Species Lilies--TOW
Mary Sue Ittner (Wed, 04 Jun 2003 09:43:54 PDT)

Dear All,

Last year (in July) Bob took pictures of Lilium pardalinum which Jane
recently mentioned as one of the easier Pacific Coast species to grow. I
have added those pictures to the wiki along with a new one he took of the
same time that shows the plant in habitat. Mine aren't blooming yet this
year. Here is what I put on the wiki:

Lilium pardalinum is native to the Pacific Coast (southern Oregon to
southern California.) It is a woodland species, often found growing near
streams. In these photos by Bob Rutemoeller it is pictured growing near the
Gualala River in California in exactly that habitat, photo from July 2002.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

Blooming around the same time growing in a large container in our garden
where it gets more water than some of the plants in the ground
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

Could some of our lilium experts tell us which species lilies do best in
Mediterranean climates and which are better in continental climates?

I am also interested in knowing which ones people in this group grow. I
just grow a couple, mostly thanks to donated seed from the BX (Lilium
formosanum and L. formosanum var. pricei) and then a few native ones. So
far I haven't gotten the natives to bloom except for L. pardalinum and L.
martimum, but L. pitkinense which is a rare one that I got at a nursery
almost three years ago has its first spike. Others are too young and don't
look extremely happy anyway. L. leucanthum var. centifolium that Will
Ashburner gave most of us in California seed of when he visited a number of
years ago will bloom for me this year too. I had it in a one gallon can not
knowing how it would do in the garden, but have since planted it out (sink
or swim). This first year it won't be 10 feet I am sure since I only
recently transplanted it.

I am looking forward to more of you sharing your experiences. I am hoping
Ron and Marina will tell us which ones are happy in Melbourne as some of
those might work for me (if they can compete with redwood roots).

Mary Sue
Topic of the Week Coordinator