Another Lily Seed Giveaway

Lilium michiganense
Pod parent

Lilium michiganense
Pollen parent

OK Lefty ~ I'll bite. Haven't tried seeds before so I'll go with "easy". I really like the first pic you posted.

I like to try ALL of them, but Id take what i can get.
Next yr im going to save lily seeds along with my daylily seeds!
(hindsight)

I sent you a dmail, would love some of each, I will also re-imburse your postage :o)

Connie

I will be sending out next week. For those that don't care about bubblewrap, it will only cost 41 cents, and not worth the trouble of reimbursement.

notmartha, D-mail me with your address.

Still a lot of seed left.

Rick

Hi Rick,

I would love some michiganse and also some of the maculatum.

Thanks

inanda

Hi Rick,
If you have any left I'd love to try some of the easier seeds-still relatively new to the whole thing-I can send you a SASE if you'd like, but I don't need the bubble wrap or anything special-I'm in the exchange!!
Thanks, Stacey

I sent everyone's seeds out yesterday. Still have more.

Some lily seeds are thicker, and you can easily tell it is viable. But remember other lily seeds just look like brown translucent paper with a tiny brown thread in it (the embryo). If you are not familiar with lily seed, you might think they are duds. Sometimes even experts are surprised with germination of what they though were non-viable. As I said, there is some chaff, mainly with the davidii seed, but don't discard anything. You might be surprised at what grows.

Lily seed can be stored dry in airtight bags in the frig for long term, and in the freezer for many years. If you don't use or want everything I gave you, feel free to put it up on your trade lists.

Good to hear, Lefty. Thanks.

Thanks Rick! Great gift for Christmas! (from you to so many!)

Lee

This message was edited Dec 20, 2007 10:11 PM

Oh my...eagerly will I be watching for the mailman. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

sent you a d-mail
thanks,
silkie

Also wanted to say that Pard and I have "captured and initiated" many new members into the Lily fold, and we do have a large number of Lily (forum) Lurkers out there. Fantastic!

Now I wish I had some extra easy and fast growing seed like Pard's hybrid trumpet lilies. Alas, you all will just have to put up with what I have to offer, LOL.

Rick

Do you still have some? I'm willing to try some (even the difficult). I love lillies but have never grown them myself. I think we can leave them outside here... maybe. I will have to do some research.

Hi Lefty,

You can put me on the list for next year, if you like! ;) I'm too much of a newbie to seed starting to take yours on this time around. Your lilies are gorgeous, though.

Lefty, I see us as "enablers". LOL. I have sent out 24 packets this time around, almost all to newbies. Growing lilies from seed can be addictive! As I see it, growing lilies from seed is a pretty cheap way to get some nice lilies!

Delayed hypogeal seeds (orientals, martagons) really aren't difficult. Two and a half to three months warm then the same cold; then warm. Sort of like the natural fall through spring cycle. I just put my a... er... gloriowhatsit x album seeds in the fridge for the next three months. I'll take them out in March. At that point they should show a leaf in a week or so...

Hi, if you have any left, I would love to try them. Easy is best, but as my name says, I love to propagate. I will send you a D.

got my seeds today-thanks bunchez
happy holidaze
dori

Got my seeds yesterday, Thank you so much!

Thanks Lefty, the seeds arrived in great condition and look wonderful!

Thanks Lefty, Got my seeds yesterday :o)

Happy Holidays

Connie

After 'lurking' for awhile I think I'm ready to try it. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do the harder ones, just good timing. If you have anything left I would like to try any you have. Do I need to send you any postage or anything.

That's great Robynznest! Another possible convert!
No postage needed. Just Dmail me your address. If you have preferences, let me know. Otherwise you'll have to deal with what I pick for you.

Glad to hear people are pleased with the seeds they got.

Received my seeds today, Rick....many thanks to you !!
Lookin' forward to the new discovery...what these will look like in a couple of years! Have a safe holiday! Lee

I recieved my seeds today. Thank you so much for sharing. I hope that you have a Happy and Safe Holiday.

Carol

Leftwood, perhaps you may know an answer to a question I have. Every year while traveling on a particular route, I notice in August and September a lot of lilies growing beside the road for a short distance. They are just randomly spaced along the edge of woods and not near any homes. I wondered if they were wild or planted by someone as I passed each time.

Last year the road was being widened and the lilies were being bulldozed. I rescued three of them as they were still in bloom. I didn't photograph them so I will try to describe them. They were 5 or 6 feet tall and looked like Easter lilies. The fragrance was intoxicating. I was a bit busy at the time so I left them in my extra bathroom and kept them moist until I could get them planted.

