I worked for a seed company in the 1980's, an agronomic seed company, soybeans corn and a line of vegetables. One year I was put in charge of 5000 acres of seed corn grown under irrigation in a couple of counties along the Illinois River (Mason and Tazwell Co.) Our home base was in Stoninton, Il. (about 75 miles SE of the corn fields). As such, I had to drive up there every day to inspect the fields and keep track of the corn under contract. To help make the tedious drive not boring I tried to name roadside plants, weeds, wildflowers, and some ornamentals (in towns) for my amusement. I actually got up to hundred plants I could identify from my (company) truck. Anyway, one day I noted a new plant in the distance. It looked pretty neat, it was growing near a forested area and necessitated stopping the truck and hiking over to it. I was just amazed, it was so neat, so regal, so beautiful; it was a wild Wood Lily, Lilium philadelphicum and I was infected. After that my home garden started a metamorphic transition from a basically vegetable garden into an ornamental garden with a backbone of lilies (along with Rudbeckia, New England Asters, and Gloriosas). Lilium acquisition and display culminated a few years ago at 144 different varieties. My main source was Lisa Hunt, better known as Buggy Crazy though her lilies were supplemented by Brent and Becky's, John Scheeper, Faraway Flowers, Lee Gardens, and some of the lily specialists. There 's probably near a hundred still out there. Meticulous records were kept from 2000 to 2014, but an eye problem has since dictated a more conservative approach to acquisition, cultivation, and garden maintenance. Probably my biggest regret was not trying to breed new ones like quite a few inhabitants of this forum.
