Lilium regale

[Gene Mirro]

Lesley, can you let me know if you got my email?  I sent one to you, but it is not appearing in "My Messages". 

[Lesley Cox]

Yes thanks Gene, it arrived all right. As a New Personal Message, rather than as a topic reply.

[David Pilling]

Would anyone like very fresh seeds of Lilium formosanum v. pricei?

Below is a photo of the plants I got from Lesley's seed, sown 30th May 2007, first one flowered 21st. July 2008. They are in a 5" high pot.

[David Nicholson]

Well done David, you beat me to flowering size. I planted my seedlings  in the garden last year and it looks as though they might flower next year.

[Lesley Cox]

As David N says, well done David. Mine never flower so quickly. Do you have several in the pot? It is looking like a well-established clump rather than a single seedling, especially with multiple stems. Bet it smells nice too.

[David Pilling]

Thanks, David and Lesley.

Four seeds germinated at once in 2007 and I put them all in a 2" pot and then potted that on. Three survived and you can see in the photo there's one flower and two buds.

Yes there is a nice smell in the greenhouse where this pot lives. I think it is a really nice plant. I'd been put off var. pricei before because some of the pictures show a big flower emerging at ground level but the current dimensions are just right.

14 months from Lily seed to flower is not that good, I've seen 8 months quoted.

It doesn't always go right. I posted a picture of three pots of seedlings to this topic last year. The bought seed fizzled out, the seedex ones are mostly still alive but still small. The "unknown" ones grew very big very fast, there's no doubt they would have flowered this year, but direct sunlight or serious wind outdoors killed the foliage.

Finally David, I hope your L. Regale seedling which started this thread is prospering.

[Paul T]

These postings of things flowering so quickly are REALLY depressing!!    When I think how much longer things take to flower for me (partly because of neglect at times, and partly because of conditions here) I almost throw my hands up in disgust.    Almost!!      Doesn't stop me from trying though.... it just takes a little longer here.

[Lesley Cox]

Paul, I don't think I've ever had L.f var p flower in less than 30 months.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

Well that is some comfort!    8 Months just sounds stupendous.  What sort of conditions would push them through that quickly? 

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Paul et al,
I used to grow the "type" form of Lilium formosanum and it would flower in 9 nine months from seed regardless of the season! Theoretically you could have them in flower all the year if you started off new seedlings every month! However that was when I lived in "good ol' frost free Melbyn" and I've had little success with the species out here - they actually need a bit of looking after and don't just grow like weeds! (The original bulb I started with was a "feral" my dad dug up along the roadside - in Gippsland, I think, it was over 30 years ago!)
cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

Can't imagine what conditions Paul. Maybe someone pushing hard from the other side of the world.

[rob krejzl]

8 Months just sounds stupendous.  What sort of conditions would push them through that quickly?

Self-seeded ones do that for me, but our growing season is both quite long and cool and mild. Later germinating ones try to (and sometimes succeed in) flower in mid-winter in the open garden.

[David Pilling]

I've now collected seed from the lilium formosanum v. pricei grown from the seed Lesley offered above, if you'd like some email me.

I've also got lilium regale seed to give away.

[David Pilling]

I can't resist updating this thread. There's another picture below of the pot of three seeds from Lesley Cox that germinated in 2007, it made a really nice clump of about 12 flowers this year.

My L. formosanum seed from the 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 seed ex. also flowered recently, it was interesting that these lilies did not have the same strong scent and had yellow rather than brown pollen.

The second picture is the result of "right hand pot" which I posted on May 21, 2007. Sunshine killed many of these lilies last year, but the survivors have flowered. They look and smell much like the parent lily. Reading McRae's book on lilies one would not expect these to be self fertile or to come anything like true. Such considerations would put me off donating seed from these, pity when they're so easy and results are so good.

Finally L. Henryi, from seed ex. 2007/2008, seemingly another lily that will flower in 18 months from seed.

[Lesley Cox]

That's beautiful David, better than mine which are still mostly in nursery pots. I must get a bunch planted out.