Lilies have been grown in gardens as far back as the memory of man can truce, but they have been singularly resistant to the wiles of the hybridist until recent years.
Up to the turn of the century, only two hybrids were known: Lilium testaceum and Francis Parkman’s ill-fated L. parkmanni.
Over the past half-century, the hybridists have persisted until they have finally broken down some of the natural resistance of the genus. Lilies have become more amenable, and a rich series of crosses have resulted.
Attendance at any of the big lily shows these days will give one an immediate picture of how versatile the lily has become.
The Individuality of Lilies Species
As with any plant, both species and hybrids have their distinct advantages. The species are highly individual; they have grace, t native beauty, and a kind of dignity that, in many instances, cannot be improved.
On the other hand, the majority of the species are somewhat less consistently tractable than we could wish; some of them are not as carefully selected in cultivation as they might be; and a few have limitations as to health, color, or some other characteristic that needs improvement.
The fault may be very minor such as a tendency to bleach in the sun or the stature may not be consistent; a given lily may happen to poke through the ground too early in Spring, and thus ïeectue liable to damage from late frosts.
These and ether factors are what the hybridist is striving for when he tries to improve upon nature.
He wants greater garden adaptability and dependability, an extension of the season, more lilies to cover some of the bare midsummer period, new colors, and wider subtleties of color and variations of the three characteristic shapes.
Forms of Lily Flowers
The three shapes we find in nature are interesting for themselves and the color range within each. Most gardeners, when they think of lilies, think first of the great, white trumpet group which includes the madonna, regal, and Easter lilies.
There are two pink trumpet species also, but one is very rare and the other so capricious as to be considered a good garden plant.
The second group includes the Turks-cap lilies, with pendant, recurved blooms that run to shades of yellow, red, or orange-red; there are also one white and two violet-flowered forms among the true species.
The third group is the cup-shaped lilies which are almost invariably orange-red, although some yellows and deep reds have been available. There are no whites, no violets, and no pinks in this group, and one might say that some would be welcome.
The new hybrids have, in one way or another blended most of these forms and colors. The work is far from done – it proceeds indefinitely, and more new things will be coming to the fore for many years.
But broad patterns have been laid, and unquestionably, any number of hybrids already introduced is so good that it is unlikely in the extreme that they will be replaced at any future date. Instead, they will be supplemented.
New Cup-Shaped Varieties
The cup-shaped group offers several good, new lilies. Among the yellows, this writer feels that Dr. Skinner’s Mellen Carroll is one of the best.
This is warm, clear, butter-yellow with large, open blooms on dwarf stems; it flowers in early to mid-July, later than other lilies of this family.
The Golden Chalice hybrids by Jan de Graaff are very fine, early lilies, two to four feet tall. They cannot be compared with Helen Carroll, as they are distinctly different in habit, size of bloom, color, and most of all, season of bloom.
With us, they are among the first lilies to flower and are gone at least three weeks before Helen Carroll is open. Slate’s Satan and de Gratin Campfire are both good dark reds. Satan has true cup-shaped blooms of very deep-crimson color, and it is an exceedingly handsome plant.
Campfires are equally attractive and in flower at the same time. The color is not as deep, lint the blooms are much larger and more widely opened.
A great ninny orange and orange-red lilies are available in this family, and at least three new ones are noteworthy: Pagoda and Enchantment by de Graaff and Margaret Johnson by Skinner.
Pagoda is dear orange, Enchantment is nasturtium-red, and both are late, following Helen Carroll into flower. Margaret Johnson is still later than either of these and the color of the tiger lily. All these are crosses of L. tigrinum and L. umbellatum.
Turks-Cap Hybrids
Crosses within the Turks-cap family have given us Slate’s Seneca – a late-flowering lily of beautiful, soft, reddish-apricot color, the Backhouse hybrid group, and a new lot of crosses from the lavender L. cernuum to the apricot-orange L. willmottiae.
These are most promising but are not yet ready for distribution. The Backhouse hybrids have myriads of small, recurved blooms on stems that may well reach seven and a half feet in light shade.
The color range is from ivory flushed with yellow or gold, pink, violet, and coppery bronzes to deep mahogany-red.
However, the two main trends in the new hybrids have been crosses of the Turks cap with the upright lilies and crosses of the white trumpet lilies with L. henryi, a yellow turks-cap.
Warm Colors in Abundance
In the first group, we have a series of plants with recurved or flatly-opened blooms held at right angles to the stem. The Duchess by Skinner is a unique and early lily, about 2′ feet tall, and wide, flat blooms of deep pumpkin color.
