From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@starpower.net>
Reply-To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: RE: [pbs] Lilly seeds and bulbs
Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 19:20:52 -0400

Darren, here's another suggestion for lilies in Mexico: try the so-called
LA
or longiflorum-Asiatic hybrids. These are hybrids with Lilium longiflorum
and Asiatic hybrid (not to be confused with oriental hybrid) lilies in
their
background. In some, the Lilium longiflorum influence is not obvious at
all,
in others it is more apparent. I'm suggesting this group in particular
because some of them evidently have a very slight chill requirement. They
also look like typical commercial cut-flower lilies (unlike some of the
other lilies suggested, which suggest funerals).

This discussion of lilies in Mexico reminds me of a question I've been
meaning to ask.

Lilies of the Lilium pardalinum group are known to grow far south into
California - historically right down to the Mexican border apparently.

Does anyone know if any member of the genus Lilium is native to/grows wild
in northern Mexico - or has in recent times?

And now that we're on the topic of Lilium pardalinum, let me get one more
thing off my chest. How many of you have noticed that some catalogs spell
this name pardelinum? I've often wondered if that is because they know that
they are not selling the true Lilium pardalinum and instead are selling one
of the once literally myriad (and now almost entirely lost or forgotten)
pardalinum hybrids.

One more lily story: several years ago I was in Bangalore, India. Bangalore
is in southern India, not far from Mysore, one of the old centers of
British
interests in India. The Nilgiri Hills were not too far off - as the crow
flies, it was about 125 miles to Ootacamund, one of the well known sites
for
Lilium neilgherrense, and the whole time I was there I could not get Lilium
neilgherrense out of my mind. When I told an Indian friend about this, she
suggested that I hire a taxi cab for the weekend and head over. I never
made
it, and I still regret it.

As I was typing this, Jane's email arrived: so it's now Lilium wallichianum
neilgherrense!

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, UDS, USDA zone 7, where Lilium pardalinum,
while not happy, at least persists.

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