I've now had the time to read "your" story, Lorn, and it is really nice to have this information put together in a cohesive manner. Thank you!

After the breakup with Woodriff , Kirsch had had his fill of the lily business and was thinking about retirement ( early 80's ). What he didn't know was that George Heublein, the owner of Milridge, the old Oregon Bulb Farm, had a personal secret plan to buy Kirsch out all along. Heublein had a 'grand plan' to transform Milridge ( OBF ) into the largest cut flower business in the world, and Sun Valley Bulb Farm was to play an important part of that down the road. He had even flown to the Netherlands and hand picked a young man to run the place. Soon, Heublein started buying out many lily grower farms in Oregon in exchange for stock in Milridge ( OBF ) which he intended to have launched as an IPO ( initial public offering ) with a Wall Street brokerage firm using the farms, amongst other things, as collateral. This seemed like a good deal to most lily growers, many of which were already getting up in age and their kids were not interested in lily farming. Most of them had grown up and had careers of their own, anyway, and if the stock price went up, they would have a good retirement income and especially nice if they were allowed to live out the rest of their lives on the farm. The IPO was launched successfully with NASDAQ in November of 1983, under the ticker symbol BULB at a little over $5.00 per share and with reserve, the broker periodically added more money 'in' to jack the stock price up a little to $6.00 or $7.00 , a normal legal procedure to make it look like lots of people are buying the stock in hopes that even more would invest and drive the stock price up even more. It worked, and along with a little 'cookin' the books', the stock price per share went up to about $15.00/share by 1985 and to about $35.00 per share by 1987 and for a time, even the retired lily farmers were in the money--on paper at least. And, since Heubein had 40% in stake in Milridge, he became a multi-millionaire. Heublein was slick, not only in dress, looks and appearance, but personality and gift of gab as well. He could pull the wool over the underwriters eyes with a smile on Wall Street since they knew nothing about lily farming, especially the force and cut flower end.

Now it was time to approach Kirsch about Sun Valley. Kirsch wouldn't be easy and Heublein knew it. Kirsch knew all about the lily business and wasn't about to have the wool pulled over his eyes. Kirsch was no fool. Kirsch had gotten real smart after he got stung with the Star Gazer episode. He wasn't about to trade his place for stock; he insisted on cash, real cash counted out on the table. The back and forth haggling went on for months, but eventually a deal was struck. The exact amount they settled on was private but thought to be substantial and Kirsch would retire as soon as he and Heublein could train a manager to run the place with Heublein having the final say. Of course, we already know that Heublein has his hand picked replacement selected and already working at Milridge ( OBF ) specializing in practice of the force and cut business. That would be a young man named Lane De Vries.

Finally getting around to reading the stories and am enjoying them very much!

The conclusion of 'two men and a lily'

De Vries was just 23 years old when Hueblein flew to Netherlands and hired him. De Vries' family had been in the tulip farming side for some time. Within a month, Heublein assigned De Vries with the task of developing a program for the force and cut flower industry. Behind the scene, Hueblein, with money in his pocket from increased stock price of Milridge, was in a tight lipped, private discussion with Kirsch about the purchase of Sun Valley when he sent three of his people down to 'check out' Sun Valley's operation and come back with a report, De Vries and two others. Kirsch provided the three with a lodge where they could pool their thoughts and draft their report in private. The first night, Kirsch asked one of the guys to join his family for dinner. The next day, he asked another one, until all three had spent the entire evening with Kirsch and family together. What they didn't realize is that Kirsch was conducting an interview privately with each. A few days after the three had returned and turned in their report, Kirsch told Heublein he wanted De Vries to manage Sun Valley after the purchase was finalized. Well, that fit right into Hueblein's private master plan and Sun Valley became part of Milridge with De Vries as manager.

