Anybody have this? I bought some from a local garden centre yesterday, more out of curiosity than really desiring this lily. The name suggests an Oriental where the picture shown is unmistakably OT. The internet has been of no help since I have seen it listed as both an Oriental and OT and the flowers shown have varied from a floppy pale washed out cream with a slightly more yellow centre to a bold golden yellow with the texture and sturdiness of an OT. Flowers have been shown both down and out facing but not up. Way more variation than I would expect of a clone and more than I would think desirable in a strain. I saw the one photo in the database which is about midway in the colour range I have found.
Just curious as the only way to find out is wait and see what I get.

I do have Golden Stargazer, and mine appears to be an Oriental and outfacing. It is short, maybe 3'. Mine is a golden yellow, quite lovely actually. I will get a pic of it this year.

The real Golden Stargazer is an Orienpet (clone, not strain) hybridized at the Van der Salm Bulb Farm (Washington state). Ed McRae described it as "a stocky semi-upright Orienpet...".

It was registered as an Oriental lily (as were some other early Orienpets).

I purchase this at a local nursery. As soon as it bloomed I figured it was not the proper color.



Photos that are on the internet are solid yellow.

Michael that's exactly what I was finding in the way of colour. Some were even lighter with a more defined yellow stripe. I'm wondering if growing conditions play a very large part in it's colour. Connie, some of the pictures I've seen labeled as Golden Stargazer look very similar to your photo of Manissa, do you think some may just be mislabeled? Polly, looking forward to see how the colour of your plant compares.

Mine definitely does not look like that. I could be wrong, but mine seems to be an Oriental.

The ones I had looked like a golden yellow Casa Blanca, only much shorter. Pretty when first open but the flowers faded rapidly in a day and the petals dropped the 2nd or 3rd day or sooner with the slightest breeze--not a durable flower here. I gave them away. Definitely appeared Oriental to me(at least the ones I had).

Lily register description:

Parentage: Unknown
Hybridizer: H: Van der Salm Bulbfarm Inc., pre-1997 REG: Van der Salm Holland B.V., 2002
Description: Inside vivid yellow/light orange-yellow (16A/B); outside pale orange-yellow (16D); spots and papillae present; nectaries green; pollen light brown; stigma purple. Stems 0.9m. Late to very late.
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It does look like an Oriental lily with its form and papillae, but it does have trumpet in it, hence orienpet. I think the trumpet genes were the key to bringing the yellow, concentrated along the midveins, out to the edges of the petals.

Mak has been doing work on improving true yellow Oriental lilies, as illustrated in my photo postings of my visit last summer.

Oh, its an orienpet for sure. I should have worded it differently so as not to infer or suggest it as oriental--it not. They just favored more the oriental side in overall appearance.

I'm sure mine was misnamed. I think it came in a Stargazer set, regular, white and yellow.

There are companies that sell this as an Oriental lily. (y'all know the type of company I am talking about):

http://www.michiganbulb.com/pr...

I think I got it years ago from Van B. About the same.

Yes, but their picture is closer to reality than any in the forums. The form and color is pretty close to what I had, except mine were deeper gold in the throat. Polly, sounds like you and I have pretty much the same. I got mine from Van bourgendien about 2005-2007 sometime.

I'm sure there are lots of phony Star Gazers and Golden Stargazers out there so there really is no point in all of this. I don't know if I have seen the "real" Golden Stargazer. I think I had two from Van B a few years back and they didn't last more than a blink. They looked like the photo from Mich B.; the photo seems to match the register description. Who knows!

All that said... I swear I read somewhere, maybe a NALS yearbook or bulletin, that Ed McRae was the hybridizer of Golden Stargazer. I know he worked at Van der Salms around that time. He probably would not get credit as an employee. If I ever come across that info again I'll comment here on it. It may have been in a biography. He did most (not all though) of the dwarf Pixie series.

I just read about McRae being the hybridizer of 'Golden Stargazer', I think it was referenced in a NALS yearbook. I have it here (the lily), at least I think I do. It seems to match the description. The source was local, as in, not a chain or VanB. Imported likely from Dutch origins, based on their other selected offerings. It seems to be a more reputable Dutch source, as I think I have had only 1 marked wrong lily, over many, many years of lilies purchased there.

It isn't a very good picture, the color is way too bright and the center is more dotted and in reality the color very much less bright yellow. Makes me think I need to get a better picture this summer, if the lilies are not frozen out. It's qualities are certainly of orienpet, based on that I have had this lily for years without decline (knock on wood).

I've had Golden Stargazer for about 9, maybe 10 years now...I love the darn thing!

Do you recall where you got yours from, Pix? That looks a lot like mine. Mine might have been a teeny bit darker.

Heck no! I have a hard time remembering yesterday!!