Heya! Sorry to keep shifting our location, but I think here is good. :-)

We discussed doing a spring order for Lilies and possibly also dahlias from Ednie this year, rather than ADR... mostly just to try another supplier with different varieties to offer. The idea pretty much got shoved to the back burner while we put together our fall orders, but it's time to put it into gear! I don't think this will become a really big group buy, but I think we can put together enough orders for a crate or two.

As with our other bulb buys, this will be for LOCAL PICKUP ONLY, hopefully timed for distribution at the spring swap (which I'm hosting). Sorry, but I will not ship bulbs. The usual disclaimer applies -- I'm not a retailer, so I can't afford to absorb a loss if something really unexpected happens. With group buys, we all share the risk. If something goes wrong and I can't get a refund, you will still owe me for your share. If anything comes up at your end, please let me know. Communication is key!

That said, Ednie Flower Bulb ( http://www.ednieflowerbulb.com ) has a solid reputation. I have not organized a group buy with them before, but I have participated and helped juggle numbers for a couple of co-ops they've supplied. They advertise the same bulb size as ADR (whom we've used for lilies in the past), are slightly cheaper, and offer some different varieties. So, I thought we'd give them a try. I do have some credit with ADR, so we'll place at least one more order with them... maybe for fall bulbs and amaryllises again. :-)

Dave Dowling, my sales contact at Ednie, has offered us a capped/reduced shipping price of $10 per crate (a crate generally holds 6 or 7 bags of lilies, a "bag" being 25 bulbs). If we do not go over $250 for our order total, we'll incur a small order charge of $12.50. With asiatic lilies at 59 cents per bulb and orientals at 85 cents per bulb, even with those additional charges, their prices look like a heck of a good deal. So, let's give this a try!

He says the Dahlias are starting to sell out, so we need to move quickly if we want some. (UPDATE at the seed swap, we didn't seem to have any interest in dahlias, so for now I'm not listing them in this swap... LMK if you are interested in them.)

We're getting these great prices by buying wholesale, in bulk bags of 25 bulbs. We can't order 34 bulbs, it has to be 25 (or 50). So this is a co-operative effort, and I expect everybody to be flexible and willing to help each other out. If there's a variety you really want, be sure to talk it up!

I'll start a running list of varieties under consideration in the next post. If one or more people express interest in at least 10 lily bulbs or dahlia tubers (out of 25 in a bag), I'll put it on the list. Starting out with multiples of 5 will help us make numbers... it's also helpful to me if you indicate min. & max. numbers that you would take of a variety, if you are willing to be flexible. We generally juggle numbers to make everybody pretty happy in the end.

Post your interest and your order numbers ON THIS THREAD. Do not Dmail, Cmail, or tree-mail me with orders.

Thanks!!

'Sedna', an OT or orienpet hybrid lily, photo from Ednie

In front of the variety name, you'll see the number still needed to fill the order for a bag of 25. If you see a range like 0-10, that means the whole bag is accounted for, but somebody is willing to take more/less so that up to 10 are still available.

Varieties in BOLD we will definitely order. If a bag looks "full," it's still OK to ask for that variety... we may end up ordering another bag of that variety or juggling numbers (multiples of 3 rather than 5 perhaps). We're a cooperative group... hopefully everybody should get all the varieties they want, even if it ends up being fewer bulbs than they'd like... we seldom have to resort to "first come, first served."

Oriental and orienpet lilies are 85 cents per bulb. Stargazers are only 75 cents per bulb. Asiatic lilies are 59 cents per bulb. Prices do NOT include shipping and handling, but we're getting a break there too.

As usual, I'll add a small fee to cover costs associated with re-packaging, either a flat fee of $1-2 or a couple of percent of the total, whichever works out right. I will place our order with as much as 10% of the total bulbs not pre-sold. In the past, we have never had trouble selling off leftover bulbs at the end of a group buy... worst case scenario, everybody will be asked to chip in 10% extra and we'll split up or donate the leftover bulbs.

These bulbs have been frozen over the winter (standard procedure) and will start waking up as soon as they are shipped to me. I'll time their arrival for just before the spring swap, with enough lead time to be sure they'll get here and to get them sorted, but THEY WILL NEED PLANTING RIGHT AWAY.

a couple of sources advise POTTING lily bulbs for spring planting, putting in a cool spot (no aftenoon sun), and planting them in the ground once they have grown roots. That sounds like a good way to give them a boost... just don't leave them in a nursery pot (big container should be fine) over the winter.

