Old seed
DaveKarn@aol.com (Sat, 16 Apr 2005 20:55:59 PDT)

Hello All ~

I have a friend here in Oregon who planted a considerable amount of lily seed
(mostly Division 6a-d hybrids. I would bet that a portion of the resulting
seedlings were from seed that stemmed from the original strains of Golden
Splendor, Pink Perfection, etc.) several years ago that had been frozen for some 25
years! It germinated readily and provided an intersting range of types when
the bulbs bloomed.

The seed originated with Gilman Keasey of Salem who had been working with
lilies in the 1960s and early 1970s until he switched much of his interest to
daffodils. Gilman was an interesting individual who, in addition to his plant
breeding interests, was also an Olympic archer in the 1920s. In later life, he
hand crafted bows that were much-in-demand by archers of all skills. One of
the benefits to the Oregon Daffodil Society from that activity is that we got a
lot of walnut odds and ends from which we constructed bases for our show
tubes. That finished wood made some pretty classy show properties!

Dave Karnstedt
Silverton, OR