Moby, Your Reblooming Lilies are on the Way!!!

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a fellow lily enthusiast. He told me that there was a guy over at the the U of M that was doing work with creating a reblooming lily and, in fact, has them growing. He didn't know what the cross was, but longiflorum was on one side. He said that the seed took 250 days to bloom and that successive stalks raised up to bloom from spring to frost. He also said that one of the current challenges is that the plants appear to be susceptible to virus. Haven't a clue about how far off this is before it becomes a reality for gardeners, but I'll keep you posted if I hear more. I'm sure this will generate a lot of interest is the local lily community.

On the one-hand, I think this is pretty exciting news. On the other, and as bummed as I get when the last lily finishes blooming, I wonder if this won't take some of the joy and wonderment out of growing lilies. Just think, in 20 or 30 years, the way we grow lilies today may be passe.

Unfortunately L. longiflorum and many of its hybrids are susceptible to virus. A couple of years ago I had to shovel out about 30 LAs that all opened up virused the first season. Waaahhh! Well maybe this guy can keep selecting until he gets a virus resistant rebloomer then outcross to something I like such as Red Velvet or Schez. Hey what's his name, I'll send him my list of faves to work with!

Wow....no kiddin'? Reblooming lilies would be so awesome! Sure hope they work in some nice, smelly orientals in there! Wouldn't that just be heavenly?!

I don't know what his name is, but the NSLA is having it's Spring meeting today and I believe they are voting on whether to give a small grant to him for research. I'm sure it will end up in the quarterly newsletter. Unfortunately, the meeting conflicts with my plans for Bingo and priorities are priorities.

Pard, did you ever find out where the virus came from; aphids or were they already infected when you got them? I would be so bummed.

Moby, I think it's funny you were whining about wanting these just a few weeks ago. Now, here they are, almost.

Yep, that is funny. Last year some catalog advertised a "reblooming" lily ~ that's just cruel!

Beaker, I think they arrived diseased. I say this because every single one of the 30 was splotched. They were sold as a "mix" but they all looked like the same cultivar-- red with yellow centers. I talked to Judith Freeman of The Lily Garden about it and that's when I learned about the vulnerability of LAs. The symptoms can show up in the same season of infection. But if the infection came from my own garden, I would think that at least some of the 30 would be symptom free. Another note of interest I learned from her was that Round Up can give the same symptoms of virus. I do use R.U. around my lilies before they break ground in the spring but NONE of my other lilies (and I have LOTS) showed any symptoms. They were cheap bulbs; I lost 30 bucks but the damage could have been worse if I had kept them and it spread (and I was so tempted to keep them).