Do they get the same inspector every year? If so, maybe he will retire soon! Lol

I see lips are very tight here lol! Care to share what fell through?

Inspection on the other end of the pond.

Tracey was very kindly trying to organize a group order from the U.K. No fault of hers - wasn't trying to throw her under the bus... Hopefully some of those unique cultivars will find their way across the pond to retailers here as well. The other order I mentioned was a wholesale order where I was shorted 25 bulbs of Tigeredition. All the other bulbs looked great so I will likely try to order there again next year. In the end it was a great deal to get some larger numbers of bulbs for wide crosses where you want to pollinate lots of flowers.

After 3 and a half years, has anyone achieved their goals (at least some of them)?

A little bit of progress on mine, Luka:

Australis said:Some possibilities:

I. Asiatics -- would like to develop some high bud count outfacing Asiatics; most cut-flower hybrids aim for about half a dozen out- to up-facing blooms.
VI. Aurelians -- I'm not a huge fan of papillae, so I'd like to see if I can develop some papillae-less, scented, out- to down-facing recurved Aurelian hybrids in a range of colours. Meanwhile I'd also be working to improve the Aurelians I have.

The first seedlings from my cross of the Leichtlinii Imposter X 'Dreamland' have bloomed this year and will hopefully be a stepping stone to goal (I), as well the seedlings that have germinated last year from NALS seed (again, with a high bud count aim in mind).

One of the three Aurelian seedlings to flower this year appears to already meet the criteria for (VI), although I have to see how it does in future. One of the other two looks promising as well.

So I'm on the way, at least!

Lmao God no! I wish. But then again, the goals I had were pretty lofty, if whet really obtainable.

My refined goal: to hybridize something that is nice. Something that I think is nice. I'm not sure anything else really matters.

I think I have done that and hope to continue to do.

I totally agree with Tracey and it pretty much sums it up for me. I have a few nice ones but face it, it's a fun hobby for me. Still, I like to get the pretty flower onto better forms.

Tracey and Connie, you guys are of course numerous generations ahead of my in your hybridizing programs, but you both have had some incredible stuff come across these pages, and something tells me you two have not even come close to posting your best seedlings. Lol.

But you two, among others on this forum and across the lily world, are a great inspiration to the numerous newbies like me out there!

I created my first hybrid last year and it may be too early to talk about some goals, but I have them.
As of this year I am switching to species (almost all trumpets) and I have left a few trumpet hybrids so I can start my program.
1. Add leucanthum 'Black Dragon' as a pollen parent to everything.
2. Create a super trumpet that will contain the genes and characteristics of all major natural trumpets (regale, leucanthum, sargentiae and sulphureum). It will take a lot of time for this because I need to collect all the trumpets first haha, but that too could happen by the end of this year. We can call this a life project.
3. I would love to recreate lilium x aurelianense.

This coming year should have several seedlings from various NALS exchanges sown in spring 2018 and 2019 flowering more numerously, so my main goal for 2021 is to make crosses of these to get more diversity into the second generation. I have first generation L. lancifolium var. flaviforum x 'Lion Heart' from Patrick that flowered very similar to L. lancifolium var. flaviforum, so I'm hoping that the 'Lion Heart' traits will be more pronounced in the second generation. The same goes for my L. dauricum x cernuum seedlings, which had cernuum shape and dauricum color in the first generation.

I also have several L. henryi forms, and L. leucanthum var. centifolium, so I'm also interested to recreate some 'White Henryi' lily types from scratch... I'm interested to see what variation might be possible here.

My last goal, which is not really a hybridizing one, is to keep growing (and hopefully flower) various species that I have. Those from spring 2018 sowings may possibly flower this year. I always keep my fingers crossed that my Nomocharis aperta seedings survive the winter, as I have a number of these. My few seedlings of L. szovitisianum and L. montadelphum x ledebourii are very slow growers, so I think I'll have to wait a few more years for these. On a more positive note I have L. nepalense and L. leucanthum var. centifolium seeds collected Fall 2020 that are now germinating in my frost-free greenhouse, so in just a few more years...

All the best for 2021 to everyone!

Luka,

Thanks for bumping this discussion.

Some progress here but more failures than successes. I have some embryo rescue babies I am excited about that are aligned with my goals (OT crosses). No progress with Aurelian x Asiatic. Very slow progress on a pink henryi type - very very difficult making trumpet x henryi/rosthornii or reciprocal crosses. Very few seeds and of those very poor germination.

