At our last local lily society meeting, I was approached by another member and a Chinese woman. She was not a member, but our educational meetings are always open to the public. She came for information. Her son is going to university and in a project, he is trying to find ways to increase production of Lilium davidii var. unicolor*. Some (many? all?) Chinese think that unicolor bulbs taste better than the other varieties of Lilium davidii, but supposedly, unicolor is less vigorous.
Unfortunately, we didn't have much to offer her, other than the normal recommendations. It was a lively conversation at the end of the meeting and there wasn't time to explain the viral implications, but she is now a member and I'll hopefully see her again. We are coaxing her to write an article for our newsletter about how she uses lilies in cooking. Perhaps I will have more to report....
*While unicolor is not recognized by some taxonomies as separate, the fact remains that there are at least some differences in this type. Apparently, one being taste.
