Coincidentally, I was visiting a local garden (Lanham, Maryland) the day before I saw Ken's images. When I saw his I was really struck by the similarity between the stems of Lilium humboldtii and those of our local Lilium superbum. The foliage is distinct, but each species seems to be at about the same stage of development and vigor. The plant in my image is over seven feet high and has perhaps eight buds. It's blooming in that garden for the first time - it's been there for four or so years. The image is poor - if I have time later, I'll get more. Old books attribute astonishing vigor to Lilium superbum: stems between 10 and 12 feet high with 50-70 buds/blooms. Too bad David Griffiths did not use Lilium superbum instead of L. humboldtii in his hybridizing work: his Bellingham Hybrids were marvelous, but they did not thrive under east coast conditions. Jim McKenney -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_0666_1.JPG Type: image/jpeg Size: 187433 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/…> _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…