A couple more seedlings...

A yellow with maroon spots...

An Asiatic seedling from Ed McRae...

The McRae seedling has an attractive reverse...

The makings of some future seedlings....

They are both beautiful but the McRae seedling is yummy!!!

Kelly in OK

They're both beautiful, but I have a fondness for red spots.

I have another McRae seedling budding out, it will be a couple more days. It has fuzzy buds.

Ok, I have a dumb question for Moby... when you say "red spots" are you referring to the yellow or raspberry colored lily? To me, the spots on the yellow lily look purple?

Kelly in OK

LOL There are no dumb questions! You are correct in your observation. Perhaps I should have said that I like the red spots on light colored lilies. I think the majority of spotted lilies are black or blackish, and then there are those that are reddish ~ until you get into the Orientals with their colored bumps (papillae) that are pretty much the same color as the bulk of the flower.

those are absolutely gorgeous!

I LOVE the yellow one with the maroon spots. And I LOVE the McCrae one too. Geez, how long does it take to grow them to maturity??

Not long. If you start seeds every year then after the first bunch starts blooming you will see something new every year:-) Starting seed in spring, you may or may not have a wimpy little stem the second year but by the third year the strongest ones should put out a stem and a bud or two. By the fourth year you won't be able to tell them from a big ol' expensive bulb from a grower!

I'd love to learn about seed starting lilies. Any suggestions pardalinum? Do you hybridize anything yourself? I bought some lily seeds from the Lily Garden, but I haven't seen anything come up yet.

Magnolialover, which seeds did you purchase and on what day did you plant them and how did you plant them?

That yellow one is to die for! Just love it!

pardalinum,
I planted them about a month ago here, using the instructions that I got with them, from the Lily Garden. I bought Lilium candidum,Lilium lankongense,Trumpet Voluntaire from seeds. I'm new to trying this, but not new to growing lilies. After one month I haven't seen anything. If it's all a wash, I guess I'm not out much $. Just thought I'd try something new.

These can take 3-4 weeks to come up. When they do they look alot like grass. I always start mine indoors in January and February. I use soiless seed starting mix so they don't dampen off. I use zip lock quart bags with notches for drainage cut from the bottom and near the top for air circulation. I hope you didn't plant all of your seeds. I always save some back in case there are problems with the first planting. I store my unused seed in the freezer in zip lock bags, double bagged, squeezing the air out before zipping. I can get picks of my technique for the group but it will be a few days. All of my starts for this year are still inside under lights (and on the living room floor near the window for the overflow lol).

I just checked the Cascade Bulb and Seed web site and see that they still have #4 and #5 asiatic mix seeds. They are only $1 for 30 seeds! And they always include at least one or two bonus packets. My yellow seedling and many others came from these mixes or similar ones. I also make my own seeds but haven't grown any of them out yet because I'm running out of room!

Thanks for the info. I'm off on vacation for a week, so I'll have more time to look into all this upon returning.

Here is a truly dumb question: Is Lilium pardelinum your favorite species, Pardelinum?
K. James

Uh... no... not really:-) But here's the story on this: A few years back when I needed to come up with a handle I grabbed my handy dandy Field Guide to Pacific States Wildflowers and started thumbing through the pages and well, er.. the rest is history... I'm not even sure how to pronounce it ha ha!

I didn't know it was a Pacific Native. But it does grow well there. The first time I saw it was at Butchart Gardens in Vic. I had to have some after that.

pardalinum, you 1st pic I think is L. lancifolium flaviflorum. I have some, but no pic as yet. They are coming into bloom soon. It's a tiger lily.

http://aolsearch.aol.co.uk/image?query=%27lilium+lancifolium+flaviflorum%27&isinit=true

Not L. lancifolium flaviflorum. This is a hybridizer's seedling having complex ancestry which may or may not include the yellow form of Tiger Lily. This one has never set bulbils. Here is a pic of the inflorescence. Notice that the lower blooms form a tight spiral, then quickly opens to a more loose form.

Another seedling open now...

Wow, Wow, very nice. I'm just happy when mine open correctly. You breed lilies? Amazing. I wouldn't have the talent, patience or skill to do that. Wow.

Diann

The second McRae seedling has opened.

And the reverse of this seedling. I hope he makes more of these available. I love them. This one is very slightly fragrant. Maybe there is some lankongense in it...

Oh, isn't that just beautiful! Wow! Will these ever hit the market? Wow!

Diann

I agree ~ gorgeous color.

No, they won't hit the market-- too many faults. Only the best of the best make the market. I purchased the McRae seedling bulbs through the Pacific Northwest Lily Society bulb sale last fall. I purchased a bag of 3 bulbs but I have only seen 2 of them so guess I lost the third this past winter...

Another seedling I grew from seed from Cascade Bulb and Seed. Notice the fine pencil edge... I love it! The blooms on this lily are like little balls with the petals curved all the way back. I will try to get a side pic in the next few days.

And a strong pencil edge to boot.

Here is a Griesbach tet trumpet seedling. It is in the shade from about 3:00 on so leans out alot. I pulled it back to a stake and after a while it was leaning again, so now it has an S shaped "trunk". Last year it topped out at 7' 3".

And here is most of the rest of the Gr. trumpet. (The stalk on the right is Scheherazade).

This message was edited Jun 23, 2006 9:53 PM

Oh yes, I see what you mean with the full view. I would love to grow some of the seed from Cascade Bulb and seed. I found the web site and it looks like a lot of serious breeding is going on there. I love you seedling with the pencil edges, can you tell me which 'group' of seeds this came from?

I grew L. philippinense from seed last year, hoping for flowers this year as they develop quickly. There is so little on the market here that's interesting, and I'm not very wise as to which the better seed mixes are, but may like to try next year. If I got some like yours I would be very happy!

The Griesbach tet trumpet seedling is gorgeous, again these don't appear to be availabe here.

They're all fantastic ~ but I love that little 'donut' lily. So cute it makes me smile.

Here is a pic of the inflorescense of the donut lily. I like that name. Maybe I'll register it, giving Moby credit for naming it lol. This is a great lily. Last year the first bud opened on June 10 and the last one finished July 17, providing more than a month of bloom. I think it is time to move it out of the seedling bed and into the garden for better enjoyment. It has around 25 buds!

Here is a white trumpet seedling blooming for the first time today.

I can't seem to get a good pic of this one without backlighting. But it looks kind of neat anyway. This one topped out at 6 and a half feet last year and 22 buds, probably my tallest Asiatic seedling.

And here is the lovely reverse of the above lily...