Pleasure from lily hybrids

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 11

Pleasure from lily hybrids

ARDENER'S DIARY

Derrick Rooney

“Connecticut Yankee,” a strong-growing and exceptionally free-flowering lily which is one of the most joyous sights in my garden this year, is one of many good hybrids raised in recent years from crosses between several Asiatic lily species and their descendants — crosses which are producing, now, some of the best of all garden lilies. Its appeal to me lies not only in its vigour, rude good health and floriferousness but in its soft orange colour, which carries over into midsummer the tones that I admired last month in two of my favourite earlyflowering lilies, “Enchantment” and “Harmony.”

The difference is that whereas “Connecticut Yankee” has gracefully reflexed pendant flowers, the other two have wide-open, upward-facing ones. And while “Enchantment” and “Harmony” have some Asiatic blood, they belong to an entirely different group of hybrids derived largely from a group of Euro-Asian species and known as Midcentury Hybrids — the sensation of a previous generation of gardeners.

Though only a few species are involved, the pedigree of the Mid-century Hybrids is quite complex, and traces back, through various crosses, to a handful of wild species — Lilium bulbiferum, concolor, dauricum, and maculatum. Some of these species are themselves sometimes grown as garden plants. Lilium bulbiferum is a European lily which has orange-red, cup-shaped, up-ward-facing flowers, fairly early in summer. Like most widespread species, it is very variable in size and quantity of bloom, and one wild form is not known to flower at all. A characteristic of this species, which has been transmitted to some of its offspring, is that bulbils grow in the leaf axils all up the stem.

I have not grown Lilium bulbiferum itself, for although I have obtained bulbils several times, they have always been too shrivelled on arrival to be revived. Lilium concolor is another lily that I know only from other people’s descriptions, because although I have obtained seed, it has failed to germinate. A friend who did once grow it assures me that it is one of

the most graceful and dainty of lilies. It comes from Central China, has up-ward-facing, star-shaped blooms which may be yellow or scarlet, and likes to grow with its feet in shade and its head in the sun. Lilium dauricum, on the other hand, is a sun-lover all the way. This is another species which I have not grown, though I am on the way to doing so — seedlings are coming up strongly. As I saw it in a MidCanterbury garden last month, Lilium dauricum is a most appealing lily with wide-open, upward-facing flowers of tangerine-scarlet,

attractively speckled with maroon dots. Apricot and yellow forms are also in cultivation, and there is said to be a microform — an alpine variant growing only 10cm to 20cm high — but I have not seen it. The common garden form of Lilium dauricum is about 60cm tall, and likes rock-garden conditions.

It has a long history as a parent, and sired two historic hybrids, LI. hollandicum and maculatum, which played important roles in the development of modern, free-flowering hybrid strains, noted for their resistance to virus. One branch developed in the Mid-cen-tury group; another led to the “tiger lily” hybrids raised in Oregon by the noted American lily breeder, Jan de Graaf. One of the advantages of the Mid-century type of hybrid is that this group flowers early in the summer, and thus extends the lily season forward. They

may not appeal to the exhibitor, but as garden plants they are in the first rank. The oldest still widely listed in nursery catalogues is “Enchantment,” a war baby first released in 1944. To my mind it is still unsurpassed for all-round reliability and floriferousness.

The vermilion-orange flowers are neatly presented, being upward-facing in well-spaced clusters, and open over a period of some weeks — a clump which was in flower at the beginning of December still had a few blooms last week. Virus does not seem to trouble “Enchantment” and it thrives in either rich or poor soil. “Joan Evans” is another survivor of the early Midcenturies, and is still very popular, but I don’t much care for its brassy tone of yellow.

“Joan Evans” was a product of the second generation, in which the original Mid-centuries received an infusion of the Asiatic Lilium davidii, a species which, especially in its variety willmottiae, is itself a first-rate garden lily. It has great sprays of cinnabar-red flowers; like upside-down candelabra.

If the earlier generations of these hybrid lilies had a flaw, it was a lack of scent. To my mind their well-bred bearing and floriferousness compensate for this, but some people insist that lilies must be scented, so scent was added to the Mid-cen-tury strain by crossing in Lilium amabile, an Asiatic “turk’s cap” > type with smallish, dark red flowers. This is an appealing lily in its own right, but its scent is so powerful that some gardeners find it excessive, and it is seldom seen in cultivation. The name translates as “worthy of love.” I did try hard to love it, but alas, the seed which I obtained after a long search failed to germinate.

Post-amabile Mid-century type hybrids include such gems as “Destiny,” with large, upright, cool yellow flowers; “Harmony,” bowlshaped, luminous orange; “Prosperity,” lemon yellow, outward facing; “Cinnabar,” in ruby red; and “Tabasco,” aptly named — an earlyflowering and spendid dark red. Some of them, alas, seem no longer to be in commerce.