Hello everyone,

I wish I was able to post images during the growing season as most of you manage to do. More of a winter task for me. After the devastating late May freezes of 2020 and 2021, my lily collection started to rebound in 2022, resuscitating some old favorites as well as producing some first bloom seedlings. I'd like to share these with everyone.

First up, a few Asiatic types:
This is L. davidii var. unicolor x 'Peerlissa'. The latter is an unregistered hybrid developed by Bill Cramer and shared with me in 2003. 'Peerlissa' appeared to be a pumilum-cernuum-davidii hybrid, cute small revolute flowers carrying the carotene inhibiting genes of L. cernuum. I crossed it with the compact and nearly spotless L. davidii var unicolor in 2009 to produce this diminutive beauty.
L. davidii var. unicolor x 'Peerlissa'


It's been very reluctant to breed, but last year I managed to cross it with the old-school 1c Asiatic 'George Slate'. The parentage of the latter is unknown, but based on its breeding behavior, I suspect it also carries L. davidii and L. cernuum in its ancestry. There will be some seed from this cross in the upcoming NALS seed exchange. Expect small revolute flowers in various light pastel colors.
'George Slate'


More to follow.
Jim Ault

On to Division 6.
One of my all time favorite diploid trumpets has to be 'Tropical Isle', which I purchased from B & D Lilies back in 2002. It has slowly multiplied, been moved around my yard multiple times, and shared with others. I don't believe B & D Lilies has stock any more, so if you have 'Tropical Isle', do share it with others. It is quite fertile, like most diploid trumpets, and can produce progeny in a variety of shades. The stems can be a bit weak and the flower count low, but the colorful and full flowers more than compensate. In cooler summers, the melon/flame blush is very pronounced.
'Tropical Isle'


Here's 'Tropical Isle' x self, from a cross in 2003:

Very floriferous and an excellent contrast to the green exteriors and lemon interior.

I crossed both of the above with Lilium x sulphurgale 'Vico Gold' last year, and sent seed to the exchange. I'm not sure how hardy the 'Vico Gold' parent will be, given it is a cross of L. sulphureum and L. regale, so if you get any of the seed, be sure to grow it well protected.
Lilium x sulphurgale 'Vico Gold'


I've made quite a few crosses with both 'Tropical Isle' and some of its progeny over the years, but only one new hybrid from it bloomed last summer. First the other parent:
'Beautiful Victoria'

A stunning Aurelian hybrid developed by Anton Mego. While for me it has the weak stems typical of henryi hybrids, the clean colors and ample papillae are attractive in their own right and are readily inheritable.

I normally only cross 'Beautiful Victoria' with other Aurelians, but in 2017 I crossed it with 'Tropical Isle' just to see what would transpire, as I have so little experience crossing pure trumpet hybrids with L. henryi or henryi-dominated hybrids.
Lilium ['Tropical Isle' x 'Beautiful Victoria']

Not sure what I expected, and so I look at this flower and go, 'Hmmm". I'll have to let it and its sibs mature and decide what next step to take with it, if any. But breeding should be about exploring new possibilities...

A shout out to Tracey for the following bulb she shared with me in 2021. This is one of her hybrids developed from 'Awesome':





I look forward to making crosses with this one in the future.

Here's another long time performer in my garden, L. Summer Palace, which I purchased from The Lily Garden in 2002. Summer Palace is a seed strain, and so plants can vary from one to the next. I was lucky to obtain a dark violet clone that holds its color well even in our hot Midwestern summers. I have made quite a few crosses with it, but for some reason have not grown many to maturity. I have shared bulbs with others; Patrick Brown has put it to good use in crosses with other deep pink/violet/purple trumpets.
Summer Palace:


Watch for seed in the exchange from this Summer Palace crossed both with 'Vico Gold' and with a nice picotee trumpet (more on the latter to follow).

It's never late for some lily images. Nice plants Jim!

Thanks Luka!

Another posting to go.

I've dabbled at best in Aurelian breeding to reinforce some of the traits passed down from L. henryi. I need to grow out more of my stored seed of the same! But here's a few that bloomed last year.

The first one has a complicated parentage.
Lilium [[rosthornii x henryi] x ['Black Heart White']] x a lost label bicolored henryi hybrid

Strongly revolute flowers ample and intricate papillae and colorful striations all inherited from L. henryi.

Another complex hybrid:
Lilium ['LF-1' x [rosthornii x henryi]] x Kroell Aurelian] x Mego Blackheart

This was a first bloom seedling that got smashed into the mud the day it opened, but I was able to rescue some pollen from it and cross on to the aurelian shown above. Papillae anyone?

