Lilies a year from seed in flower.

I have several lilies which I grew from seed last year, those which are 'epigeal' or immediate germinating types, have done very well.

The first to open of those is L. pumilum 'Yellow Bunting'. It is a tiny flower with much charm, of the 5 bulbs growing this is the only one to hold buds, of which there are two. Three plants are of a similar height, one has only basal leaves, the other looks like it was going to grow a stem but stopped short.

As the others flower I will post them for the record. L. pumilum has a nice plump reddish bud which should spring tomorrow.

L. pumilum 'Yellow Bunting', seed sown on 27th March 2007.

The pot.

Good job, wallaby! My Yellow Bunting buds blasted so no flowers this year:-( They may have been nipped by frost; it has been a cold spring. Looking forward to more of your seedlings!

Nice job wallaby. One year from seed is quite an amazing feat.

Very sweet Wallaby!! :)

Darling little bloom!

What a sweet bloom, congrats on the yearling flowering!

Thanks! Growing them in a greenhouse probably helped, more so with the cold year we had last year.


We had a cold spring too pard, it was winter until late April! I potted most of the biggest ones into larger pots, that one wasn't big enough.

L. pumilum today, this was repotted. I have another pot of these with many flower buds, one was cut off by a slug or snail last night!

Sown on the same date, 27th March 07

The pot, it's about 9" diameter.

nice job there Wallaby
=)

Excellent, Wallaby!

Last summer, I had labeled several of my pots with species seedlings as "ready to go into the garden". Only a few were one season old, and most were hypogeal germinating. When I went to plant them all last fall, the bulbs looked so small that I thought it better to pot grow them one more season. Now that they are coming up again, I wish I had planted them in the ground. I guess I will be fertilizing well this year.

Thanks Deb. :~)

Lefty, these weren't huge bulbs (I guess naturally small) but I had a lot of L. pumilum so they needed to be repotted into two pots. It would be nice to take pics of them all as I repot them, but that means washing hands, getting camera, etc., a lot of bother!

I think growing in pots can give them a good head start, but I haven't used a drop of fertiliser, just my black gold! When I put them in the ground they will have that around them too but I imagine in time they would need some food, or some fresh compost around them.

Hypogeal lilies will of course take a lot longer, those I have that are growing leaves this year are tiny, those which grew some leaves last year are also tiny! It will be a long time I think before they are ready to go in the ground, how old were your oldest hypogeals?

L. centifolium is looking very nice, I think it will be next to open.

Janet's Wonder Compost: is that on the market yet?
All my compost (I even import raw materials) goes in the gardens.

I fertilize very little, but I will need to do more, I think, for those lilies that I should have planted last fall. Plants will be too big in relation to the pot to grow well. Hmmm. Maybe should just repot after the flush of growth has hardened.

My oldest hypogeal lilies are 4 lots from a planting in spring 2004. And that was when I didn't even know what hypogeal meant. Good thing I never thow away year old seeded pots; leaves emerged in spring 2005, right on schedule. It was sometime in summer 2005, when I learned what hypogeal germination was. Ever since, I have use the usual method to gain a season of growth, and planted inside in the fall.

It seems last season here was very good for bulbous plants here. Fritillarias, Claytonias(Spring Beauties), Corydalis solida, Scillas, Botanical Tulips and Lycoris all are bolting with stronger growth than what is normal for me.

My wonder compost is having to make do with donated garden soil from my neighbour, I use so much I have run out of the larger and sharper 'river soil'. Hoping the drains dry up this year so I can get more, garden soil is finer and just not the same even though it's sandy.

It looks like I have a long wait before I repot my hypogeals, lol, must be all the fun I have to look forward to which makes me do it. A repot always does the trick for any bulb, even if you just put the whole thing into a larger pot. For me though with vine weevil about I will need to take them out altogether. I thought I had just about beat that but not so, it only takes one to make many, but this was in my neighbour's greenhouse. I've been having a clean up of old pots too, finding a few.

A mild winter here has been good for some things, just to be knocked back by hard frost and a cold spring! Our seasons are all upside down, confuses me and the plants. I have had some Electra tulips increasing in my hosta bed for years, they didn't grow this year, so it's either the Bulb Fly of which I had all four subspecies last year, or our cold summer last year.

You're a little ahead on hypogeal knowledge than me, but some of mine did grow leaves last year. Maybe one or two have failed to grow again this year though, but most have. One lot I sowed this year has a leaf too.

A preview of L. centifolium, the front one has 2 out of three buds making, the other two still have three each.

The next two are looking very good, the 'species type' Asiatics. I can't wait to see what they look like, both very different. There is more of those but these two are farthest on.

I love this one even in bud, purple tips and hairy!

I used to think that hairy stuff was some sort of aphid in stage. I know it is fine and it isn't anything bad (at least I don't think so), but what exactly is it?

I think the hairy stuff is just the natural characteristics of the leaves and buds, i.e., hairy, lol!

