Lilies, anyone?

Popped in to mention here that in the next issue of International Rock Gardener, there is a super article from Gene Mirro - on............ Lilies!

Online on Friday 27th July  http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=international    8)

A very nice form of the variety, Michael, and well grown, too.

I'm really looking forward to Gene's article...

Increasing in bud count every year, but not getting any taller:
Lilium rosthornii
       

It has proven to be its regular habit, year after year, for this plant to abruptly change leaf size as it makes a flower stalk.  The phenomenon can be seen in the above photo and the one below.  Is this normal for the species?  I only have one mature clone of the species, so I can't tell.
             

IRG filled with those Lilies and other N. American plants, is online now, a little early  ;)
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2012Jul261343329301IRG31_July2012.pdf

RickR wrote:

Increasing in bud count every year, but not getting any taller:
Lilium rosthornii
 
It has proven to be its regular habit, year after year, for this plant to abruptly change leaf size as it makes a flower stalk.  The phenomenon can be seen in the above photo and the one below.  Is this normal for the species?  I only have one mature clone of the species, so I can't tell.
             

My rosthornii lilies show the same phenomenon, Rick. As I am not at home I only have looked at old pics though. I'll take a look when I get home soon!

Beautiful, Tony!

wonderous!  :o :o :o

That's a lot of flowers for what seems like a short stem.  How tall is it, and how big are the flowers?

I received this catalogue yesterday and was amazed by the cover pic of a new hybrid lilium - 'Lankon' - from a L.longiflorum x L. lankonense cross.
Has anyone grown this one before and would they know what conditions it requires?
Any help would be appreciated - at over $10 a single bulb I don't really want to waste the time or the money if it's not suitable for this garden.
cheers
fermi

Faraway Flowers was one of the few distributors of Lankon in the US last season, and the owners has quite a following with the members of a lily forum I frequent.  http://allthingsplants.com/forums/view/lilies/  Several people have posted their Lankon flowers and it doesn't seem that difficult to grow.  I will inquire there for you, Fermi.

They are all glorious, Gene! Bravo!

Spectacular, Gene!  And I don't mean just the gloriosoides. :o
  Such nice form on the L. formosanum var. pricei and
the stature of the L. maritimum and L. callosum is impressive.

Fermi, I had forgotten all about your Lankon question. :(
I did ask, but didn't get a lot of good feedback.  Here it is:

http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/12193/Lankon/

RickR wrote:

Fermi, I had forgotten all about your Lankon question. :(
I did ask, but didn't get a lot of good feedback.  Here it is:

http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/12193/Lankon/

Thanks, Rick, sorry for not replying earlier - I'd been a bit busy and had hardly any time to check out the Forum.
I read the first couple of replies when you posted the link earlier.
In fact I see that Anthony G has bought the bulbs from the same supplier - VDQ = Van Diemen Quality Bulbs - in Tassie.
cheers
[Mr] fermi  ;D

Makes me longing for summer, Dave!

The ciliate edges of the L. pyrenaicum leaves are remarkable, Dave.

  Does the silver edge last through the growing season?

The silvery edging on L. pyrenaicum leaves does las t though the season here.

If only I could persuade the Bulb Despot (Ian) that we should have MORE lovely red L. pumilum and FEWER L. pyrenaicum  :-\  I HATE the smell of L. pyrenaicum - he thinks it is quite pleasant........ :P

IMYoung wrote:

The silvery edging on L. pyrenaicum leaves does las t though the season here.

If only I could persuade the Bulb Despot (Ian) that we should have MORE lovely red L. pumilum and FEWER L. pyrenaicum  :-\   I HATE the smell of L. pyrenaicum - he thinks it is quite pleasant........ :P

I like the appearance of both lilies, not only the ciliate leaf edge on L.pyrenaicum, but also the dense foliage stacking on that species. Maggi, maybe I shouldn't ask, but how would you describe the smell of L. pyrenaicum blooms?

Every time I come to admire the gorgeous lilies on these pages, I regret that I have lily beetle in the garden, and have no time, no interest, nor realistic ability to follow a regimen of spraying with chemicals. But that's okay, I can watch from afar, I need to be realistic, I still can barely handle the plants I do well with nor can I keep up with the weeding. :)

Quote:

Maggi, maybe I shouldn't ask, but how would you describe the smell of L. pyrenaicum blooms?

:D Well, I know that it is often possible to describe scents as being similar to some other familiar fragrance, or stink, as the case may be  :P  but for these lilies I am stuck for a comparison . :-\

Unpleasantly foetid but not in a way I can easily characterise.  Just yucky!!

I've seen Lilium pyrenaicum seed on the NARGS seed ex that is described as "sweet scented".

  Does anyone have any input on this?

For me, "sweet scent" is what Lilium regale, or formosanum or the oriental trumpet types have.
I know that those can be cloying for some folks. They can be a bit overpowering in quantty and close proximity indoors, I agree - but  pyrenaicum smells bad - even just passing them in the garden I hate the smell - too much of the "not so recently dead" about them. I'd love to hear from someone who can attribute a recognizably pleasant smell to them!

Lilies? I have to wait a long time for them. . . . Last night we got 60cm snow and a gale is expected to hit tomorrow evening.

Good to see your lilies then, Dave!

Gene wrote:

My best stem of L. mackliniae so far.  Six flowers:

[attachthumb = 1]

Everything here is very early because of several weeks of hot, sunny, dry weather in early May.

Here it is the opposite, everything is very late because of several monthe of cold, dry weather all winter and spring. It is better now but I can't grow lilies like that anyway :o

Truly breathtaking, Gene! :o

The colors are so complimentary and subtle.
  They really bring a lot of depth to the character.

Cleaning up the last of my stem bulblets this fall, I felt the need to share....

Each bulblet has a piece of granite grit under it to prop it into position for the photo op.

And then this crawled out of one of them.....

Identified by a friend, it's a species of Pseudoscorpion (Chelifer sp.), a predatory mite.  From its butt to the end of its pincers, it is not more than one millimeter long.

----- Cool!

I am really pleased with what my new camera can do.  Of course, still being a pocket camera it has its limitations.

Pseudoscorpions may be nasty looking, but are not nasty at all.  When I first saw it, it looked like a speck with giant claws.  Not knowing what species it is, I guess I can’t say for sure what it eats, but these beneficial arachnids eat other small mites, and many insects like aphids, beetle larvae, caterpillars, etc. 

I think that pic is about the limitation of the close up feature with my Sony RX100M2.  (I splurged.)  I have had it for about a month, and although all my photos with my previous Panasonic point and shoot were taken with auto mode (no other option), the auto mode on this Sony is terrible with anything even remotely close up.  I quickly learned how to remedy that!  The backlit technology of the 1 inch sensor (giant for a pocket camera) really allows for low light use and 20 megapixel compilation.  Probably the greatest single improvement over my old Panasonic Lumix TZ4.  The camera doesn't focus closer than 4cm, but the high pixel count compensates a lot.  This was the original photo (at 4cm) that the image above came from:

Nice.  And how "tiny" is it?