Next up:
Lilium ['Freda Willis' x [rosthornii x henryi]]


Around 15 flowers including many secondaries on a young plant. Looks like it will need to be staked. Will be interesting to watch it mature.

Lilium 'Sandra' purchased from S-W Gardens in 2017. A henryi-rosthornii hybrid of sorts.


Both of the images are from earlier years, but this is typical of its performance; perfectly erect stems to seven-plus feet tall, cute smallish flowers floating on long pedicels. I made a fair number of crosses with it last year, seed to the exchange, of course.

A few more Aurelians.

I received this next one as seed from the seed exchange in 2005. NALS # 65-235. I assume a Charlie Kroell distribution. The parents were listed as purple flecked Aurelian CK03-PF1 X two Black Heart aurelians (a Bill Craig Black heart and a Kroell Black heart CK04-01).


No flecking or black hearts, but I've come to appreciate this one for its wavy margins and extended dark green nectaries. I made one cross with it last year.

Saved the best for last. This is from a cross I made in 2017 between my own hybrid of L. (rosthornii x henryi) and L. 'Beautiful Victoria', which I posted previously. I neglected the seedlings, and so the picture below is of its first bloom:

I'll be keenly interested in watching this one mature.

Next round's backstory. I became keenly interested in diploid trumpets almost immediately when I started growing lilies in 2002. It was unfortunately at a time when the decades of commercial trumpet hybrid breeding was drying up, but a number of named selections were still available. Of the 15 or so diploid trumpet/aurelian cultivars I purchased in 2002 and 2003, only 'Summer Palace' and 'Tropical Isle' still persist in my garden. But the NALS seed exchange and small seed sales have been a great source for diploid trumpet material.

In 2002 and 2003 I purchased a number of seed packets from David Sims. Of particular note were three of his crosses utilizing various white or yellow with violet picotee trumpets. He designated these as:
PPYF x BE
T0B1 x T9-6A
T9-49 x T9-6A
All three of his crosses produced lovely picotee flowers, mostly in cream to white and a few light yellow. Only one or two clones from one of the crosses still persist in my garden. But in 2009 and again in 2015 I crossed the best seedlings I had from these three accessions. To then sit on the seed until 2020. My diploid trumpet breeding was pretty much suspended in 2016 when I inherited a large influx of bulbs and seed from Bob Griesbach, and so went down a merry tetraploid trumpet and Orienpet breeding road instead. More on that later. But by 2020 I realized my diploid trumpets were dwindling, and so have been resurrecting crosses or pulling seed from storage.

First, the seedlings from the 2009 cross of (PPYF x BE) x (T0B1 x T9-6A). This was the block in 2022 from seed sown in 2020:


Two of the seedlings were used in breeding last year:





The 2015 cross of (PPYF x BE) x (T9-49 x T9-6A) wasn't overall as showy as the above cross, but one seedling especially caught my eye:



Happy to report these all proved to be perfectly fertile. Several of the above selections were used in crosses that will be in the NALS seed exchange.

No more than about 25% of the plants bloomed from either of the 2009 and 2015 crosses, so I anticipate more beauties appearing. I am thrilled to have "discovered" this genetics in my stored seed and to be able to share it moving forward. Kudos to David Sims for his original work.

Final diploid trumpet thoughts. I sowed seed this winter from ten different 'Tropical Isle' and Tropical Isle progeny selections in turn crossed to the above picotees, to 'Awesome', to 'Summer Palace', etc. The oldest seed sown was from a 2008 cross. These germinated as well as seed from last year's crosses. If you are new to lily breeding, be aware if you dry lily seed down and then store them in an airtight jar, they will keep in a frost-free freezer for years, if not decades.

OMG so many nice trumpets and aurelians!
I hope I will make some nice trumpet hybrids one day. Did you buy any of my hybrids Jim (from NALS seed exchange)? I made 4 of them. Sowed everything but only one managed to survive and germinate (Pink Perfection x L. regale).

Lilium speciosum 'Fourth of July'.

I purchased this selection in 2017 from Plant Delight's Nursery. I think they only sold it that one year, and I've never seen anyone else list it, so I don't know how many lily aficionados are even aware of it. FYI, here's its backstory:
https://www.plantdelights.com/...

I've not had great success with Lilium speciosum, or with Orientals in general, in-ground; not surprising given my alkaline clay soil, summer heat and erratic wet/dry/cold winters. I've grown L. speciousm 'Uchida' a number of times, only to watch it dwindle away. So I decided to permanently grow 'Fourth of July' as a container plant, as follows.

