LILIES MADE TO ORDER 
HOWARD ELLSWORTH GILKEY 
Horticultural Dept., University of California 
The Magic Spell of the Lily that has Captured Every Great Hybridist 
Still Offers a Rich Field for Experiment in Everyman’s Garden 
T 'HE Lily is 
lovely enough as 
it is.” Perhaps! 
But is the family 
hardy enough in all 
its members? Is it 
sufficiently fragrant? 
Does it carry enough 
blossoms? There are 
lots of excellent quali- 
ties present in the differ- 
ent members of the family 
and it is possible that 
might be recombined to foi 
something infinitely more lovely. 
Lily crossing is not impossible; but 
often a certain cross will fail again and 
again — only to prove a success when almost 
despaired of! On the other hand there are 
several crosses which result in abundant seed. 
All the Lilies that we grow in any quantity 
are true original species. It is surprising 
that there are so few hybrids in a family 
of plants so replete with distinct and charming species. 
For the amateur would-be hybridist the Lily family has de- 
cided attractions because the large size of the parts of the 
flower makes the necessary manipulation quite easy. Perhaps 
some others will find this family as alluring as 1 have. The 
first time 1 ever made any Lily hybrids, I 
had neither parent of the cross 1 proposed to 
make, but a friend was the proud possessor 
of a fine bed of Leopard Lilies, growing right 
in the open in full sunlight and he allowed 
me to make use of his plants. The other 
parent was L. Parryii. Cut flowers were sent 
from the mountains and had to be expressed 
seventy-five miles. 
It took four years for those hybrid seedlings 
to bloom ; but it doesn’t take a great stock of 
patience to wait that long, when you have 
plenty of other garden treasure to care for. 
When the hybrids blossomed, they proved to 
be great, golden-yellow, sweet-scented Leopard 
Lilies remarkably uniform and seemingly a 
perfect blend of the two parent species. The 
segments curved back at the tips less than in 
L. pardalinum, and much of the trumpet shape 
of L. Parryii was retained; their glory was 
their wonderful fragrance. 
Lilies are all natives of the Northern Hemis- 
phere, and fall readily into two groups, those 
native to the Old World, and those native 
to the New World. These groups may again 
be subdivided roughly into European and 
Asian, and Eastern and Western American 
divisions respectively. Of course there are 
intergradations and occasions where an Asian 
Lily, for example L. tenuifolium, has more 
real affinity for its European relatives than 
for its Asian allies, but in general the affinities 
for crossing are al- 
most within geo- 
graphical limits. An 
evolutionist would 
say that all the forms 
common to one re- 
gion were descended 
from one common an- 
cestor, and had arisen 
as mutations from the 
common source; hence 
the degree of affinity ex- 
isting between the individ- 
uals native to the same 
country. It is interesting 
to note that each form has a par- 
allel in the other group; all have 
Turk’s-cap types as well as trumpet-shaped 
types. 
Of the European Lilies, we really grow but 
one, the Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum). 
The Turk’s-cap Lily (L. martagon), and its 
beautiful white variety, album; the brilliant 
L. chalcedonicum, the reddest of the big Lilies; and the grace- 
ful little Siberian Coral Lily (L. tenuifolium) are among the 
most alluring. Raise the last from seed. It will bloom in 
from one to two years. The Nankeen Lily (L. testaceum), re- 
puted to be a natural cross between L. martagon and L. chalce- 
donicum is perhaps the rarest as to color and 
should prove almost as hardy as the Madonna 
Lily. The cross has never been repeated. 
Someone should try to duplicate it. 
Lilium marhan, a hybrid between L. mar- 
tagon and L. Hansonii, is becoming more 
common, but the cross should be easy to dup- 
licate. And perhaps you may get something 
quite distinct, for the same cross does not al- 
ways result in the same way! L. tenuifolium 
var. Golden Gleam would scarcely be recog- 
nized as a hybrid. Yet according to the 
records it came from seeds produced by pol- 
linating L. tenuifolium with L. martagon. 
It may be that the gardener in the east has a 
good opportunity, right at his own door, for 
experimenting with the Lilies native to his 
own locality. With such a variety as is 
afforded by L. superbum, L. carolinianum, L. 
philadelphicum, L. canadense and L. Grayii 
there should be results worth trying for; that 
is, if seeds can be had from the trials. 
The Lilies of Western America form an in- 
teresting and charming group. The majority 
of them thrive in our gardens, if stable man- 
ure is kept away from them. For barbaric 
splendor plant the Leopard Lily (L. par- 
dalinum), and the Humboldt Lily. Their 
warmth of gold and copper and vermilion 
give a dash of color and life to a shaded, 
somber hillside that is worth any effort. If 
you have a bit of canon, plant them both. 
QUEEN OF ALL— THE REGAL LILY 
Pure glistening white melting to pure 
lemon in the depths of the throat 
EMASCULATING THE UNOPENED 
BUDS 
In the lower flowers, treated several days 
earlier and since opened, the absence 
of the anthers is plainly discernible 
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