Lily Propagation

Hello there,

I will be back here in a day or 2 with a video on information on lily propagation.
I will do a hands on video of how to scale lily bulbs.

I will cover a few different ways to get the bulbs scales going and show you some of the materials I use.
I will go over using bags, containers, perlite, peat moss, paper towel, rooting hormones, and any other little tricks I can think of to help you get more out of your lilies.

Hope you stop in and check things out.

Cheers for now,
Kevin

P.S. once i have that video up and going I will try and do up a quick video on starting lily seeds as well.

Martagon Seedling

This is one of my martagon seedlings that I have been waiting a good 4 years to see bloom.

This martagon should have bloomed a few years ago, but because of late frost, snow, hail and just a grumpy mother nature, it took some time.

I did not get a lot of seed from this cross and this is about the only that made it and bloomed.

The cross is L. martagon var. dalmaticum X L. Martagon X "Bornholm"

A very dark mother plant (pod plant) crossed with a very strong growing White.

I will see in the next few years how well it grows and multiplies before giving it a name and sending it out.

Hope this keeps you going with trying out your own crosses.

Happy Gardening! 

Lilies From Seed Book

As you may know I have put a booklet out on starting lilies from seed.
This little book I have done is a simple basic guide to starting lilies from seed. It covers all the basic information you need to get started. It also goes over the different types of lilies, lily seed habits, storage of seeds, and seed collection.

All great information you can use to get your won lily garden full of treasures.

It is up on www.smashwords.com

It has also now popped up in the book store in iTunes. Follow the link here if you would like a copy https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/beginners-guide-to-growing/id590562173?mt=11

There has been a price adjustment as well. It might take a few days for iTunes to catch up, but if you head to smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/266620 you can get your own copy for $5.99 you can also down load a free preview.

There are many different formats to choose from. So you should be able to down load for your iPod, Kindle, Kobo or Sony reader with out a problem.

If you have a copy of the sample let me know.
Drop me a line or leave a review either here or at smashwords.

I would love to know what you think.

I am also in the process of working on a second book of lilies to go along with this one.
I'll keep you updated as this one rolls along.

Happy Gardening!

Hello there a small update on this booklet.
I have dropped the price.
You can get it at all the different online bookstores now for $4.99
So head over to iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble or you favorite online retailer and check it out.
Or go direct to www.smashword.com
Thanks!

Lilies From Seed

So of the last while I have been slowly working on putting a guide together on growing lilies from seed.
All the little tips and hints I can think of that I usually use around here, and some of the things I learnt over 12 years of growing lilies for mail order, wholesale, some cut flowers and as a finished product at the local Farmers Market.
I am working with and online company called Smashwords. They have all the tools and connections to help send my little booklet out into the world.

Here is what the book cover looks like:

 

 

 

Soon you should be able to find a copy for the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, Kobo and Sony Reader in each of their online stores. If you can't wait that long you can get a copy now for all of those plus for your home computer or mac book through Smashwords by following this link http://smashwords.com/books/view/266620

You can even get the free preview there now and get a sample to read for FREE!

Some Thing Coming

It has been a long while since I last popped in here and had a chance to do much writing.
For that I am sorry.

I do have something exciting coming in the next couple of weeks.

I have been putting ideas and information together and stacking things up for a while.
For the new year I plan on putting out an eBook through amazon for the Kindle.
From there I plan on putting together a bunch of other guides and mini books on a few other gardening topics. I have been asked a few times over the last couple of weeks about why I don't do a book and start sharing it. Funny thing is I have had it in the back of my mind and in the planning stages for a while.

I am going to Kick things off with a basic guide for beginners about growing Lilies From seeds.

I hope to make it useful to many.

For now I shall head off and try to hurry things along.

Happy Gardening to all!

Martagon Lily Seedling

This little martagon lily took 8 years to bloom form seed. Last year It was up in the spring and showing great promise, but wild life happened. A deer came through early one morning when it was up about 2 inches out of the ground and bit it off just above the ground. I was looking forward to it blooming. This year it started again, but it was a bigger tip poking up out of the ground. I quickly placed a tomato cage around it with a few shiny deer and bird repellent tape. It shot up nicely reaching about three and a half feet in height. The flower buds un-furled and grew turning some what white in colour. I thought for sure the flowers would be light in colour, but just before opening they became a very deep dark red almost black colour. The pollen sacks were a very bright yellow before they opened to this rusty orange colour. The center is a lighter red with hints of white near the edges and a small green yellow nectary. The stems are of a dark colour, with a deep rich green foliage in nice whorls evenly spaced on the stem.

Now with traditional methods of propagation to increase the amount of this lily will take another three to four years before there are enough to get a good idea how this one will grow in the garden. These methods include scaling and natural division. Natural division is a lot slower and will only see about 2 to as many as 5 bulbs come along in the next three or four years. With scaling it may take about four years to get about 40 to 50 bulbs that may bloom for the first time. Usually with smaller bulbs you will only get between 1 and 5 flowers. This stem had about 30 blooms this year.

