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!
