Asiatic Lily Leaves? Rooting time!

I came across this post - Propagating Asiatic Lilies From Leaves - and it got me to thinking...

May 19, 2012 - Asiatic Lilies that I grew from seeds.

The asiatic lily seeds that I harvested last year from a white lily that were cross-pollinated with who-knows-who, it was pretty exciting to see the seeds grow early this year. I wanted at least one to survive but to have a handful go beyond the cotyledon stage was pretty neat. I can't wait to see the flowers when the time comes (next year? two years?).

Then, coming across the site about doing it via leaves, I found myself really interested in the idea, enough so that I got my hands on rooting hormone so that I could give it a whirl. I had a lot of orange lilies so the idea of trying to make more wasn't interesting. However, there is one lily in the backyard that grows really tall and has these dark red/almost brown flowers. It's been in the backyard for years but only one ever comes up every year. After finding out that it was a gift from my uncle to my mother, I was more keen on the idea of stripping some leaves off and seeing if I have any luck in rooting any.

Eighteen leaves later, got myself a batch ready to go. I didn't use sand, as I didn't have any on hand, so I used the sterile growing medium. I dunked each leaf into the rooting hormone, tapped off the excess, and plopped them into each pot.

Now it's just a waiting game!

May Update!

Wow, I hadn't realized it was over a month since I last updated. I've been thinking a lot about Camp NaNoWriMo lately that I forgot to really update anything on my garden blog!

I selfed the irises but none of them took - which was fine with me. I've been feeling incredibly overwhelmed with trying to keep up with new seeds. I just can't help it. I know I have no space left but I have to plant any seeds I get. ;)

April 16, 2012 - Amaryllis grown from seed 2007

From my seed-grown batch in 2007, one flower came out as a double which surprised me as I do not own any double amaryllis.

April 16, 2012 - Amaryllis grown from seed 2007

April 16, 2012 - Amaryllis grown from seed 2007

Even the stigmas were melded together. The other flowers on this scape all turned out to be normal flowers, nothing out of the ordinary so I guess this one was meant to be two flowers but it just came out as a conjoined twin or something.

April 17, 2012 - "Candy Floss" selfed pod

April 17, 2012 - "Candy Floss" selfed pod

The pod matured and revealed brown seeds! I planted about fifteen seeds in a flower box and at the moment, one seedling came up.

April 20, 2012 - Red Amaryllis blooming

April 27, 2012 - Venus Fly Trap sending up two flowers

April 28, 2012 - Pink/White Amaryllis (Hippeastrum Vittatum, perhaps?)

April 28, 2012 - "Candy Floss" replacement bulb planted in bed.

April 28, 2012 - Stella D'oro

Still no idea where to put these flowers. I know they like to spread so I hesitate at the idea of putting them in my long bed.

April 28, 2012 - Hippeastrum Aulicum seedlings

April 28, 2012 - Hippeastrum Charisma seedlings

April 29, 2012 - Third Gen Red

These were seeds that came from a seed pod on my second generation Red *last* year. I had no intentions of planting the seeds but I did the water method for about three to four weeks, a couple grew (which I planted in the red pot) and I didn't want to throw away the rest so I stuck them in the clear pot in case there were any others that grew - and surprise! They all exploded. I don't think the water method works very well for me.

May 4, 2012 - relocated BM/PD Iris Seedlings to Bed

I decided to relocate my iris seedlings to the bed. I divided what space was left in half for both pots. As I divided the Black Mom/Purple Dad seeds and started relocating them to the bed, I found out that I needed MORE space. I moved the black dividers a bit, and even made a little section spanning off further into the bed. Then I found myself with a small strip of empty bed that would NOT be enough room for the other pot of seedlings. Phew. I have no idea what to do with them at the moment but I really want to get them out of the pot before they really start hurting each other.

May 10, 2012 - Replacement bulb is still NOT Candy Floss

So the replacement bulb I got from Edensblooms finally opened and it turned out to be another... whatever it is. Definitely not a Candy Floss. I did not e-mail Aaron because if all his Candy Floss looks like this, there's no reason to e-mail him again. They are definitely pretty flowers and I did buy the bulb on a sale so.. Oh well.

May 12, 2012 - Seed Pods of Amaryllis

I used green yarn to mark pods that had been pollinated by Green Dragon pollen and red yarn by the "Candy Floss" pollen. I watched as every single pod of the Green Dragon fathers fail. When I opened them, they were all white seeds that just never took.

I almost did not use the "Candy Floss" pollen. Because the mothers were red and the Candy Floss is pretty red, I don't expect any interesting results. However, deciding that I should do it anyways, just in case, I pollinated three red flowers. All three pods took and started swelling happily.

May 17, 2012 - Possible seed pod on the Pink/White (Vittatum?)

This is the scape of a pink/white. If you look hard, you can see the green yarn on a seed pod. I used Green Dragon as a father on it and it failed too. I also used Candy Floss on one of the flowers and that failed as well. This one pod that's swelling up, I have no idea who the father is. It could've been selfed or one of the NOID Reds was used on it. Even when I pollinated the flowers (In fact, I pollinated them many times over because it doesn't seem to realize I pollinated any of them), none of the pods started swelling up. They'd just shrivel up right away. For this pod to swell, I'm... surprised. This would be the second seed pod to take on these flowers since I've started pollinating them since 2007.

Quickie image

While showing off my biggest, fattest seed pod of the bunch, I made a quickie image for a friend to show her what the parents looked like and decided to plop it up here! I don't know how many seeds I'll plant from this bunch. Now that the amount of space I'm working with is nil, I can't keep doing my "throw 'em all in a flower box and whatever takes, takes!" method. I made that huge mistake with the red amaryllis seeds last year and I am way beyond stuffed with them. :O