'L. canadense var. editorium' (Lilium)

Always a favorite of visitors to our nursery in the early years was the color variant 'editorium', meaning "red". Shown here with little foil "birth control" caps over the stigma of each flower, which is a necessary process for seed production. The petals of each flower are manually pulled back hours before they would normally open and the "virgin" stigma is capped. Several days later, when the stigmatic fluid appears, necessary for pollen germination, the cap is removed and pollen from another flower applied. Each stigma is immediately capped with a new foil cap to insure no unwanted pollen contaminates the cross.

Slightly out of focus and in the background is the named variety of L. canadense var. canadense 'Peaches and Pepper', a fine peachy-orange specimen collected and cloned in a tissue culture lab by Dr. Richard M. Adams and introduced by B&D Lilies in 1984. Due to lack of commercial interest as a garden lily, 'Peaches and Pepper' was discontinued in the early 1990's.

Photo inset shows an example of the fleshy rhizome type bulb produced by L. canadense. The darker portion on the right is the portion of the bulb that sent up the current years stem. To the left is the new or “daughter” bulb that will flower in the following year. This is a continuous yearly process in the growth of this type of bulb. Not only are they getting larger with the passing of each season, but they are traveling underground as well. The bulb shown is 4 years from seed and will flower in the next season. Large, well established bulbs of L. canadense will often produce as many as 4 daughter bulbs.