The bottoms of the plants didn't resemble bulbs of any sort as I thought they would. They spread out in a spider fashion. Now, I did pull them from the dirt as I rescued them, but I don't think I tore the bulbs away.

I planted them and they stayed very healthy. They produced seeds which I saved.

Do you have a clue as to what I have? I found them growing in an area that is either zone 8 or 9 as I live in 8 and traveled the road as I visited my mom in zone 9. It is about halfway, so I am not sure which it is.

Thank you,
Charlene

Well, Charlene, this is only a good guess, but since you say the smell is intoxicating, and I assume strongly so, than I would say it is a trumpet lily or Lilium formosanum. Trumpet types have stronger odor, yet formosanum I would expect to be more easily naturalized on a roadside or woodland edge. There are no native lilies in TX like you describe.

I am not familiar with TX flora, so I can't really say if there are any lily look-a-like plants there. I suspect when you dug them, you hadn't dug deep enough to get the bulb. But you did get the stem roots, and that is often enough to get them through the rest of the year.

I once had a friend dig up a L. formosanum var. pricei and surprise me with it. I was very gracious. But noticed there was no bulb, and only stem roots. The bulb had been pulled down much deeper than she had originally planted it. Anyway, it had already flowered and had a developing seed pod, which I left intact. I replanted it, and it produced seed, but did not return the next year as there was not bulb.

They were definetly shaped like trumpets. I didn't have a shovel as I was traveling. I just pulled them from the ground. The ground was loose and sandy, and they came up easily. I have them planted, but without the bulb, I guess I didn't save them after all. Perhaps the seeds will germinate for me. I have never planted lily seeds before, so I will have to be lucky here.

I hate that they are gone from the roadside. It has always been pleasant to see them there while driving along that route.

There is one yard with them scattered all about the yard that is on the same route. I may stop there and see if anyone there may be able to tell me more. Perhaps they are the ones who planted the roadside. They covered about a three mile stretch of woods and this one home is the only one with them growing in the yard, but there are none growing along the road in front of that house.

What are the odds of my spreading some of the seeds along the roadside (when the roadwork is finished)
and have them come up again?

The fragrance was all through my home coming from the one bathroom where the plants were placed. It was very strong and beautiful. I didn't want to cut the flowers in case they would make seeds. I potted them up and left them inside until the blooms were finished. It was a very pleasing fragrance and I hated for it to end.

If you look at an Easter lily it is the same exact appearance as my found lilies only blooming in late summer instead of spring.

Charlene

Except the odor was far more pungent than an Easter lily, right? Otherwise, I suppose they could be Easter lilies too, as well as Lilium formosanum. Only allow one seed pod to remain on the plant, per stem. More than one will be far too taxing on the plant, and you would get many many unusable seeds, rather than fewer good ones.

Whether seed strewn in the wilds will grow, is dependant on a lot of factors, but I would have to say the odds are not good.

Do you know who owns that land along the road? My sister used to live along a county highway in Northern Minnesota, and her land abutted the road for a half mile. It was a prime blueberry producing strip along the roadside. But she never got to pick her own blueberries because people think the ditch area along the roads are public. They aren't!!! Somebody(s) would always pick her blueberries the day before she went to get them.

Of course, with different size roads or different states, things could be different. But do be cognizant. Those lilies, whatever they turn out to be, would not be difficult to buy from a catalog.

Actually the county owned the ditch property as they were dozing it when I rescued the lilies. Since they were being destroyed, I wish I had gotten more of them even though I didn't get the bulbs. Since you said they don't return without the bulbs it is good that I did get lots of seed from the lilies. I am going to try very hard to germinate them. Since you are more experienced at this would you like for me to send some to you?

Up until this year when I rescued the lilies, I don't think anyone ever bothered them as they were just randomly strung along the edge of the woods. I wondered if they may be like a clematis and like their feet in the shade? There were none at the edge of the road in the direct sunlight.

Charlene

Sorry. I forgot you had said they were being bulldozed. Even after earth moving, bulbs may still be intact. You never know, you just might find them peaking out in the coming years after all. Thanks for the offer of seed, but I have too much already.

As for their feet in the shade, whether they are trumpet, formosanum or Easter lilies (all related), their native haunts (China, Japan, Formosa) certainly aren't as hot as TX can get. I am sure they would like a cooler root system, and some shade in the heat of the day would be optimal. Way up here, or on the northeast or northwest coasts or anywhere it where it rains more, it wouldn't be as important. However, all my lilies receive a mulch, winter and summer.

I got my seeds just a minute ago!! Thank you so much Lefty :)

Lefty is there any certain way you germinate the seeds? I really want these to grow but, not knowing much about growing them from seeds, I don't want to screw it up.