Under the management of De Vries, with Kirsch in the background, Sun Valley operated above board and was profitable (1983/4 to 1987). When Milridge was forced into chaper 11, (reorganization), due to accounting irregularities, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of Sun Valley to a Venture Capitol Group. Although De Vries and Sun Valley were profitable, the venture capital group was not and it filed for bankruptcy as well.. De Vries, arranged to buy Sun Valley out of bankruptcy and has operated the company profitably, even grew the company substantially and is now called the Sun Valley Group. Along with the purchase of Sun Valley, De Vries got the patent to Star Gazer and it resides in the corporate headquarters in Arcata, CA, on the same property where it was first discovered.

What a fitting end for Stargazer.

Della , it was more like a 'grand homecoming' for Star Gazer. And here's the man that made that happen.

When I first sat down and decided to start this thread, I also decided I would not write any history or biography about any well known person if they are still living and active in the lily arena, except to mention them only to the extent that if they played a role that was tied in some way to the subject matter of the story. Some of these people have led remarkably interesting lives, but it's their story to tell and not mine and hopefully one day they will. Such is the case with Lane De Vries, an extraordinary man who through dedication, determination and hard work saved Sun Valley Bulb; the only remaining segment of the old Oregon Bulb Farm/Milridge.

This photo was posted by Sun Valley Floral yesterday in honor of and promotion of International Woman's Day.

So.... Woman's Day is a real thing? Nooo! It's all propaganda! I'm such a marketing cynic.

I'm so glad he bought Stargazer home.

Thanks Lorn for taking the trouble to give us such an intriguing story.You are indeed a wordsmith!!

Oh to have visited Leslie Woodriff's Fairyland and shake the gentleman's hand.

Thanks Vanozzi, for your kind words; it makes me feel good to know I've said something that people enjoy reading about. Most times, I write as if I'm speaking.

Lorn, I followed this story with much interest as well. What a pity that the breeder seems to have been the only one that made no money with Stargazer I would have never imagined that such intrigues are possible in this area. 64 years old and still learning!

The 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly'.

When you think about it, we think of all lily people as being a wonderful group of people, we all love lilies, we are a generous and sharing bunch and we're all pretty happy. But on second thought, why should we think the personalities of lily arena are any different than that of society as a whole. Throughout lily history there have been crooks, fraudsters, and thieves. Here are a few examples of stealing that you probably didn't know existed. I won't mention the suspected thieves by name here.

LaVern Frieman once caught a father and son from Canada; the father kept LaVern occupied while the kid dug around the stems of Lavern's research stock and filled his pockets with stem bulblets. LaVern caught him in the act, made him empty his pockets and asked them to promptly leave. In another instance, La Vern was visited by a couple from the US and while the man kept LaVern busy in conversation, the lady was snapping flower buds off for tissue culture. It wasn't until they left that LaVern noticed the missing buds. The thing is that LaVern Frieman was a very trusting and generous person. He felt terribly betrayed that, in this case, his most trusted long time friends had stolen from him. Had they only asked, he would have gladly given them what they wanted.

Then, there's Don Egger, the manager of Cebeco, USA. When Milridge (old Oregon Bulb Farm) went belly up, Cebeco got all of Milridge R&D stock and Don Egger, the chief hybridizer at Milridge was named manager of Cebeco. The time frame was 1990-1991, when things were really heating up with Oriental Trumpet hybrid development and there was a lot of traffic back and forth between the Netherlands and North America. In particular, the search for a nice clean yellow OT. Don Egger had been working on some of LaVern Frieman's seedlings with Trumpet and Oriental and other bloodlines that were yellow with upright to outfacing flowers. He had them growing at the side of one of his poly greenhouses. One time Don had a group from Holland visiting and after they left, he noticed the plastic had been sliced and LaVern's seedlings were missing. While one can never be certain they were the ones who took them, they were the first to come out with a yellow OT, very, very similar to the LaVern Frieman yellow seedling. It turns out that 'poor' Don Egger got 'picked on' more than anybody back then, and, it always seemed to happen the night before an early morning flight back to the Netherlands.

