After looking at dahlias in our last CA Insights post we thought that lilies deserved the spotlight this week! Although they are a more common year round part of cut flower sales, lilies did not get that way over night. Once thought of as a unique flower and not for everyday use, lilies are now a ‘must have’ flower.
Cut lilies started with what we would consider Asiatic lilies today. Some may remember the term ‘Enchantment’ lilies. These were the first commercial varieties of orange and yellow lilies available for cut. So when new varieties were introduced they were all looked at as ‘enchantments’. As with asiatics the first oriental cut varieties ‘Rubrum’ and ‘Uchida’, both downward facing blooms, many of the first pink orientals were simply called rubrums.
Eventually in the late 1980’s asiatic and oriental lilies emerged as two categories for a multitude of varieties. Breeders in Holland began to broaden the scope of colors in asiatics ranging from the traditional yellow and orange to white, pink, red and many novelties and bi-colors. These same breeders looked to introduce more upwards pointing oriental blooms along with adding white to the color mix. Since those early days they have bred yellow, burgundy and other novelty colors and bi-colors. LA lilies or Longiflorum/Asiatics were the next hybrid category in lilies.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Eye On DVFlora
