I can't say there was any one event that brought me to lilies. I have been through a few different plant obsessions (addictions) over the years. I have always been a big fan of going out and visiting our nurseries and growers' farms, Schreiner's Irises and the tulip farms for example.
One day around 1987 or so I was reading the Salem Statesman Journal and there was this article about this farm called Oregon Bulb Farm that was going bankrupt. It was located not far from me, maybe forty-five miles or so. I didn't pay much attention to what I read but I remember it said they grew lilies there. I hadn't grown any lilies and really didn't know exactly what they were since it seemed the term "lily" was attached to many plants. I just shrugged and went on my way gardening as usual.
Sometime in the mid '90s I read an article about lilies in a major gardening magazine. I decided they were definitely not a plant I wanted. It said they needed excellent drainage, staking and red beetles ate them. I was (and still am) too lazy to fuss about all of that.
A couple of years later I saw some lilies in Van Bourgondien catalog. For me they were pretty expensive, $4 for one bulb. Yikes! I was more used to tulip bulb prices! I splurged and bought just two, Antonia and King Pete. They actually grew better than I expected and King Pete multiplied. I don't recall buying any lily bulbs soon after those.
In 1997 I came across an ad in a gardening magazine where I could buy some lily seeds. The seed list was free so I sent for it. The company was Cascade Bulb and Seed, just a few miles from me. The seeds were cheap, most $1.25 a packet. I bought some seeds for dwarf trumpets and medium to tall yellow and white trumpets. They were easy to start and grew fast. I would go out every few weeks and poke my finger into the soil to see how big the bulbs were getting. They were amazing! When they bloomed I took photographs of them and kept them on my desk at work. I would say I was hooked on lilies then.
I joined NALS in 2000 and Pacific Northwest Lily Society in 2003. From these two groups I learned about Oregon Bulb Farm and the impact it had on the lily industry in the United States.
I have grown many lilies from seeds, mostly trumpets and Asiatics. Of course I also buy lily cultivars now. Planted a few today, in fact.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it
.
