Ahhhhh, Lorn, what a pity you do not intend to write about all the Lily stories you know. Now that Amazon exists and has world wide distribution, I could have access to your book. I loved reading the compilation you wrote about Star Gazer, intrigued by each chapter and so sorry for the real people involved. You certainly made the events interesting but stuck to the real development of them.
What your Mom thought to be trash is a treasure in my conception. The only catalogues we have access to (and only for the last decade or so) are the ones from supermarkets, department stores and the equivalent to your Home Depot stores. Nothing interesting to collect. Nurseries just started with web pages a few years ago - I don't know of any nursery producing catalogues. Besides, we have no Lily growers/breeders, only the large plantations for cut flower (even for export) and two small scale importers for distribution at the HD equivalent stores, where the bulbs are mistreated before you can purchase them. Last year I bought just one bag with 5 oriental lily bulbs, only marked as 'intense pink'. Only 3 of the bulbs thrived: 2 gorgeously purple and one white. The white one had app. 5 flower at the stem and one of the purple ones had two flowers and the other just one. You see, it's a lottery to get good bulbs here.
The alternative is to buy them potted (very small pots) and in bloom, but I think those are even more mistreated than the bulb bags and even more expensive.
