what is

What is that big nobby thing left on my lilies? then other nobby thing did not get swollen up ..just a few did, do i leave them alone or what? I wanted it ask before I cut them down, I do just cut them down right?

JMR

Would this knobby thing be where the base of the flower was?

yes,,,, I can get a pic if you need one

JMR

this is what im talking about.....

Hellp janemarie,

It's a lily gone to seed. You definitely need to cut them off. They will take energy from the bulb. You may actually be able to snap them off.

I notice that you have a small one at the end of another stem. You should cut that off too. If you leave it, it will become as big as the one you are asking about.

Donna

Are there seeds in there to plant? or toss it in the trash?

JMR

You can let the pod dry and harvest the seed, if you're in to that. Takes a couple of years before they bloom.

I deadhead lilies as soon as the petals drop off.
No seed starting here.

Moby, does that work even if it's a hybrid? I only ask because you can't do that with hybrid perennials.

That's a question better left for one of the seed-starting gurus.

Reading between the lines, the answer is no. While you can grow the seeds of hybrid lilies, the resulting plants will not be the same as the parent, and will will have different flowers. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as there is hardly a lily flower out there that isn't pretty. But, as you suspect, the seedlings will not be copies of the mother.

The exception is that some "hybrids" are actually hybrid strains. A strain is a group of hybrid lilies of the same origin, but are somewhat genetically different. Yet, they all possess pretty much the same traits. They are kind of like a species, but of hybrid origin. These can be grown from seed, assuming they were actually pollinated by another of the same strain (and not some other lily), and be expected to look like the parents. The problem is that most companies don't tell you if such and such lily is a strain or not. Most existing strains are trumpet type lilies, and older varieties. Most common are African Queen and Midnight. Nearly all other lilies are either hybrids or species.

Rick

Rick, that's what I suspected. The same seems to be true with old fashioned perennials and annuals. There are a lot of F-1 (filial one) hybrids, which are the results of the cross mating of often very different plants. Hybridizers love to create them because they don't come true from seed (buy more!), although you can divide them, which I've noticed many people are reluctant to do. That's why I love the old open pollinated flowers.