VARIETIES ORDERED

ORIENTAL LILIES

0-5 Acapulco - 5-10 for Critter, 5 for Lisa, 5 for Aspenhill, 5-10 for Cara
hot hot pink, on the short side, maybe 2-3'

0-5 Entertainer - 20 for MeiraMalka, 0-5 for Critter

0-10 First Romance - 5-10 for Critter, 5-10 for Lisa, 5-10 for Cara
similar to Stargazer, in an 18" patio height

0-5 Hot Line - 5-10 for Critter, 10-15 for Aspenhill, 5-10 for Cara
white with hot pink edge http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com...

0-10 Stargazer - 15 for Critter, 5-10 for Cara

0-10 Red Eyes - 5-10 for Critter, , 5+ for Lisa, 5-10 for Cara

ORIENPET (OT) hybrids

0-5 Carbonera - 5-10 for Critter, 5 for Lisa, 5 for Aspenhill, 5-10 for Cara
raspberry red with deeper centers http://www.hartsnursery.co.uk/...

0 Nymph - 5 for Critter, 10-15 for Aspenhill, 5+ for Lisa, 5 for Cara
white with rosy-pink centers http://www.bdlilies.com/l9063....

0-10 Robina - 5-10 for Critter, 5-15 for Cara, 5 for Aspenhill

0 Zambesi - 5 for Critter, 20 for MeiraMalka
white with thin green mid-rib on petals

0-10 Yelloween - 5 for Critter, 5-15 for Cara, 5 for Aspenhill
clear yellow, to me looks more the color of 'Happy Returns' rather than 'Stella d'Or' daylily


ASIATIC LILIES
0-5 Black Eye - 5-10 for Lisa, 5 for Aspenhill, 5 for Critter, 5 for Cara
white w/large purple-black eye, variable dark edge, quite striking http://www.bdlilies.co/l1003.h...

0-15 Pacific Joy - 5-15 for Critter, 5-10 for Cara

Bulb Sizes: 12/14 cm (circumference, measured at harvest time) for dwarf varieties, 14/16 cm for asiatic and LA hybrids, 16/18 for oriental and orienpet hybrids


Asiatic and LA Hybrids from Ednie

Batistero
Black Out
Black Eye (white, black-purple centers & edges)
Casino Royal
Couplet
Crossover (dwarf asiatic)
Ercolano

Flemington
Graffity (Tango, cream & purple)
Landini
London Heart (Tango, deep red, darker centers)
Merlet
Matrix (dwarf asiatic)
Matrix Orange (dwarf asiatic)
Matrix (dwarf asiatic)
Merluza
Original Love
Paris Heart (Tango, orange w/ purple-black centers)
Purple Eye (lavender-pink, dark purple centers)

Nashville
Navona
Pavia
Royal Sunset
Salmon Classic

Summer Breeze
Tresor
Venetian
Vermeer

Oriental Lilies from Ednie:

Acapulco
Dark Romance (compact oriental, deep magenta-red)
Dark Sensation
Entertainer (dwarf oriental, deep raspberry, white center, white speckles)
http://www.hartsnursery.co.uk/...
Extravaganza
Farolito (compact oriental, 24")
First Romance (18-24", pink, white edges, gold ctr)
Hotline
Meriva
Original Love
Red Eyes (dark red, ruffled white edges) http://www.hartsnursery.co.uk/...
Rialto
Sheer Romance
Sorbonne
Space Star
Spring Romance
Spectacle
Stargazer
Tiger Woods

If there's interest in more dwarf/compact varieties (the "Joy" series and a few others), LMK and i"ll list them.

Orienpet (OT) hybrids from Ednie

Bonbini (white, pink star) http://www.perennialnursery.co...
Carbonero (deep red with darker centers)
Conca D'or (gold)
Mariachi (pink)
Nymph (white & pink)
Robina (medium pink)
Saltarello (apricot-yellow) http://www.perennialnursery.co...
Sedna (pink, see image in first post)
Shocking (gold with red) http://robertasgardens.net/sho...
Yelloween (clear yellow, green throat) http://www.longfield-gardens.c...
Zambesi (white, faint green midribs, pink buds) Lily (Lilium 'Zambesi')

Aspenhill, got you down for 10-15 on Nymph and Hotline, as you requested on the other thread.

Let's keep the party going!

I may have to pass this time around. I got a bunch of lilies from an ATP member last fall and I want to see how they look before adding any more lilies.

I'm thinking 'Red Eyes', 'Hot Line', and 'Stargazer' might have some really nice color echos together...

