My martagon hybrids are flowering now as well here in Carnation, Washington (where it has been a relatively warm and moist spring for our area interrupted by short periods of cold, heavy rain). I think they smell wonderful! Mine are all in pots since we just recently moved here and I haven’t had time to put in garden beds yet in which to plant them. They perfume the entire nursery zone (where my plant collection bides it’s time in pots) with a sweet, heavy, almost fruity fragrance that I find much more appealing than some of the more perfume-y smells of various Asian lilies I’ve noticed. Although I would say L. duchartrei has an even nicer perfume. I grow a number of the ‘Such-and-such Morning’ named martagon hybrids, and also one called ‘Gaybird.’ Next to the martagons, Lilium ‘Fusion’ has several buds, and I’m looking forward to seeing its far-fetched hybrid flowers in person. At my parents garden north of Seattle, the martagons ‘Arabian Night’ (or is it ‘Arabian Knight’?) are 5’ tall and covered in blooms, but not very fragrant, and Lilium pardalinum is even taller, with numerous 3” buds just about to open. No spontaneous martagon seedlings yet here, although many of the lily seeds I sowed in pots last winter have been sprouting nicely. I’m particularly excited about L. lijiangense and several Nomocharis species I got from last years various seed exchanges, all of which are just putting out their first true leaves. On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 6:20 PM Rodger Whitlock <totototo@telus.net> wrote: > Martagon lilies are flowering right now, and doing better than in the > past. They are even starting to self-sow a little, so the patch is > bigger than when originally planted; and one stray seed germinated right > by my front steps and is flowering right now. > > This is not because I am some super-gardener. Nor is it because the > seeds I grew these from were in some way "special". The show is due > entirely to the conditions of growth, so let me outline those: > > 1. Climate: cool Mediterranean with wet winters and cool summers. > > 2. Extra water? None. > > 3. Soil: a clay called "floured sand." This clay, unlike the blue marine > clay so common here, can be worked when wet because it isn't sticky. > > 4. Drainage: poor. I get standing water near the martagons during wet > periods. > > 5. Light: almost no direct sun but plenty of sky light. > > 6. Pests: deer, which in many seasons eat all the buds. > > The great drawback to martagons is that though they are very beautiful, > they smell bad and hence cannot be used as a cut flower. > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…