Dear All;

I must reply to Jim McKenney's posting.

Enchantment was one of the first of the Mid-Century Hybrids, introduced
by Oregon Bulb Farms in the early 50's. Jim is correct, there were not
many Asiatic Hybrids on the market. Jan de Graaff and Earl Hornback and
John W. Heyer who worked at the OBF in the 40's. Enchantment was around
for a few years prior to introduction, it was exported to Holland in
1960, and in the next few years was produced in quantity there. We
raised many acres of Enchantment and indeed was one of our best sellers.
The blood lines are a little obscure, but certainly L.tigrinum was
involved, and passed on the bulbil production to Enchantment, and also
the distinct black tips to the buds, a trait still to be seen in
descendants of these. In the 30's de Graaff started with lilies, but it
was after WW II that the OBF got going and devoted the entire production
capacity to lilies. When I arrived there in 1961, there were a few
Narcissus grown, Mount Hood, still a great white, was one of them, but
by the end of 1962 all Narcissus production stopped.
There is a great article in the 1947 RHS Lily Year Book by Jan de Graaff
and John Heyer, The Commercial Production of Hybrid Lilies. Earl
Hormback contributed much to the development of the Mid Century Hybrids,
and was helped by Harold Coomber, and later with Eddy McRae who today is
the leading expert on Lilies. We were students at the Royal Botanic
Garden Edinburgh and were together again at the OBF. The Year Books of
the North American Lily Society have numerous articles on the
development of the Asiatic Lilies, as do the books by Jan de Graaff.
At the time of introduction, there was no doubt that Enchantment was a
giant step forward, yet I can remember that when I called on nurseries,
many had not thought of listing lilies in their catalogs and selling was
not easy. How things have changed. Thought this information would be of
interest. Cheers, John E. Bryan
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