Maybe also Nymph, Zambesi, and either Sedna or Carbonero.... Zambesi and Carbonero would also be nice in the vicinity of Scheherizade, if I can remember where I put that one last fall! LOL

Please put me down for 5 or more of the following varieties: Hot Line, Red Eyes, Eyeliner, Holland Beauty and After Eight. I have no clue where I'm going to put them.

Hehehe, Lisa! Cup is half full...or maybe overflowing. I have confidence you'll find a spot or two....or three.

I'm out too. I just planted like 12 new lilies this past fall and want to see how they look before adding any more. Thanks though!

Yeah, yeah, it's just hard to resist anything so fragrant!

Lisa, neither Ednie nor ADR has 'Eyeliner'. Ednie does have an asiatic lily called 'Black Eye' that's rather striking but not as elegant as Eyeliner. B&D Lilies does grow 'Eyeliner' http://www.bdlilies.com/l5018....... We sure got some great bulbs from them last fall, but my thought is that I'd rather not order spring lilies from the west coast; by the time they arrive they'll be well out of dormancy. I think fall might be the best time to order from B&D... but I'm open to suggestion.

I don't see 'Holland Beauty' or 'After Eight' on Ednie's list either. I do think ADR normally carries them... Lisa, where are you looking?

If you want a dwarf oriental with Stargazer-like coloring, I think First Romance might fill the bill. Looks like it grows a little taller than dwarfs like After Eight, to about 18"... After Eight turned out to be a little dainty for my border; I think First Romance might be sturdier. http://www.nemesia.co.uk/lily-...

Where was I looking? Good question. While making up my "wish list" for lilies, I was combing through four catalogue and two tablets. Dumb idea, I know, but I couldn't log in to Ednie's site.
I like your suggestions. First Romance replaces After Eight and Black Eye knocks out Eyeliner.
Holland Beauty was probably a B&D offering so please sub with something similar from Ednie's.
Also like your reasoning for using a local vs West Coast supplier.
Thanks.

I'm really crushing on 'Carbonero', for its deep cranberry-red color. I want to put in a bunch of 'Stargazer' orientals, and I think 'Carbonero' will echo that color on the center of Stargazer's petals. I'm hoping somebody else will give it a try, because although I can find space for 25 Stargazers, I'm not sure I can also fit in 25 Carbonero LOL

The OT ("orienpet") hybrids seem to establish/persist better for me and for some others in our area, so I'm always interested in them. Some of them get super tall, but many of the newer varieties seem to be noted as the usual 3-4 feet for oriental lilies.

'Acupulco' is one that I had 10 years ago, and I remember it being a bit shorter (2-3') than other orientals... and a really HOT pink color! I didn't put it on the list yet, but I'd pick up 5-10 in a heartbeat if anybody else wanted them...
.
I think lilies like to be fertilized pretty heavily, but they also co-exist with other shorter plants... those stems need "shoes & socks" plants anyway, and their contractile roots tend to pull the bulb further down than the root systems of most other perennials. So they are pretty easy to "squeeze in."

I'll take 5 Carbonero and 5 Acupulco.

I could do 5 Carbonero. I already have Acupulco, but I could do 5 more of those too.

I haven't been wanting Asiatic lilies, preferring the OT lilies instead, but Black Eye looks pretty nice and I would take some of those too to make the numbers for ordering work out.

Cool! Thanks. I'll help with 5 of the Black Eye lilies.

I'm waiting for Jan & her niece to check in, as I think they were both interested also. Otherwise, looks like it'll be a small group this time -- that's a good thing, since I'm also hosting the swap LOL.

That is fine with me for just keeping it on the smaller side and only a handful of choices to jump in on LOL. If it is pretty much just you, Lisa, and maybe Jan and her niece, I can help fill in whatever numbers are needed to make the count for ordering add up for the handful of choices we come up with.

Yep. We'd probably have to order 2 full crates (12 -13 bags) to avoid the small order fee and maximize shipping savings, but even if we don't quite get there it'll still be a great per-bulb price.

Put me down for:

Oriental
25 zambisi

OT
25 entertainer

Thanks

Thanks, Yehudith! I'm going to figure it's OK to snitch 5 from your total for each variety, leaving you with at least 20... I won't juggle you down to 15 without checking with you, though. Being willing to take the whole bag is definitely the way to guarantee your varieties will be ordered!

I'll see if I can put in an initial order tomorrow to "hold" the ones we know we're getting (in bold on the list in the 2nd post), then finalize soon.