oh, I'm still here, despite the terrifying chill of the word 'committee'! It's just been such a splendid day, and I've had time free to be in the garden (vegetables) and ponder the reorganisation of my little nursery space if I'm going to get 'serious' again about growing. In fact (and this will only interest hobartians), on advice of a friend, I've found the closed chickenfeed stores virtually giving away mesh display shelving that would make excellent tiered seedling benches, so I've had a pleasant afternoon scrounging.
My lily experience has been thinly drawn over nearly thirty years (due to inconsistent circumstances, I've moved many times but seldom had my own garden, and many beginnings were lost in transitions), but can't match the depth of growers we have here like Rod; the stalwarts like the many Brians, the Fieldings, Joe Hoell or Neil and Irene Jordan who keep show benches packed. When I was a child I learned so much from Dot and Limey Krist, but they've passed and are still missed. Still, Tasmania is full of amazing lily growers - too many to name!
If nothing else I'd make a rather pedantic and conscientious steward... I can still remember when Black Beauty was the only orienpet (though not called that), and benched in a rather lonely interdivisional category. We called it the 'black beauty division'. When OTs became plentiful, it still took several seasons for the 'henryi hybrid not otherwise categorised' to be placed with its younger divisional brethren. It bugged me!
But I could be imagining a past that never existed! Funny thing time. :D
Thanks for all the warm welcomes, I hope to share and learn. And maybe help out at claremont