Many people wonder why Martagon lilies are expensive. It all comes down to the time put into growing the seed, then selecting a healthy vigorous plant, growing in on and multiplying the stock. Often from the first seed planted to large quantities to share with many people the process can be on average 15 years. Where as with Asiatic lilies one can start seeds and see a first flower in 2 to 3 years. Then if the vigour is there one could start to share in 2 to 3 years after that. This makes the time invested a lot shorter.

Both can be very enjoyable and exciting if one has the patience to wait for that first bloom. I hope this give you an idea about how new martagon lilies come about.

Fall Bulbs

Well it is that time of year again. Digging, washing and bagging up lily bulbs has started. This part of the season is always interesting. It gives me a chance to see how the bulbs grew and sized up over the last summer.

This past season was very good for rain fall and this should help the lilies for next year. last year was very dry and it did not help the plants put on good growth for the fall. They went into last winter a bit too dry. This was evident in the height of the plants and the lack of blooms.

But as you can see in the photo, the first few bulbs drying off after washing, there is good growth to each bulb over last year. These are bulbs of a martagon hybrid just before they get bagged up. Next step is into the cooler till I have at hand a large mix of bulbs. Then they start getting boxed up and sent off to their new homes.

Another Season

Well another season is soon drawing to an end. It has been an unusually cool and wet summer. The lilies are growing but still show signs of frost damage from last year. I believe the added stress of nearly on rain last year for most of the season did not help things much. There were not a lot of flowers blooming here on the martagon lilies, but most showed good growth. I hope the season has helped the bulbs bulk up. We start digging for the few orders we have this following week.
Next year should be a good year for seeing colour in the garden.

I will soon have new photos of some of the Asiatic Lilies brought over from the Fox Lily Ranch. It will be nice to have a fresh look at some of the Alberta bred lilies that I have not had a chance to see before this summer.

Work has also begun on a CD directory of the registered Alberta Lilies. Hope fully a good portion of it will be finished for this fall or early spring to share a first edition.

Have a great weekend.

End of the season

Well we are nearing the end of another season. This year has been full of ups and downs. The weather this year was less then perfect. Late frosts, hail, next to no rain for months at a time. The lilies stood through it all but took a beating and are showing the signs of stress. Many asiatic lilies did not size up but instead multiplied to try and save themselves. Next year will hopefully be a better year.

Our plans of doing a bunch of breeding in the lilies never got a chance. There were a total of 8 martagon lily stems that had flowers. Most of those were distorted and did not have all the parts to do some pollen dabbing. Out of the asiatic lily patch we did try a few crosses and got a total of 1 seed pod. This seed pod is now in doors drying off for the last bit in hopes of a few good seeds.

Over the next few months we will be working on a new catalogue for next year. Also planning will be done on a possible new shade house for a seedling and propagation area. There are also a few other ideas in the works for the next year. Possibly a seed and propagation booklet that has been in the works for a while, as well as a Cd of martagon lily photos of our collection.

I hope you all have had a good growing year this year and that the winter is no too long for you. I look forward to finding afew new lilies and playing around with a few new seeds.

Here is to next spring may the weather be just the right mix of warm rains at the end a hot sunny day in the garden.

Fall Bulbs

Hello To all,
Things here at Estate Perennials have been very busy over the last few months. Getting to the computer to write up a new blog post has been a long time coming. We are now just starting to get the fall dig under way to start filling fall orders of lilies and peonies and other perennials. Over the next few weeks we will be shipping our lily bulbs across Canada, into the Unite States and a few over seas.

I would like to thank all who have ordered bulbs this season. The weather this season have been very strange around here but everything is looking good for shipping. A few Martagon lilies were dug the other day to see how they are doing. The bulbs were very large and solid.

If you are still hoping to fit one or two lilies into the garden now is the time to get you order in. AS we will soon stop taking orders for the year.

Hope everyone has had a reasonable growing season and enjoyed there gardens.

T-shirts and Things

We have added a few more shirts and things with a new design. A great line drawing of a martagon lily. These Items are a great value and you have many different size options.


There are 2 styles of ladies t shirts and 2 styles of men's shirts to choose from as well we change the look of the Tote bag. We added this image to the bag for a cleaner look.



We even added a pillow to the mix just for fun.


If there are any items you would like with this logo or a lily added to it just let me know and I will added it soon to the selection.

You can follow the link by clicking on the Title of this post or by copy and pasting this to your browser. http://cafepress.com/estateperennial

First day of the Market

So last Friday was the kick off to the new season at the Farmers market. There were a bunch of good prizes given out and a really big cake to share. Lots of old vendors returned from last year and a lot of new vendors joined in. One of the fun things that happened was a guest appearance of Bailey The Buffalo Jr. . People got to see, pet and take a few photos of the year old Bison.
.