Now that we don't do as much large scale hybridizing in the States anymore, there haven't been any recent incidences, at least not that I know of. But this sort of behavior still exists in Europe today. Every year there a couple incidences. This one last year I thought was innovative. The thief sliced the poly, pulled the plant through to the outside, then pulled it out of the pot as a clump and cut the bulb off from the bottom. Then stuck the clump back in the pot and put the pot right back in it's original spot, plant and all. When the owner noticed his favorite breeder was yellowing and wilting he discovered what had happened.

Not to believe it!

These people were certainly not ATP members!

woah...

Playful Shenanigans

It's often said that during lily shows, Jan de Graaff would take his hybridizers over to Leslie Woodriff's end of the tables and point: 'See, Leslie beat us to the punch on that one', as if to rub it in a little. But there was always this cute little game going on that provided many a chuckle. It seems Leslie Woodriff and Jan de Graaff would always set up on opposite ends of a long display. It was often observed that de Graff would spend time by Leslie's exhibit while Leslie was at the other end spending time looking over de Graaff's exhibit. Each would look back from the of the corner of their eye to see if the other was watching and when the 'coast was clear' or when it seemed to be, each would sneak and snip a little pollen to take home. Though never prearranged, it's been said that both men kind of knew what the other was doing and they rather enjoyed playing their little game, much to the enjoyment and chuckle of watchful others.

Jan de Graaff and Leslie Woodriff were the best of friends and de Graaff would often visit Leslie at Fairyland--at least a couple times every summer.

This is the most interesting thread I've ever read on this site.
Thank you Lorn.
Just amazing.
You should write a book.

This has to be one of the best threads I have seen on here. As a somewhat younger person with a growing interest in lilies, I really enjoy reading the history of them.

But I think sometimes when we browse the catalogs, or walk through the greenhouses, we don't know or think about the hours, or years, trials and tribulations, and the fruits of labor sitting on those shelves.

Not to mention that in the earlier days, there was no Internet. Information didn't travel as fast, and everything was word of mouth.

So thank you for the snippets of history!!

