Lilium 2018

[fermi de Sousa]

First flowers open today on a reflexed type Orienpet Lilium, 'Mr Cas'.
It looks quite good this year after a wetter than usual early summer
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Another Orienpet (Oriental x Trumpet) Lilium hybrid - we bought it a few years ago without a label but I think it is 'Belladonna'.
The scent is particularly glorious but I wonder how these lilies will be affected by the expected 41^oC on Saturday
cheers
fermi

[johnw]

Lilium martagon Rubrum with a fasciated flower bud in Ken's garden.  Those are all flower buds we think. Should be quite a bizarre sight.

johnw

[Claire Cockcroft]

Nomocharis aperta

[Tony Willis]

two Lilium grayi and the inside of a flower from the one with four flowers

[Maggi Young]

Oh, that colour and those markings on the Lilium  grayi !!

And the endless charm of Nomocharis - Liliaceae is  such a great plant family

[Sally]

Where have I been all these years?! The lilies shown are beautiful (well, the L. martagon is more in the interesting category). Claire, did you grow the Nomocharis from seed? If so, how many years did it take to produce flowers?

Sally
South of Lewiston, Idaho  Zone 5ish

[sokol]

Lilium grayi is a dream Tony and one of my dream lilies. But the soil or climate doesn't fit here and all seedlings die young. Most American lilies are difficult here.

Others are doing better here.

Lilium chalcedonicum, not easy here but this one seems to like its place in front of a Thuja.





Lilium tsingtauense, well established in the garden.



Lilium lijiangense, one of the easiest in my garden.



Lilium humboldtii, first year to be in flower. I hope to have it for some years.

[Tony Willis]

We were in the south of Bavaria last week and it was very hot and I understand why L. grayi will not grow there. I live in NW England where apart from this year when we have had several weeks of sunshine and no rain it is usually cold and wet ,miserable.

My L. chalcedonicum are all just in bud. Where I have found it in the wild it has always been under trees ,quite high but very dry in summer.

[Claire Cockcroft]

Hi, Sally,
I grow a lot of liliaceous plants from seed, including nomocharis.  Most take 7 years from planting.  A few are more precocious.  Seed growers have to have loads of patience.   
...Claire

[Steve Garvie]

With a bit of luck it is possible to get flowers on Nomocharis in under 4 years.


-Nomocharis sp. nova BO 14-125; seed collected Yunnan: Nujiang, Fugong, downhill from Yaping pass. The seed was sown in December 2014. This looks to be N. aperta(??).


-Nomocharis “basilissa” - Yunnan: Nujiang, Fugong, Yaping pass, 3400m BO 13-067. Sown in January 2014 and flowering for the first time this year. Sadly it is not N. basilissa but probably another form of N. aperta(??)

[Sally]

Claire and Steve, thank you for the information about Nomocharis.  Thanks to all who contribute such lovely photos for us to enjoy.

Sally
South of Lewiston, Idaho. Zone 5ish

[arisaema]

The seed was sown in December 2014. This looks to be N. aperta(??).
(...)
 Sown in January 2014 and flowering for the first time this year. Sadly it is not N. basilissa but probably another form of N. aperta(??)

My fault, they would indeed both key as N. aperta in FoC. I'm actually in Fugong right now, heading to Yaping Yakou on the 22nd. 2013 was my first time there and I had never seen anything in flower, so "basilissa" was a mistake based on the one record of Nomocharis I had from that location. It grows there, so hopefully I'll have a picture or 5 in two days time.

Gao's DNA work in his paper describing N. gongshanensis showed the Yaping plants to be different from his N. aperta (=N. forrestii) sample from Xianggelila. They are certainly much taller, growing to 1.5m or more - far taller than the Lilium apertum type from near Biluo Xueshan. I thought the Yaping plants had blue pollen, but my pictures might be fooling me as one of your's clearly show the pollen is yellow. If so this would make them N. aperta, with N. forrestii being a valid species (if you trust Gao's paper).

[arisaema]

Plants from E Biluo Xueshan below, taken 2 days ago, close to the type location for Lilium apertum:

[arisaema]

The tall ones, growing among bamboo, at Yaping Yakou below. I think someone at Edinburgh named it as a form back in the early 20th century.