The fun part was his grand entrance. Riding on in through the big doors of the hall. He was right up front enjoying his ride in the open top car. This was great fun for all who attended to see.

This weekend should be a good weekend. The sun is out and we should be done with frost and snow until the fall.

Heritage Market

So today the Stony Plain Heritage Farmers Market kicks off for the season.
It runs today from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm and tomorrow from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

All are welcome to wander through and take a look at all the stuff. The market was renamed and opened up to 2 days. With the opening Jim Hole of Hole's Greenhouses will be there. A special appearance of Bailey the Buffalo Jr. will also be had. Come get your photo taken with a bison.

It is at the fair grounds in Stony Plain right by the Pioneer Museum. It should be a good time.
I will be there to sell lots of potted lilies, I have just over 2500 lilies potted up to sell this year.

Hope you can make it out.

Out In the Garden

I was working away today in the garden and thought A photo of how the martagon lilies are doing would be good.

This is a smaller patch of martagon Burnt Orange coming up. The tallest is about six inches high. The garden is starting to look really good so far. The weeds are not coming on to fast and the clean up from last year is close to being done.

Lots of old stems and peony tops to be cleaned up yet but we are over half done. The asiatic lilies are just starting to show life in the odd spot in the garden. Now a bit of steady rain and some warm weather should really get things growing.

T-shirts and Things

We have just opened a on line store with cafepress.com.

You can get t-shirts and tote bags with a Estate Perennials logo that has a lily in the back ground.

We will be working on adding a few more designs in the near future. As well as other items.

If there is any items you would like to have with an Estate perennials design or logo on it please let me know and I'll see what we can come up with.

You can take a look at these items by following the link up top. On the pages with the items you can also get bigger pictures and details on prices and materials.

Hope you enjoy. More items ot be added soon.

Lily Scales - Update

Well it has been a bit of time and the scales are growing very well. New little bulbs have started putting out leaves. This is a first time for me seeing them leaf out so soon and so quickly.

The little bulbs are of good size and are ready to get moved in to some potting soil.

As you can see from the photograph lots of leaves starting to reach out for sun light.

These scales were started on March 13, 2009 and keep on growing. They seem not to want a cold period and will hopefully continue to grow and size up. By this fall they should be a rather good size if they do not go dormant for the season.

Deer In the Lilies

So this evening I had a visit from some unwanted friends. Yes I am talking about deer. They look nice and are quiet, but the damage they do and can do is not a very good trade off. There were 5 white tail deer tonight wandering around and nibbling at the very young fresh shoots starting to push out of the soil. For the most part they do not seem to like the taste of martagon lilies. What they do is bite off the growing tip (this is where most of the leaves and flower buds are hiding) and spit them out.

I am now on a hunt for effective deer repellent. I am not looking to hurt the deer, but chase them away.

In the last few fall seasons they have badly damaged and killed off many young trees. I lost a very nice 8 foot lodge pole pine that had finally taken hold and started to put on some good growth. They also seemed to like a Siberian Larch, mountain ash, a very small Burr Oak and one fruit tree a Evan's Cherry.

One jokes with what they have eaten here in my garden, how would they taste.

Martagon Slide Show

I was tinkering with building a photo slide show of the martagon lilies available this fall.
You can get more on the lilies on our web site http://www.estateperennials.com/ .

I hope you enjoy.

Lilies By Scales

So here is an up date on the scales I started this spring. There are a few that are growing very well and even starting to put out a few leaves. Only about half of the scales started are showing growth so far but the ones that are growing well have 2 to 4 little bulbs forming on each.

There does not seem to be and of the scales showing signs of deterioration. The scales have coloured from the crisp white to a bit of a reddish colour. They are all still nice and firm.

You can see how I started these with the first post about lily propagation by scales. And the first up date on the lily scales on this page lilies from scales week 2.

In the next week I will be removing the scales, that were started last fall, from cold storage and starting to pot them up so that they can grow on and get a head start to the season. There are also about 20 or so bags of martagon lily seeds that were started that are soon to be moved out of the cold as well.

I will add an update on these soon.

Lilies From Seed Updates

I posted on March 22 on starting a few lilies from seed. The lilies I was talking about were seeds of lilium pumilum - the coral lily. The seeds were planted on March 16 2009 and are starting to realy grow. They have been given just water and a little bit of fundicide to prevent dampening off. So far it looks like most of them are going to take with out too many problems.

So you can sort of see there are a few up and growing. This photo was taken about 3 days ago and since there are a lot more up and starting to unfurl. I will be back to this subject in about 2 weeks to show you how much more they have grown. I have also started up a bigger bunch of these seeds for next year.

The goal with the second will to be to get them as big as I can in one year for the Alberta Regional Lily Society. Next year the lily group turns 25 and I am hoping to have about 100 reasonably sized bulbs to give away at the lily show in celebration of 25 years. This will be a nice little donation to the group.

You can check out the first post on Lilies From Seeds to see how I started the seed.