I started working in the Mckinleyville HARTMAN BULB FARMS, and SUN VALLEY BULB FARMS in 1975/76 summers. I then graduated in Jan. Of 1977 from Arcata Highschool and began full time work for SunValley back then, but my job evolved intotissue culture and cross breeding and hybridizing lillies in a lab which was hidden inside a barn overlooking a packing shed and three large flower coolers..It was located on the 27th ST. Side of the farm...Hybridizing THE STARGAZER LILLIES...I moved from a large flower cooler every morning using a needle and syringe to remove the liquid juices from the stamens of the white easter lilies to a large green house with two long rooms full of Easter Lilies that needed to have heir liquid gold removed also...Then I would take my syringes to the refrigerator upstairs in a very sterile lab where we worked for the 2nd half of the days cutting up bulbs to be placed into test tubes filled with agar a gel used as growing medium...we placed any where from 3 to 6 pieces into the test tube medium and french squares which were sterilized by an autoclave before we used them....we were gloved up working under ultraviolet lights and blowers.. that were contained in hooded boothes with blowers to keep the enviorment.germ and disease free so our precious babies would grow...I was there until about 1982 a month or so shy..Because I quit to have my first born baby a Girl...Sarah. I was high risk pregnancy with heart issues, and a lot of my work meant hauling heavy boxes of these french squares to be emptied and cleaned for reuse....It was very much what you described ..very steril rooms..3 separate booths we were 4 ladies and 1 man..Dan Clark was our hybridizing crazy man..lol he was terrific..They hired him from Kansas...He was a First class Horteculturist..very good at his job! We worked constantly 5 days a week, cross breeding and hybridizing those lilies..I worked for Ted Kirsh and then they brought in Mr. Laird and his son David as new buyers or partners..I cant remember..they were from back east...The whole time I worked there was totalaly on the up and up...It was good work and I worked half day in greenhouse then loaded the autoclave and at noon I would switch and go up to lab for Tissue culture...It was a very interesting job! Then the period of time that felt as if the rumors were getting high and talk of other company spies, espianage and all our hard work being stolen..or being claimed as others work....What the goings on were amongst the big bosses at that place...who knew we did our jobs..wherethey got there information from was up in the air..Did kirshbsteel Woodriffs flowers or jst the opposite...I could never figure out what was happening because there was so much going on, we were so excited about the stargazer... then the next thing you know there was talk that someone stole the process or the bulb itself, and everyone was up in arms and Ted run a tight ship and kept things going very well and in my opinion I know how much work we all put into making those cross hybridizations and also know that The lab was run like a well greased machine and Daniel (Dan ) Did a top notch job! Well before I quit I remember the talks of trips Ted took to holland and all the talk of selling bulbs and such, and it was just as I was ending that the new owners began having way more visits from the dutch folks and I remember Ted bringing them round to meet everyone.There was some real tention at one point early on in my employement when a certain tiger lily that had been crossed suddenly disappeared from the greenhouse and there were some very angry people around...At one time Ted was working with a Mr.Laired and something was going on with a theft of this very special secret Lily...The stargazer cross as I recall..I remember it it was a lovely little wine collared tigerlily...when crossed with the big white Easter lily was this most amazing brilliant Stargazer I remember my boss telling me that we crossed the two and got the beautiful flower and were working on it to get the beauty of both flowers but with the wonderful fragrant scent or something to that effect! Shortly after that is when all heck broke loose and things were all kinds of mixed up...Tension was high..and I mean high....Ted Remained very good boss right up until it switched hands and I, like you do not for a minute believe he ever wronged Woodriff in the way it was rumored he did...It just was not the kind of man he was...Your story has brought back so many memories. Dan Clark ran the lab with his wife Cindy and then I believe they closed the lab down after the so theft......Tom and Sherri Turner came on the scene as Dan was leaving, but I believe they took over for Dan and Cindy when they moved back home to Kansas..After that the bulb farm went through massive changes with the Holland guys etc. My Brother in law has been there for many years now and he started well after I quit to give birth....The place has become massive..and the operation amazing.... Would love to hear more about this story if you ever get any more..It would sure help to make since...of a lot of things! I FELT IT WAS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK! I worked as a picker when I first started, with one of my best friends mom, later with my mother in law...then met my husband then...but absolutely loved the change in my job when I accepted the job and went to work in the lab and greenhouse...Thank you for your thorough investigating... Maybe someday the whole truth will surface...

Kareny

Hi Kareny and welcome to the lily forum.

I enjoyed reading about your experience at Sun Valley and the good old days. I'm glad to hear you say good things about Ted Kirsch because I had come to the same conclusion that Kirsch was a good person who would never knowingly cheat anyone, but at the same time, made darn sure nobody cheated him either. Do you remember seeing the young man in the picture below? His name is Lane De Vries. He is the one Kirsch picked to run the place after he sold it to Milridge ( Oregon Bulb Farm ). He would have started coming around just before or right around the time you were leaving. Also, depending on the time your brother in law started, Sun Valley went through some real tough times in the late 80's--early 90's because their parent company Milridge went bankrupt. And there were times when people didn't get paid. One time in particular was just before Christmas when Lane De Fries had to threaten the Bank underwriters in Portland that he couldn't guarantee there would be any glass left in the place if they didn't release the money to pay his people just as Christmas was coming. That scared the bankers into releasing enough money for the checks. Just wondering, did your brother in law have to go through any of that? Anyway, here's a picture of a much younger Lane De Fries about the time you left.

Welcome Kareny!

I enjoyed reading your memories too. Thanks for sharing!

Some interesting reading here about Bellingham Star (LF 1) and it's parents. It says it's pollen fertile. But this year I couldn't see any pollen, not even with a strong magnifying glass. This is an old add. Disregard prices, etc.

http://www.lilybulb.com/l9300....