Hi all
I was bored last night and started to think about this summer.
Does anyone have a list of crosses they are planning to do this summer that are 'wildcat' or 'far out'?
I created a box of chastity belts for my crosses sitting in front the TV. I'll fill the box by first flower.
I would like to carry out about 500 crosses this year. A lot are what's in bloom at the same time.
But I have a few I'm looking forward to:
L. rubellum x L. rosthornii with a black heart and the reciprocal cross
L. lancifolium flaviflorum x L. davidii (red)
L. candidum x L. henryi citrinum

Take it easy
Eric

Nothing crazy but I would like to try sargentiae x henryi again if my sargentiae survived this wet winter.
I will also try henryi x leucanthum in hope to recreate L. x kewense.

Hi Luka
I've tried that cross with a black heart henryi hybrid.
But will now add that cross to my summer list.
Thanks
Eric

I agree with @Lucius93 that hybridizing with sargentiae is a good avenue to explore, and this is on my agenda for 2024 this year also. I have made sargentiae x henryi crosses in the past - and just, maybe, I'll have one flower for the first time here this summer. (But I have probably jinxed myself already simply by writing this and will find it munched by a rabbit soon.) Last year I made some other crosses, such as sargentiae x rosthornii, and for the first time my sargentiae set seed from open-pollenation (but my sargentiae are all clones, so the pollen came from some other lily). I have these germinating now. I find that I only get a small number of viable embryos from the seeds that are set by sargentiae, so there never is much surplus to share. There's a chance too that some of my few parryi could flower for the first time this summer; if so I will make crosses with this with several of my other Western American hybrids. Time will tell...

I have made sargentiae x henryi crosses in the past - and just, maybe, I'll have one flower for the first time here this summer.

Cannot wait for that flower!
I will plant my 5 viable seeds of that cross tomorrow.

500 crosses Eric! You will be busy. I'll try 200 to 300 crosses in good bloom years. Have fun!

Nothing too far out here planned. But I inventoried ALL of my lilies last fall for the first time in 15 years, so I actually now know what I have (and no longer have). I've made lists of the previously unbloomed seedlings I currently have planted in-ground using any of the following, and will check to see if there are additional crosses I should make with any of them this year:
'Awesome'
'Tropical Isle' (and its direct hybrids)
Sims 2N picotee trumpets
X sulphurgale 'Vico Gold'
'Pink Jazz'

tetraploid white trumpets with picotee margins. I have very few remaining, both of Bob Griesbach's named introductions and also ones I've started from seed. Our Midwestern contingent suspects these are not reliably persistent here (zones 4-5), as Bob converted and then used Lilium regale in his tet trumpet breeding. Regale bulbs are hardy here, but they and their hybrids can come up early and then get frosted off by late freezes. Multiple freeze years in a row tend to do them in. So I want to always have new seedlings coming along, and also seed in storage.

I like reading about others' intents/efforts to cross the trumpet species -- sulphureum, sargentiae, and leucanthum -- with other species and hybrids. In my USDA Zone 5 garden, only leucanthum has any hardiness at all (not much), and even the hybrids I've made from it in the past didn't always persist. I've started L. leucanthum over from seed the past two years, and have been container growing them with better winter protection. Some of the bulbs may bloom this year. If the flowers are any good, I'll try crossing leucanthum with 'Tropical Isle' and some of my other long-lived trumpet hybrids I know are bone hardy. Here's a few hybrids with leucanthum I have lost that I would repeat (or something similar):
Lilium [leucanthum x 'Amethyst Temple']


Lilium ['Lady Alice' x leucanthum]


Another lost hybrid I will repeat as I still have both parents:
Lilium [['Gold Eagle' x 'Primrose Beacon'] x ['Tropical Isle' x self]]


And another cross that got away from me. I had both parents bloom last year, and could have repeated the cross but forgot about the earlier cross between them until checking notes this winter. Image is from a really nice seedling Rimmer grew from my seed (and also lost).
([['Tropical Isle' x self]] x 'Gold Eagle']


As I make other crosses this summer, I will wear a path from my backyard to the basement computer to see if I have already made a given cross previously (or two or three times)...

Very nice leucanthum crosses Jim!