Formosa seed

I will have seed from the heritage lily 'Formosa' for sase if anyone is interested. I grew the parent plants from seed collected at an old home site in southeastern zone 8.

I would like some of your seed, but am wondering to what lengths I would have to go to in order to grow and protect this lily over our winters.
Possibly put bags of leaves of the bulbs?

I would love to try this lily...

Maxine, it is listed as hardy to zone 5, so you might have a micro climate area that would suit. The main problem would be the first 2 years. My seedlings did not go dormant until the third year. A coldframe with fresh manure or hot compost might be sufficient. I have read of that in older gardening books, but have never needed to try it as I have never gardened in climates colder than zone 7.


ESW, you might need to consider protection for the first two years as well.

I had incredible germination with my first batch. It really resembled winter rye grass. I am told that this is one of the easiest lilies to grow from seed. It was either that or beginners luck.

I will put both of you on my list to receive seed.

Beth

If you have any seed left over rom your swops etc. the species lily group (dedicated to saving species lilies) would love to have your seed.

Inanda

I would also love a pinch of this seed. I've grown it successfully from seed and would like to add a few more to our garden!

Here is what I have fresh at the moment:

Snapdragon: pink/magenta/white mix
French Malva: white
Columbine: Songbird Cardinal (red) (limited amount)
Columbine: Songbird Bunting (Light blue and white) (limited amount)

Let me know if you have a specific wish - I have a lot of seed from 2004 on hand also!

Sue, I have 12 pods maturing. I am sure there will be enough for you. I would love some Columbine seed. I don.t know if they can take the heat-humidity combination here, but I would like to try.

Inanda, thanks. I am fairly new to DG and had not realized that a species lily group existed.

Beth

Yes, they are very easy to raise from seed. I had them for at least 5 yrs., before I got hit with a very cold severe winter with no snow.
Learned my lesson, from now on will protect with bagged leaves over lilies that I think might not be too hardy.

I am not fond of snow, however I understand that the insulating qualities are very important to northern gardeners.

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go, where 6 classes and 120 students are waiting today, and another batch tomorrow , and the day after that, and ....

What zone equals 35206? Trying to see what other lilies survive there. Trying to see what I might have that you might like as a swop for some seed, seeig that you have lots of seed pods.

Used to grow them in Victoria BC, zone 8 so maybe most of my lilies would survive in your zone. They were all fine in zone 8.

Beth, What colour lilies do you like?
Inanda with lots of baby easter lilies (Longiflorum)

That isn't my zipcode for present location. I am just to lazy to change my handle on all my groups.

I am in zone 8 in the deep torrid gulf state of Georgia. During the summer our dew point can be as high as 80 degrees F and heat index can run over 110 at the drop of a hat. Winter is short but wet, and temps spike up and down from 50 to 18 degrees F. We don't prune in the fall for fear of a plant starting growth and then freezing.

Alpines would not like the humidity. Enchantment does well, but truthfully I don't care for that lily. I have Grand Cru, although I can't seem to coax it back to it's first years glory. Also a double yellow from my MIL's garden. I am experimenting this year. I have ordered Black Beauty, African Queen, and Pink Perfection all of which are said to be tried and true for the climate here.

I picked up some axilary bulbils from the lilies at the President Carter Welcome Center at Plains, GA. I think that those might be a mix of tigers and asiatics from the foliage but nothing was in bloom, so....

I am new to lilies in the garden , although we grew them in pots for display at the Birmingham Bot. gardens when I worked there in the seventies (best job I ever had and the poorest pay :) ).

I could use advice on cultivation and bed preparation from you more experienced folks.

As to color, I am not picky (except the mentioned Enchantment). I am hoping to develop a lily bed that will contain Asiatics, trumpets, orientals, and martagons. I am trying for a long blooming season. Killing frost won't be a real problem until after mid December and things are up and beginning to bloom in March.

If you are offering babies, the answer is, "Yes, please." I will be moving the Grand Cru some time this fall and will pot up some babies to send in the spring if you would like. I would offer this fall but I am not sure if my bed rennovation will be a convenient time for your planting schedule.

Beth

Ok. Going dmail.
Inanda

I'd love to swap for Formosa seeds, too. Have at least a dozen fat lily pods ripening on Black Beauty which was crossed with 2 extremely fragrant, white orientals: Casablanca and Silver Realm. Should be an interesting range of color from crimson through pinks to white. Black Beauty has no fragrance for me, but it is so incredibly vigorous (planted in 1/4" gauge hardwire cloth baskets) and have high hopes to see what comes of crossing it with such highly fragrant ones.

Would anyone on this thread be interested in swapping for this lily seed? It won't be ripe for a while.

Karen

There should be plenty of seed, Karen. Looks like 12 pods are forming, and last years seed pods were full of fine, flat, slightly winged seed.

Are the Black Beauty seed difficult to germinate? I am not up to stratifying seed in the fridge anymore. There are too many wonderful plants that grow quite well in the 'cover lightly and add water' style. I am getting lazy as I get older.

Beth

Karen, I would like some of your lily seeds.

All I can offer in seeds this yr. are some annual dp. purple poppy seeds that I have grown for yrs. They self seed.

I am hoping that some lily seed that I let go to seed will mature so I can try them also. I owe a gentleman in Japan some of these seeds also.

Any left? I like to SASE.

Karen,
I would love to swap for some lily seed. What sort of seed/plant are you interested in?

Turtle, my seed does require refrigeration and am posting the following link for that type of germination in case anyone reading this might find it useful:

http://www.lilies.org.uk/html/propagation.html

Have D-mailed Maxine, Farmer Pickle and esw that will send them seed for SASBE.

Hope the link helps.


This message was edited Nov 20, 2005 5:50 AM