Lilium
Mary Sue Ittner (Sat, 25 Jun 2005 10:01:57 PDT)

Dear All,

I've added some new pictures to the Lilium wiki page:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

When Jim Waddick was talking about this edible Lilium from China I realized
that it was the one that looked like it was going to bloom for the first
time from 1999 Nargs seed. O.K. so I'm not very fast with Lilium seed. Now
that John Grimshaw has told us how to grow them from seed:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…
maybe I'll do better. Last fall I put Lilium davidii in the ground which is
often what I do when I can't get something to bloom in a container. I
feared my garden would be too dry for it in summer and this still may be
true most years. But this year with the extra rainfall it is blooming.

I also added pictures of Lilium humboldtii (this one started from seed fall
2000 from Wayne Roderick seed via Cal Hort). I planted some out in the
ground last fall and kept at least a couple in containers. It has been
blooming this yearin the ground and in one of the containers and besides
the flowers has interesting whorled leaves. I was planning to add my
picture and now that we have had a recent question about wild populations
of it, I can provide a picture of it in cultivation for those who are curious.

Finally a number of years ago (July 2003) we discussed Lilium pitkinense
and a plant I had obtained from Diana as L. pardalinum ssp. giganteum or
Lilium pardalinum 'Giganteum' that Jane and Ken Hixson told us was once
called L. harrisianum and may be a form of L. pardalinum or a natural
hybrid between it and L. humboldtii. Instead of filling your pot with
offsets like most L. pardalinum this one has a rhizome that just gets
longer. Jane had advised me to plant mine out. It would be too big to be
container grown and much happier in the ground. Last fall I finally did
that and I put pictures of it on the wiki that show the results. My L.
pitkinense continues to grow slowly, but has bloomed now for the third time
and this year there were three flowers, each on their own stalk. This is
quite different from 'Giganteum' which this year actually had two stalks
with five flowers each. This has been an unusual year so I think it is too
early to predict how it will be in future years.

Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers