Once again, the amazing expertise of those on this list for all things geophytic has been made apparent once again. Having a keen interest in finding which lilies will grow in warm weather locations, from conversations some years ago (probably on the IBS list), I learned that LL. longiflorum, formosanum, and philippinense were native to basically tropical areas and should therefore grow well in Southern California and Central Texas (my two main areas of interest). Even though they seem fairly similar, they have a good scent and they do appear to do well here. Then I discovered the L.A. (Longiflorum-Asiatic) hybrids that Jim mentions. There are quite a few of them available these days, but I am suspicious about what percentage of L. and what percentage of A. any given cultivar is because some of them do very well and come back each year, but others only bloom the first year and then disappear for me. (So I suspect that some may be backcrossed to Oriental lilies and are only 25% or less longiflorum.) I have also discovered that the Trumpet and Aurelian lilies also do well here for the most part. I'm now trying the Orienpet hybrids to see how they do. L. candidum also does well here, and I think I got a longiflorum-candidum hybrid (or something like that) and we'll see how that does. Now, however, I read that there are other species from tropical and subtropical areas. (L. nobilissimum & L. alexandrae & L. wallichianum var. neilgherrense) Thanks to those experts among you for listing some of them. Of course, they appear to be rarer than the three I already knew about. So the question arises yet again: Whence are they available? Mail order nurseries, seed suppliers, plant organization seed exchanges, etc.? Also, having been numerous times to Honshu, Japan in their summers and a couple of times to southern China in their summer, it is very very warm and humid there at that time. Might those places also have native Lily species that could either take or even enjoy a similar kind of weather in Texas or the southern states of the U.S.? And what might some of those species be? And are there any other hybrids between the warm weather species that are on the horizon? --Lee Poulsen Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10 On May 13, 2005, at 4:20 PM, Jim McKenney wrote: > 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). > > 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!