I’ll also dispense with a discussion of the species lilies since most of them are at best difficult to grow in average garden conditions. The modern lily hybrids, however, are much easier and much more rewarding as dependable, high-performing, star-quality perennials.
Author: Art Evans
An Amateur’s Approach to Lilium Polyploids
In the early eighties, when I first became interested in polyploid lilies, the scarcity of breeding stock was only equaled by the scarcity of knowledge in how to use them.
Hybridizing at Home:
From Fun to Fulfillment
Sometimes collecting , growing, and showing your lilies just isn’t enough. The day may come when your garden does not have room for one more lily, but your creative urges kick in and you say, “I want lilies that are newer than new. I want to create my own originals to suit my own tastes.”
Mother Nature’s Calendar
Cypripedium kentuckiense is the largest of the three forms of yellow ladyslippers in Arkansas. It is almost twice as large as the mid-sized version, Cyp. parviflorum v. pubescens. The pouch is light creamy yellow, and the petals dark brownish maroon, a striking contrast.
Mountain Gorillas, Going, Going, …Wait!
By Art Evans The deck was stacked against them, and their numbers were dwindling. The genocide in Rwanda allowed chaos in which poaching thrived. The rebel Tutsi General Nkunda set up his fiefdom just across the border in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. He sold access to the Mountain gorillas on his side of […]
Wild in Madagascar, Kenya, and Uganda
Other than the orchids, we saw over 400 species of birds, most of them new to me. The high point of the trip was, without doubt, tracking and finding a family of wild gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Preserve.
Cooking up Tetraploids in the Kitchen, 2010
My wife, Crow, is very good about sharing the kitchen with my non-cooking projects. You know, ordinary things like brewing beer, sterilizing soil in the oven, making nutrient medium for the embryo cultures, nuking critter-infested bulbs in the microwave, and storing an unreasonable number of lily bulbs in the refrigerator. She does raise an eyebrow, however, when I start playing with poisonous chemicals in the food prep area..
Talk for Mid America Lily Society in St. Louis – 3 March 07
Hybridizing is great fun, and you shouldn’t be put off by the three years from cross to bloom. After three years you have your own new seedlings opening every year, and it seems like every day is payday!
For the Love of the Game
In the US lily fanciers mostly grow hybrids for two reasons. The first is that most species, including our own, are not easily pleased by the widely varying conditions in our suburban gardens. The second is that the great majority of the cultivars available to us have been the hybrid products of the cut flower industry.
EC is Easy
In our heart of hearts, all hybridizers want to combine the best qualities of all lilies into a series of fabulous beauties with new forms, colors, habits, and seasons. They would be so vigorous, adaptable, and healthy that soon they would be as common as those impostors which only borrow the name lily