one group seems to have increased fertility. Same pollen used on two different plants, one yields seed routinely, the other does not. Very vigorous here in all cases. A favorite.

I had forgotten all about the Tiger Babies strains. Mine will get big fat pods but seldom good seed. It is indeed quite vigorous.

I thought I read Tiger Babies was very virus tolerant. Can anyone corroborate?

My point is that if it is, then William's specimens must have had a huge virus load.

I have grown Tiger Babies for years and have never sign of virus in them. I have tossed plenty of other lilies due to virus symptoms.

Judith Freeman used to include a list of lilies in her catalog that she considered "indestructible". From an old catalog they are:

Early season: Doeskin, Viva, Flirt

Mid season: Tiger Babies, Red Velvet, White Henryi

Late season: Scheherazade, Black Beauty

I haven't grown Viva or Flirt but I can agree on the rest of them.

One of the last 'Tiger Babies' blooms has opened... and is missing its stigma! The first bloom on this plant was also a bit odd in that it only had five tepals.



'Rascal' (a Tonkin hybrid) is getting close:



The first of Paul's hybrids finally opened yesterday. It took almost 2 days! The first photo was the morning of the 6th; the second is that evening; the third is from the morning of the 7th; the fourth, the evening of the 7th; the fifth, when it was fully open on the morning of the 8th; and the last is from this morning (the 9th).

I don't think a missing stigma on the last flower on the stem is that rare. Perhaps just unusual. It seems every year I notice one or two because those particular flowers I was planning on hand pollenating. When you are actually looking for the pistil it's a given that you will see it is not there, but I'll bet most the time people don't even realize the "handicap".

N.B. Hybridizers often prefer not to use the last flower to open when possible, as successful results seem to be less likely than with the earlier flowers.

Nor the first one or two.

Thanks for the tips, Rick and Lorn. I pollinated the second or third flower on this stem (five total), but mainly used the other 'Tiger Babies' I've got instead since this one was a bit odd. I was just checking things this morning when I noticed it looked a bit odd, so had a closer look. Generally I've tried crossing with the first few blooms to open, as I've gone with the approach that if I stuff it up or the flower is damaged, then there's usually a spare one or two. It's my first year making crosses, so I'm keeping notes to see what works and what doesn't.

Joshua, here's a couple more pointers to keep in mind. It doesn't take many seeds to tell if the cross is going to do you any good or not. All you really need is 25 or 30 seeds and one pod usually is way more than enough. With most cross pollenations, you'll get seed if the parents are compatible so no need for 2 or 3 pods of the same with first time crosses. Save your plant from unnecessary burden. Another interesting thing you can do if you want to add another pod, is do a mixed pollen application using 2 or more different pollens. Save pollen samples from early bloomers now for use on the late bloomers. And as you say--keep good notes and records.

Thanks, Lorn. I had read from others' experience that some crosses (i.e. 'Mapira' x 4N Asiatic, or crosses with 'Tiger Babies') might only produce 15 seeds; since I'm learning, I wanted to make sure I had a backup, so most of the cross I've done are two pods. I've been collecting pollen from a few to use later, as well as noting what order things are blooming in and collecting pollen from the later ones to use on the early ones next year.

The use of multiple mixed pollen is sometimes helpful when a desired pod parent is not cooperative to a certain pollen you would like to use. We'll call that one pollen 'A'. When using a mix of 4, 5, or 6 different pollens, often times there will be one in there which it will be receptive to. That pollen opens the door and creates the path for others to follow, including your desired pollen 'A'. That pollen is referred to as a 'mentor' pollen.

Thanks again, Lorn. I'll have to see what the results of my attempts this year are and then try mixed pollens if needed next year. I assume you pick something that looks drastically different to your desired pollen 'A' so you can tell which is the parent in any offspring?

In other news, 'Soft Whisper', another Tonkin hybrid, has unexpectedly beaten 'Rascal' to opening. Found it another one difficult to photograph, as the colour perceived by the camera varied depending on lighting and angle.



'Pearl Jennifer' from Tesselaar has been open for a week now (and being used for hybridising), whilst the other from Van Diemen Quality Bulbs (received as a substitute for 'Sweet Surrender' and planted about a fortnight later) has started to open a couple of days ago.

Tesselaar bulbs:


VDQB bulbs:


Finally, 'Sweet Surrender' (sourced from Golden Ray Gardens) opened today. The plant is quite small and the blooms are as well - a rather mediocre result (there is one other that will bloom and it has a single bud on it - hopefully it will look nicer and more photogenic). From photos I've seen this should improve next year. It had previously been leaning a lot, so I had recently staked it (hence the odd arrangement of the buds).

A few more of Paul's ( @vanozzi ) Aurelian hybrids have opened yesterday and today.

Garden bed #2. Quite like this one. It's a nice shade of orange and I like the form. The papillae aren't overwhelming, either.


Garden bed #3. Started off nicely, but ended up too tightly recurved for my tastes.


First hybrid to bloom in the tubs (planted a few in tubs so I had some in a separate location).


I am also eager to see what this bud holds... it has been getting darker over the past few days. The photo is from this morning and it's got more colour in it in this evening. Expecting it to open soon!

Joshua, I really like the second row especially, very nice!

Well done, Joshua!

That orange aurelian made me think of one of my earliest crosses back in 2008: Madam Butterfly x White Henryi. A few offspring were just like that, I thought, but when I look back, your orange is much better than my orange.
https://garden.org/thread/view...

Finding this info from way back was very easy due to my organization efforts from the get go. You will never regret the time you spend keeping all these images and data, and organizing it in a way that is intuitive to you. I also use the individual post starring system here on this site to bookmark posts or threads I know I will want to go back to in the future. Click on my name, then scroll down to "starred pages" and click on the number to see how I use it. I have notes for most of them when further explanation is useful. (But you can only see the notes if you are logged in as me.)

Joshua, I actually really like the pictures from garden #2. I like the look of the pappilae. Especially when it's a contrasting color like it is on yours. But everyone has their likes. My wife doesn't like the recurved flowers like martagons, Karen North and even L. Henryi..... but since it's not her garden and she doesn't do the work..... If it was up to her the garden would be "50 shades of pink"

Rick, I have started keeping a log book in a notebook of the stuff I have going on. Seed started, where I obtained it from, start date, first sprout date etc. Along with the wife writing up a few programs for me to track everything then back up to flash drive it external hard drive. Along with pictures for a quick reference.

I often carry a notebook along with me outside, but always transfer the data to the computer, usually on a spreadsheet. Through the years, you will find that searching your notes will be so much quicker, especially if you standardize your input parameters. Even the way I name my photos is also standardized. I use the same spreadsheet formats year after year. One for seed propagation, one for other propagations and one for hybridizing, along with running sheets (present & past) that catalogs everything in the ground that I grow. Put these all in separate folders by year, and those in an All Year folder, and you can search through many years of information all at once!

Nhra_20 said:Joshua, I actually really like the pictures from garden #2. I like the look of the pappilae. Especially when it's a contrasting color like it is on yours. But everyone has their likes. My wife doesn't like the recurved flowers like martagons, Karen North and even L. Henryi..... but since it's not her garden and she doesn't do the work..... If it was up to her the garden would be "50 shades of pink"

Thanks Dave. I actually quite like the fully recurved martagons and asiatic species. It's just on large flowers like these Aurelian hybrids that I prefer the partially recurved (like the orange one) instead.

Thanks for the comments, @Leftwood. I must reiterate that this is all Paul's work, so all credit must go to him. All I've done is not kill them

He was very generous in giving me so many of his hybrids and I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest are like and trying a few crosses of my own.