I've noticed with a lot of bulbs if you are careful and just sort of "plop" (a real descriptive term, I know) them into a bigger pot with little loss of or movement of original soil, they take right off and it never seems to faze them.

the 3 species I'm trying this year look a little strange (started from bulb, not seeds) to me but I guess that's because I'm not used to them. I thought something was eating at the one in the front and briefly thought about running for the organic insecticidal soap. But then I thought they looked rather healthy. These are Lilium tigrinum flore pleno--probably not at all suited for the south, but when has that ever stopped me from trying to grow a bulb.

So you are saying the white stuff is OK?
Deb

A little closer on that front one--it seems to be the only one displaying this characteristic so far.

Should I not worry?

The other 2 species I'm trying don't look anything like this one--so I have nothing to compare it to except the the others of the same species in that group.

Those hairs are "Cobwebs". Haven't you heard of Cobweb hen and chicks?

Really, I am sure there is a special name for that stuff, just like there are subtle differences between tomentum and pubescense (which I don't know).

This message was edited May 14, 2008 8:39 PM

But there is no need to worry. It is a normal occurence in many many many plants, and many many lilies.

I don't do hens and chicks--the phenomenon must not like plants in the deep south. I don't recall any plants that do that that I grow. But glad its nothing to worry about, does that mean they will bloom soon?

I couldn't help it... I had to go out find my hairiest lilies and get pictures. And the winner is..... this Chris North seedling. First up, its hairy head!

and now its hairy armpits...

Runner up is this Asiatic seedling (seed from Cascade Bulb and Seed).

thanks pard for that fine anatomical hairiness display--I shall cease and desist worrying about mine now.
=)

I'm actually really glad that the hairy talk came up. Some do seem to have it, some don't. I've often wondered about it. It seems like as the bulb is up longer, it dissipates, doesn't it? I don't notice any during bloom time. ( Perhaps that might mean I am all too consumed with the flower.)

I see the hair only on some Asiatic hybrids. Yes, it goes away as the stem matures. I think it is protective against sucking insects.

Nice hairy Chris North you have pard! Is that from last year's sowing? It looks strong!

Some of the George Slate hybrids have buds too, not so hairy though. I wonder if any will look like this!

http://www.flowerpictures.net/lily/pages/asiaticlily_georgeslate.htm

Wallaby, the hairy lily is from a bulb I purchased from the PNWLS. It is either a seedling produced by Dr. North or a product of work that Ed McRae was doing with Dr. North's material. Here is a pic of it from a couple of years ago (magnolia is going to drool):

http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/pardalinum_1151122145_974.jpg

Hey I have some George Slates coming along, purchased from the Lily Nook. I also have bunches of seedlings George Slate X various other lilies, seed purchased from NALS exchange.

I wish I could get first or second year bloom on my seedlings. I think our summer heat knocks them back from making that first year progress! Gonna be in the mid 90s today:-(

Speaking of the exchange, the sale of lily seeds has been open to non-members since around the first of the month. It closes at the end of May so there is still time to pick up some goodies. I know the site still says open to members only but that is because it wasn't updated like it should have been.

http://www.lilies.org/seedexchange.html

Drip, drip, mop, mop.(drool control) Pard, I love that one. How did you know? The flowers look larger than some of the other North types and the coloration just gorgeous. Those North Hybrids are some of my favorites of all of the lilies.

I wish I had purchased a dozen of this mix! I should have new photos later this summer.

Mags isn't the only one wiping her chin... :)

I wish I would have known about PNWLS then. I missed so many years of those McRae bulbs.

I wish you would have purchased a dozen of that mix too, pard. Very special flowers those are, you know?

Mmm, blackcurrant milkshake!

Are those George Slates the same as you sent me pard, lol.

I don't know if last year's cold season helped mine, but I think the greenhouse has helped push them along. We have had a long spell of up to 80F or just over, now it's dropping to what the weather people say is supposed to be 'normal' for this time of year, 13C (55F)!!! It still gets warm in the greenhouse, more so if there is sun and it was sunny when we had all that heat, lol, can you tell it got me excited? I think my local weather on AOL gave more like 17-19C for May on average, around the mid 60'sF.

Magnolia, think of all the fun you can have catching up!

Hey, I wonder if my purple tipped one is going to be something like the Chris North blackcurrant milkshake! Can't wait!

pard, I keep going back to your flower. Really, it's just such a special little sweet thing.

wallaby..unfortunately pard is the lucky one, there will be no "catching up" on the McRae seedlings. His offerings are no longer available :(

magnolia, looks like some 'begging' is in order for McRaes!

The 'species type Asiatic' with purple tips buds have spread out with unusual form, it has 9 buds and 5 are in a whorl.

I may as well post the one I got from ebay last year, the L. pyrenaicum look alike that has a much larger bulb. It has two stems with two flowers each, not as many as last year but the thing had it's roots cut off then and it would have already formed the flowers. I think it needed to grow roots, it has also made a couple of new stems.

Other stem