I have used fairly large pots to keep the bulbs cooler in the summer time and protected over winter. I use a potting mix of "used" (year old) orchid growing media variously composed of New Zealand sphagnum, Orchiata orchid bark, pumice, perlite, and some leaf mold. Leftovers from when I repot some of my orchids annually.


During the growing season, the pots get watered thoroughly maybe twice a week but then allowed to dry out between waterings. Fertilized 1-2 X a month with 100 ppm Excel 15-5-15 Cal Mag fertilizer. As temperatures rise, the pots are placed under the eastern edge of a large oak tree, the stems in the sun until early afternoon (dappled light afterwards), and the pots hidden between perennials so they are never struck by direct sunlight:



The results speak for themselves. A beautiful selection, definitely different from 'Uchida'. It comes into bloom for me just as now container-grown 'Uchida' is finishing up.

After the stems die down completely in late October/early November, I overwinter the pots in above-ground cold frames that are filled to the brim with dried oak leaves. So far this has worked...

This past fall I repotted the original three bulbs and their offsets. I think this was the third time potting them. The pots had become quite crowded, so I totally dismantled them. Here's what one of the original bulbs and offsets looked like:

I can't speak to how quickly Lilium speciosum forms offsets growing in-ground in better climes, but I am pleased with how well these have propagated. I shared some with the NALS auction and a few friends last year, and will continue to slowly disperse some of the offsets as I repot every few years.

I've crossed 'Fourth of July' and 'Uchida' three times now, and have or will have seed again in the NALS seed exchange. If any of you have Lilium speciosum album, album novum, or other selections besides 'Uchida', I would love to exchange pollen in the future! 'Fourth of July' typically blooms here in early to mid August as a reference.

My climate is very hot and dry summers and wet mild winters. I have alkaline sandy soil so this is almost identical to your place Jim (at last in theory). I have success with 'Uchida' and some of my bulbs had 15+ offsets!

Wow Jim
I bid on 4th of July but lost out. Maybe next time.
Your seedlings are amazing.

I'm also jumping back in to hybridizing. I'm playing with martagons as well as blackhearts and aurelians. Also growing some tree peonies from seed. I am a patient man.
Kids in college now, don't have to coach hockey for awhile, until grandkids come along (not too soon I hope).
The diploid trumpets are real winners. The Aurelians are awesome. Do you grow martagons?
I'm gonna have to grab some seed from the exchange.
Hope to meet you in Chicago at NALS show.
Eric Duma
Here is one of my black hearts first blooms

Nice to hear about some of the things you've been doing lately, Jim. wonderful stuff! Thank you.

Liliophilic said:Here's 'Tropical Isle' x self, from a cross in 2003:

I didn't realize Tropical Isle was a strain. Good to know.

Lukas, good luck with your lily species! I look forward to seeing your seed in the seed exchange. Our summers may be similar, but my winters can get as low as minus 28 C. Only minus 22 C so far this winter. The folks in Minnesota will laugh at me over that.

Eric, that's great to hear you are getting into more hybridizing. The ultimate garden geekdom. You should talk with Tracey Nelson if you don't already about peonies. She also grows them from seed. Patience indeed! The white on your Aurelian seedling really pops. Did the flower curve more as it aged? I've been through those life change transitions with gardening. Extensive orchid collections have come and gone and back again four times over the years, and garden breeding has had its ups and downs as well. But I retired last year, so I am really ramping up the breeding; a lot of lily work, and less so daylilies. No martagons here, they just don't grow well for me; come up early, get frosted off, never have more than a few flowers. I'll stick with what grows best for me. By all means let's chat in Chicago.

Rick, good to hear from you! 'Tropical Isle' is a clone, not a strain. Sorry I worded that wrong. My Tropical Isle x self was made in my very early years, when I didn't know you "can't" self-pollinate a lily. I didn't get many seed, but several nice seedlings resulted, including the one that has persisted all these years. Will you be coming down to Chicago this summer?

Best,

Jim

Some of the named tetraploid trumpets and Orienpets that bloomed last summer to follow. I don't have that many named selections of either anymore; The Dutch OTs with their heavier Oriental ancestry just don't persist for me, and many developed here in the U.S. have slipped away either from virus or the late freezes of 2020 and 2021. But some good ones remain.