Regards,
Patrick

I'm so happy to see this thread resurrected, as I wasn't posting here when Patrick first started it in 2017. My breeding goals have morphed over the years. I started breeding in 2002, played mostly with species and diploid Asiatic hybrids for many years, with a smattering of diploid trumpets, aurelians and Blackhearts thrown in. But once I met Bob Griesbach in 2006 and visited him again most summers afterwards until his move to Florida in 2016, I was fully smitten with Orienpets and tetraploid trumpets/aurelians. Bob was of course very generous with seeds and pollen. I started slowly as I had so few fertile OTs to pollinate with the pollen I would bring back from Wisconsin. Oh the failed crosses on to 'tet Black Beauty', 'Scheherazade', 'Leslie Woodriff' and others over the years. But I slowly developed my own fertile hybrids using Bob's germplasm and selected commercial bulbs. The breakthrough was a 2006 cross of a light yellow Griesbach trumpet pollinated with a mix of OT pollen brought back from Bob's garden. These started blooming in 2009. One trumpet-shaped flower, nice yellow out and in with a good red throat caught my eye. It proved to be perfectly fertile both ways with either tet trumpets or with other Bob OTs. Its bloodline still runs though some of my hybrids. I've mentioned this story before, but will post a picture of the breakthrough hybrid again. It was instrumental in leading to my current goals:
1. Like Tracey, develop garden plants that I find aesthetically pleasing, with colorful flowers, strong stems, good fragrance where I can.
2. Line breed OTs, both white and yellow, with tricolored interiors. Improve their fertility. I've managed to broaden the interior color bands, sometimes push the bands further up the interior, and either diffuse or concentrate the pigmentation. Continue to reinforce and diversify these traits.
3. Cross OTs to tet trumpets and line breed. I don't mind diluting out the Oriental influence, as I pick up fertility along the way. But I do try to keep OT type interior colors in otherwise trumpet-heavy hybrids.
4. Line breed to reinforce tet trumpet traits developed by Bob, principally white flowers with picotee margins, and also white flowers with a tet White Henryi look, namely interior papillae and conspicuous yellow to orange throats.
5. Selectively combine above lines; for example, what will a white trumpet with really strong violet picotee x a tricolored OT yield? I've had success already in crossing tricolor OTs with tet White Henryi types resulting in a broader interior band of orange before the red kicks in.
6. 'Pink Jazz' x any and all of the above! Thank you Tracey and Patrick for the suggestion. 100s of bulbs now in ground from three years of crosses. 'Pink Jazz' readily sets seed with pollen from both my fertile OTs and tet trumpets. Now to bloom them to see what may result...
7. Per Patrick, cross the biggest OT x OT and biggest tet trumpet x tet trumpet. Side project so far.
8. Kick my diploid trumpet breeding back in to high gear. Love 'Tropical Isle' and its full-flowered, colorful offspring, though bud count is low and stems can be weak. I've been neglecting my diploid trumpets for several years, and have lost some good ones. So few commercial diploid trumpets exist any more, so I want to broaden my diploid germplasm again. Reinforce and mix up colors, violet, yellow, orange, green, you name it. Fragrance a priority.
9. Convert germplasm from # 8 to tets to then use on # 3 and #4. No progress yet, high priority. Imagine OTs with green or really dark violet exteriors.
10. Rest. Whew.
Fertile tet trumpet x OT from 2006 cross:

Thanks for jumping in and sharing Jim!

Sometimes I start reading and get sidetracked, I love reading goals others have.
Jim your photo was a nice sight and hope for blooms in 2021, with NO bad late NASTY freezes.
Jim your detailed analysis there gives me more ideas. There is so much possibility yet in OTs that are yet untapped. Fun to see the results of different things. Keep us posted on your seedling adventures.

Thanks Patrick and Tracey. I've in turn gotten ideas from others as well. Here's hoping for a productive lily season.

Hi all
I am at home with a nasty cold and tripped over this thread.
My goals for hybridizing:
I'd like to create a tall 4-6 ft down facing asiatics with small blossoms in various colors incorporating the tango patterns. Think of an asiatic that resemble martagons but much easier to grow.
I would also like to hybridize and OT 6-7 ft tall with large down facing flowers tightly recurved in hues of pink and lavender that I don't have to bend down to look up into.

I'd love to hear about or see any progress you all have made towards your goals in the last 5-6 years.
Eric

Eric, those are nice goals to have. Good luck with them.

One goal I had was pink on pink OT, or a pink brush mark on a pink OT or trumpet. I achieved my goal in 2023 much to my surprise.

Much of what I find in growing seeds is the beautiful diversity compared to what is available commercially. I love seeing lilies pop up in seedling beds that I think are wonderful.

That's an astounding pink-on-pink, Tracey! Well done!