It is a handsome plant, completely distinct from all the others, and triply valuable because of its season. The rest of the lilies in this general class are mid-season lilies, and the colors are dominantly yellow or some variant of orange or red.
Oustanding Yellows
Three yellows are outstanding: Skinner’s Lemon Lady, a beauty whose color is described accurately by the name; de Graft’s Parade, likewise very fine with large blooms of glittery butter-yellow overcast with a deeper color; and Isabella Preston’s Coronation, a clear yellow variant of L. daridi.
Apricots and Oranges
Apricots and oranges include three by de Graaff and one by Horsford. Tango is so pale as to be properly described as parchment; Vagabond is brilliant salmon-orange, and Tangelo is clear, vivid orange, one of the showiest garden plants extant.
All three are L. tigrinum – L. umbellatum crosses, with large, widely-opened blooms which flower in mid-July.
Horsford Molly Stark has smaller blooms, slightly reflexed and star-shaped, and shrimp-red – a soft and agreeable color that stands up well.
Real Reds
Real reds include Preston’s Brenda Watts, which is grenadine-red, and Edna Kean, which is cherry-red. Both have long spikes with many smallish blooms on stems that may well run to five feet. Both are brilliant, showy, and satisfying to grow.
Stooke’s Fire King is even more brilliant in color than either of these. Dark reds are beginning to be a bit more common, and the three best are Skinner’s Dunkirk, Horsford’s Barbara, and de Graaff’s Fireflame.
A Suggestion for Hybridizers
The lilies described in the paragraph above are all good garden plants, thrilling in their exuberance of color and responsiveness to garden conditions.
If one could ask anything more of the hybridist in this special area, it would be for a few more pale yellows and ivories.
Then, further additions to the red and orange lilies need to be selected to extend the season.
At present, there are so many good hybrids of these colors in flower at overlapping times that, even though each is distinct, the selection is bewildering.
Hybrids for August Gardens
The most sensational plant crosses made in many years were the two that launched the Aurelian Hybrids and the Havemeyer series on their way.
The former has been developed largely in this country by Carlton Yerex and was originally a cross of L. henryi on L. sargentiae.
The latter is Tom Barry’s wonderful cross of L. henryi on L. sulphureum. The Aurelian strain has been badly crossed with the trumpet lilies so that the characteristics of the trumpet parentage are more pronounced than in the Havemeyer lilies.
The color ranges from white or ivory flushed with yellow, citron, or orange to clear, deep yellow; however, one consistently has the feeling of white underlying whatever the actual color may be.
With Havemeyer and its seedlings, the reverse is true – they tend to be broad, flaring turks-caps, and the colors are lemon, butter, and pumpkin to burnt orange. Even when one of these is laid delicately over a white ground, it still seems to be a colored rather than a white lily.
The Aurelians flower in early August, the Havemeyers at the end of the month and carry over into September. With us, the Aurelians rarely reach more than four feet ó and we would expect four to six feet to be normal.
Havemeyer may grow to 10 or 12 feet, but an ordinary expectancy would be five or six. In the writer’s opinion, these two lilies are the most important groups of August-flowering plants that have come into existence in at least half a century.
More Improvements in Breeding
In addition to the new hybrids, growers have been concerned with much-needed selection within several of the species in terms of evolving the best clones or strengthening and sharpening the color distinctions.
This work would include Mrs. J. N. Henry’s findings in L. superbum, de Graaff’s work with L. vanadium to produce the Cascade strain, the work many growers have put into developing the Easter lily, Buckley’s work with L. aura-tuna and the work of Yerex, Freimann, de Graaff and Palmer with the trumpet groups to develop pinks and yellows.
Cascade Strain of Madonna Lilies
Of the lilies referred to in the above paragraph, three are at present of great garden importance: the Cascade strain of L. candidum, the color selections and improvements known as L. auralum Esperanza, and L. longiflorum Estate.
The Cascade strain is free of viruses and far and away the most vigorous and satisfactory form of the madonna lily for our gardens. It is seed-grown and, except for its health, characteristic of the type.
The color variations within L. auratum have been sharpened in the Esperanza strain, and they are bred consistently for size and shape of bloom as well as good habit of the plant itself.
The Estate lily is larger and of better substance than any of the older forms; furthermore, it is perfectly hardy in gardens all over the country.
Likewise, it is tall enough to be a good garden plant, unlike most other forms. It. flowers in late July or early August.
Many of the pinks and yellows that have evolved within the trumpet group are truly hybrids rather than selections.
They are variously listed in the catalogs. All of them are strikingly handsome plants but still scarce and expensive.
44659 by Alan Macneil