Plant ID Please (Cardiocrinum gigantium) Tree Lily

[photonbucket]

Answers on a postcard....

[lee-ann]

Himalayan lily
A POSTCARD

[photonbucket]

Really? didnt know that they got that big. Thanks! Any idea of species?

[photonbucket]

Its always mildly amusing looking at news stories...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... arden.html

Is it this species?? Cardiocrinum giganteum

[lee-ann]

Sorry no idea about variety. The story made me chuckle

[billo]

Definately Cardiocrinum giganteum (that is the species, no varieties), a bulbous plant, normally 7 years from seed to bloom & sorry but its monocarpic so will die once flowering is over.

If you are really lucky & VERY patient you could always collect the seed,
grow it on for another 7 years etc. etc!!. Flowering anywhere in the UK is not unusual, its just that there are very few places that sell it & not many people with either the patience to grow it themselves or the money to spend around £10.00 on a bulb to flower once & die!!

[bodster]

looks like a cardiocrinum to be and remarkably free of lilly beetle!

[Linden]

I think Thomson & Morgan are selling these as 'giant lily', funnily enough, they don't give any details of how long they take to flower. I bought a bulb at Malvern Flower Show and learned the brutal truth from the guy who sold it to me. Luckily I'm patient - the bulb is up after a few weeks, but the slug/snails keep eating the leaves almost as fast as they grow

[Dave Brown]

I think Thomson & Morgan are selling these as 'giant lily', funnily enough, they don't give any details of how long they take to flower.

They also didn't say it died after flowering

[simon]

I bought one from Urban Jungle a couple of years ago and liz said it should flower the following year but unfortunately it just withered away and died before the end of the summer. No idea what I did wrong with it.

That news report is just hilarious. They make the woman growing it sound as if she knows as little about the plants she is growing as they do. I'm sure that's not the case. I'm sure she fully expected these plants to flower and fruit etc.

[Jo A P]

I've tried several times to grow them from seed, but I've never had any results. The seed was fresh, given to me by a lady in Scotland.

[photonbucket]

Thanks guys, shame that there's a catch to it, otherwise it would definately be the next purchase.

Apologies for being away so much. I either seem to be watering or at work at the moment.