Candy Lilies
Robert Pries (Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:30:54 PST)

I can remember seeing Belamcanda (Iris domestica) blooming on waste ground along a road in Missouri for years. They seemed so easy I was expecting them to be labeled an invasive species.

The Candy Lilies a decade ago seemed much the same, blooming the first year from seed, and having an enormous color range. This last year I tried seed and plants and in every case they have suddenly become difficult and i had no bloom. Since I moved to a new climate I thought maybe I have just not learned what was needed in this new area.

I can rememver old Garden books reccommending shade and I have never seem them growing well in shade and I wrote this off to misinformation. Now I feel like I don't know how to grow them at all. I had heard that Darryl Probst grew a number of named clones that he hybridized but many people who got plants had trouble keeping them while he had no problems at all. There is an enigma here and I don't know the answer.

It seems some gardens still find them easy but I can't figure out why.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Pilling" <pbs@pilling.demon.co.uk>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2009 3:26:02 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [pbs] Candy Lilies

In message <p06240806c752c0ef1fb4@[192.168.0.101]>, James Waddick
<jwaddick@kc.rr.com> writes

I bought seed 6 years ago, they flowered in their first season and
survived a couple of years in the garden (zone 8), but they were
disappointing, a muddy brown colour.

--
David Pilling
email: david@pilling.demon.co.uk
web: http://www.davidpilling.net/
post: David Pilling P.O. Box 22 Thornton Cleveleys Blackpool. FY5 1LR UK
fax: +44(0)870-0520-941