dellac said: We'd expect about a quarter of them to be yellow if classic Mendelian genetics were at play, I think? It will be fun to see.

Yes, if classic Medelian genetics are used. But, who knows? It's already known that there can be more than one gene for a color (was it orange in L. henryi?). I had crossed L. leichtlinii (yellow) with L. maculatum var. wilsonii (light orange), and nearly all the progeny were dark orange! Next season, I will be performing the same task as you intend, with supposed L. concolor var. coridian seedlings that are orange instead of the yellow they should have been.

If my memory hasn't invented it, Judith Freeman told us that L. henryi has 2 out of 3 possible genes in Lilium for orange dominance. Might explain why it is so determinedly orange! Heaven forbid it ever has babies with a species of the third orange gene group! (And everything I just said really, really should be checked for factuality... because my memory can be dodgy.)

Rick, it will be interesting to see how your genetic 'recombining' goes too.

Ok, so the second bud on my 'dull as dishwater' seedling opened today and I might just relent on it - long enough to see what kind of plant it grows into:



The flower is nearly 5" across and has a nice poise.

Lily breeding is full of surprises!

Well I for one think it is beautiful. Keep up the good work, Della!

Thank you Connie.

I really like this one. I hope it turns out to be strong growing, hardy plant with good disease resistance, etc.

What a beauty, Della. I'd watch that one.

Thank you Lorn and Tracey, I'll be watching it to see how it develops. ^^

William: thanks for the info on L. candidum/virus!

Della: thanks for yout offer - let's see how much water we get on 2016. The 'ugly duckling' proved to be a beautiful swan!

Rick: may I ask how many years have you been growing/hybridizing Liliums?

Well technically, I've been growing lilies since I was about 12 years old (1971), when one of my parents' friends (who was a member of the local Lily society) gave a bag of miscellaneous stem bulblets to grow. They still grow at my parents' homestead that my brother now owns. Really though, I didn't start growing lilies in earnest until around 1998 with bulbs that I purchased. First lily seeds were planted in 2004, and hybridizing began in 2007.

Della, if that is the same dishwater lily that you complained about last year, I recall replying back then that it was not as bad as you think. Now it looks way better. Those maiden flowers can sure be deceiving, sometimes. And wouldn't that be called "dusky pink"? In this case, a very nice touch.

Oh noes! I'm making a habit of this!? That was a definitely a different seedling. You've given me an idea - I haven't used number codes for my seedling lots lately, so I'll be referring to this one in my notes as "pink touch".

Ursula: thanks

Back from the dead!



Who else has killed L. cernuum? I'm sure I did. Six years ago at least. Which is why I was so stumped by this grassy-leafed swan-necked little thing.

I'd been racking my brain to try and remember some species I may have acquired and forgotten in some dry, neglected weed-filled pot. I started to get excited, wondering what previously unknown treasure could be about to bloom. (The good thing about sporadic memory loss - happy surprises!) I puzzled over the knobbly sepal tips. Not like pumilum... and I knew it couldn't be cernuum... because that had died and I turfed the pot contents years ago.

But as the buds became more and more pink there were less and less possibilities. I checked the buds (still many weeks from opening) on the L. cernuum form Baranova only acquired this winter. Knobbly tips. Had to be it. But how?

How could I have looked after (I guess I didn't ) a pot of weeds for 6 years and never notice little tufts of grassy lily foliage? Why didn't I throw it out? If I didn't throw out the cernuum pot then what did I throw out? How did little cernuum survive so long then re-emerge from a 6 year long subterranean disappearance with two stems and 4 buds total?

Only one answer.... Zombie lily!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAHHHHH!!! Zombie lily!

I am here to admit ....
I have killed L. cernuum. Twice.

I have to say, it must not be so rare for lily bulbs in general to skip a season or two. With two different martagon section species, I've had undisturbed bulbs skipped even two seasons in a row, and reappear the third year better than ever. An undisturbed bulb of either L. canandense or L. michiganense skipped a season once, and an asiatic, too (but I can't remember which). But six years, my goodness, that takes the cake! As I was reading your tale, I was guessing that the mother bulb rotted and surviving scales spawned new plants. But when I saw your resulting mature specimens, then no, that can't be it (unless you really were that ingnorant! ). I've always (secretly) suspected that L. cernuum is one of those that likes growing in weedy pots, much like L. phaladelphicum.

I think you're right. About the rotting bulb and scale bulblets.

In my defense, things got moved around more than once over the last few years, meaning my mental map of lily pot locations was terribly inaccurate... and I had thought that somewhere I did have a pot of very small miscellaneous species bulbs - survivors from a long-ago purchase that I couldn't remember the contents of clearly. I do recall seeing what I thought was this pot in a different place last year, and it had a pair of non-flowering, very short grassy stems... I didn't even bend down to examine them... I just thought, 'oh yeah, they must be the survivors from that Marcus [Harvey] purchase' and watered something else instead. As for the years prior to that... no recollection.

But as we've observed, at least now we know the secret to making L. cernuum happy. Don't weed and don't water.

Tracey... for every deceased cernuum we have racked up between us... the next ones get ignored and will flourish!

Today the first seedling of Napa Valley x 11-187 opened. Hank Z. (if you're still reading!) this is your baby from seed you donated to the NALS exchange!



And a pic today of L. cernuum fully open. Love how it reflexes so far that it curls around itself! And the perfume is sweet.

Beautiful, Della!

Did you remove the pollen of L. cernuum? Did you pollinate this flower with pollen from another species?

Oh Della, the seedling is one to admire. And L. cernuum is pretty too.

Beautiful seedling, Della!

I did take the pollen, to save it for crossing onto other lilies this summer. And on the off chance of success, I daubed on some "cernuum album" pollen (from freezer storage - no flowers this year... I've killed all but one small bulb of it!). We'll see it anything happens.

I'd say you have more than an "off chance", Della.
And this may or may not aid in your future endeavor:



Lovely pics. Did you seat the Napa Valley cross in the chair for the photo op?
A wise move, since it visually masks the fence behind.