'Pink Jazz' is one of my absolute favorites. I bought three bulbs from S-W Gardens in 2017. They have clumped up nicely since. In a good year the stems easily reach 7 feet in height with 20-25 flowers. Lovely trumpet-shaped flowers on very sturdy stems, a light shell pink in hotter summers, and darker violet pink in cooler summers. Fertile when pollinated with either tetraploid trumpets or fertile Orienpets, though I've yet to bloom any offspring. Kudos to Dick Bazett for this beauty. May his legacy live on after him in 'Pink Jazz'. I don't think it is commercially available, so those of us that grow it need to continue sharing bulbs. Images below: the group photo is from 2019, and the floret from last summer.


Several crosses with 'Pink Jazz' were sent to the seed exchange.

Another lily that has won high accolades and should be in every lily garden is 'Scheherazade', brought to us by Judith Freeman of The Lily Garden. Beautiful and nearly indestructible. I bought bulbs from S-W gardens in 2002 and from The Lily Garden in 2003. Now growing in multiple locations in my yard, and I have given many away over the years. Virus and fairly frost resistant, and rarely needs staking if properly sited. A triploid, so very difficult to breed with, but do pollinate it with your most fertile tetraploid Orienpets and tet trumpets as you will occasionally get some seed back.


Next is the New Yosemite strain. Apologies if any of the following information is incorrect. The original Yosemite Strain was developed by Bob Griesbach from intercrossing tetraploid L. leucanthum var. centifolium and tetraploid L. regale for multiple generations. He introduced a series of tetraploid trumpets groups (strains?) named after national parks, but I don't think his selections ever got a good distribution. Judith Freeman subsequently crossed the Yosemite group with her Fanfare tetra strain, resulting in the New Yosemite strain. I purchased three bulbs from The Lily Garden in 2008 or 2009. Maybe I had more than one clone originally, but it has definitely settled down to one persistent clone. Stems are typically around 5 feet in height, six or so large and well-shaped trumpet flowers, mostly white with yellow in the throat, and a pleasant fragrance. Fifteen years out of any trumpet lily is doing well!


I don't think The Lily Garden is selling this one any more. If anyone is growing what looks to be a different clone from the strain, I would be interested in swapping pollen. I've rarely used it in crosses, but as I'm looking back through my notes, I have/had at least one very nice OT derived from it, and so should make more crosses.

Thanks for the clarification, Jim. Whatever that seedling is, it sure is fantastic looking! Love it!

We were all newbies at one time. The first lilies I grew from seed were martagons, and I didn't know they were delayed hypogeal. But from my alpine seed growing, I knew never to toss a seeded pot for at least two seasons, and voilà!

Yes, I am going to Chicago. I am riding with Tim Z. He is a NALS board member, so we will be leaving Jul 5 because he has a board meeting Jul 6 morning.

Our summers may be similar, but my winters can get as low as minus 28 C. Only minus 22 C so far this winter.

Wow, that's too low. We don't have that here. All time record is -10C if I remember correctly. Usually around 0 min.

On to tetraploid trumpets and Orienpets (OTs). In 2016, I was involved in the digging and subsequently was a recipient of a sizeable number of the rescued OT and trumpet bulbs from Bob Griesbach's former property in Wisconsin. I emptied out my vegetable garden that October and planted out nearly 600 bulbs of varied sizes (400 were quite small). These were not labeled, and so were completed randomized OTs, trumpets, a few 'Silk Road', and a fair number of L. henryi. In return for this gift I promised to share seed with the NALS exchange, which I have done most years.

Those of you with continental climates know the vagaries of what weather can do to lilies. Here's three images of the two Griesbach rescue beds: 2019, the peak year of this material; 2021, after two years of late May freezes killed most of the stems to the ground; and 2022, the recovery after the two previous years. I have lost well over half of the bulbs I started with six-plus years ago. But from this devastation comes hope. The survivors either exhibited some freeze tolerance, or persisted as dormant bulbs underground for two years. This will be my tougher breeding stock moving forward. Still quite a few lovely lilies remain!

Here's but a few of the nicer lilies still remaining among my original Griesbach rescues.

This one blooms every year and has been used in crosses several times. It's never produced extra petals and anthers, so likely just an artifact of the two previous year's weather. Beautiful interior markings!


One of several White Amber types. These hearken back to tetra White Henryi that Bob developed and used as founding breeding stock.


When selecting some of the bulbs for breeding I've focus not just on interior coloring, but also the overall shape of the flowers (I do like the bowl-shaped flowers and petal tips with an extra curl) and enhanced exterior color.



And another:

The last time I saw Bob Griesbach in 2016, he pulled some seed out of his refrigerator and shared them with me. From his final crosses that he had made in 2015. Given how OTs are the last to bloom, I assume the following are from his final cross ever made. Simply labeled as "OT mix". The second flower was used in one of the crosses donated to the NALS seed exchange for this year.