Red Amaryllis

A few months back, I bought some amaryllis bulbs on Ebay. One is now flowering. It produced 2 scapes, about 6.5" tall. The flower size is 3" long and 3.5" across. Could this be H. Johnsonii?

Basement Happenings

With all of these spring plantings I am doing, I haven't done anything in the basement. My amaryllis are so dry and so are my seedlings. Since it is raining and I can not plant the remaining lily bulbs I have, I spent sometime down in the basement. I have a few surprises like the amaryllis seedpods that are ready to be harvested, a blooming amaryllis and the lily scales produced some bulblets.


These are my Lilium Formosanum and Hippeastrum Striatum seedlings. The lily seedlings are about a year old and the amaryllis seedlings are about 6 months old. They are in a communal tray due to space problem.


In my older post, I sowed some lily seeds from Dr. Griesbach. Only one tray germinated and here it is. The seeds in the two trays rotted off and I think it is due to damping-off. These seedlings need to be transferred to a deeper pot since lilies have contractile roots and they pull themselves down.


This tray contains the seeds I got when I joined the North American Lily Society. This is an experiment. I have read that the coco coir is good for seed germination. I tried it for my self. Out of 20 seeds, 17 germinated and 2 withered. Good germination rate.


These are my L. Philippinense seedlings. One day, when they were a few days old, I left them in the windowsill and the sun was so hot they withered. I only have two seedlings left.


These are Asiatic lily seeds. I simply use them for the coco coir experiment and the germination rate again is good. So yes, it is true that the coco coir is good for seed germination.


I tried my hand with lily scaling. These are mixed OT lily bulb scales. I was so excited when I opened the bag and saw the scales produced bulblets.


Before planting my L. Hansonii from my Lily Society, I scaled it off. Out of 5 scales, this is the only one that produced bulblets. I scaled the bulb on March 26th.


On my previous post, I crossed my cybister 'Rosario' with 'Lima'. The seedpods are ready to be harvested now. The amaryllis cross with crocus was a failure.


I hope the seeds in these pods are all viable. Not chaffs.


This one too is from a previous post. My amaryllis 'Sydney' attacked by NBF, Look at the bulblet. Isn't it neat?


Another bulb attacked by NBF. It produced two bulblets.


When I found my 'Royal Velvet' last week eaten by the larva, it made me want to give up growing amaryllis.


And lastly, my Orange Sovereign is blooming. Big, bright orange flowers on a very tall scape.

Hostas

Last Saturday, I have attended the Northern Illinois Hosta Society meeting at the Friendship Park Conservatory in Des Plains. I had the chance to hear Ken Harris, American Hosta Society Photo Editor, talk about digital cameras and gave us basic photography lesson. Taking pictures, he said, is like gardening, you have to get down and get dirty. And the best time to get picture is in the morning, in the afternoon and on a cloudy day.

As it is hosta season, some of my hostas are beginning to show their true colors.


New to me last year is H. Designer Genes, a red petioled hosta. I bought this from my society when Mark Zilis was our guest speaker in spring last year discussing what went on with the production and publication of his book 'Hostapedia'.


H. June Fever, one of the prettiest sports from the H. Halcyon family.

One of my favorites, H. Montana Aureomarginata. It has nice form and leaf color in summertime.


H. Wolverine


H. Liberty, a very nice hosta. This is a huge hosta just like H.Sagae, where it sported from.

I have been busy planting my lily bulbs but once I am done planting, I can devote some time in taking pictures of my hostas.

Asiatic Lily Olina

Sharing with you my first lily bloom for the season.


Asiatic Lily Olina is a tango lily with red petals and black spots in the middle. The flower size is about 5 inches and the height is about 2 feet. I searched the web for its height and it reaches to about 3.5 feet.


I purchased these lilies with about 8-inch sprouts and were bent inside the bag. I potted them up right away and put them in the basement under LED grow lights and supplemental fluorescent lights which are on 24 hours a day. I potted them up on March 6th.

Plant Tags

Last year during fall planting, I ran out of plant tags. I found some metal brackets for hanging shelves in the basement and wrote the plant names in it with permanent marker. My husband saw my tags and brought home some scrapped metals from his work and told me to engrave them instead.


Cut them into two and voila, perfect tags.


I tried engraving for the first time and it's so easy to do.



Note the plant tag that I used in this pic.

I think these tags will last a lifetime. They are perfect for my lilies and hostas!

Tulips

I have added some hybrid tulips in my garden last year and I am disappointed that they came up mislabeled. Some of these tulips pictured below are planted years ago. They say that hybrid tulips are just good for one year or two show. It's not true. In my experience, Triumph tulip ' Shirley' is my living proof. They are planted in my garden six or seven years ago and they show up without fail every year. It is the same with the species tulips. They come back every year. Proof is my species tulip 'Eastern Star' that I have planted about the same time as my tulip 'Shirley'. I have added a few species tulips last year and have been pleased with their performance this spring. One is 'Dasystemon Tarda'. A single stem can produce up to 4 flowers. They are pretty little things.


Lily-flowering tulip 'Ballade'


Triumph tulips 'Purple Flag'


Lily-flowering tulips 'Claudia'


Triumph tulip 'Shirley'


Unknown lily-flowering tulip.


Species tulip 'Tinka'


Species tulips 'Dasystemon Tarda'


Lily flowering tulips 'Aladdin'


Lily-flowering tulip 'Marriette' with Tulip Breaking Virus(TBV).


Tulip 'Mariette' has been dug and disposed of. Here is what the infected bulb looked like.

I grow lots of lilies and this is not good. TBV is known to affect lilies too. The color breaking of the flower is the sign and there is no cure for it. Last year, I have one Oriental lily that has a sign of TBV in it but I did not pay attention until I had my lily lectures last winter. I have to wait until it will bloom to dispose of it.

Daffodils

Some of these daffodils are growing in my garden for years and some had been planted last fall. Some of my older daffodils needed to be divided, some needed to be moved and some needed fertilizer. I am not really in favor of using fertilizer but this spring I sprinkled some bulb fertilizer in my garden in which the primary recepient are my lilies and my daffodils have benefited from it also. I have seen some of my old daffodils bloom that are bloomless the previous years.


'Red Rascal'


'Mount Hood'


'Ice Follies'


'Barett Browning'


'Ice King'


'Obdam'


'Geranium'


'Red Devon'


'Thalia'


'Fortissimo'


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