CANADIAN LILY BREEDERS
There is a common thread amongst prairie-bred lilies - they are the finest garden performing lilies for our climate, no question. We receive many requests for lilies bred by the folks listed in this section, for very good reason. The lilies grown and bred here, will, for the most part, still be in your garden for your grandchildren to enjoy 20 years from now. One breeder, Mr. Alex Burnett, says this of his first visit to a lily field in July 1985 (The field belonged to Fred Fellner); "It is impossible to describe the beauty and calmness of being surrounded by two acres of lilies in full bloom on a hot, calm, July afternoon under blue Alberta skies. The only noise caused by the hummingbirds and butterflies enjoying the voluptuous beauty of the masses of lilies." He got that one right didn't he? There is also a common thread which I find runs rampant through lily breeders, and that is their generous natures. Alex noticed this as well when he first began to get involved in the 'lily world', saying that 'breeding lilies seems to breed friendships as well'. We hope to collect as much information as possible, along with lists of lilies bred, (registered or unregistered) by our favorite lily enthusiast, the Canadian Hybridizer. In keeping with the generous natures exhibited by these fine folks, the information we collect will be posted here on this web for the enjoyment of lily lovers everywhere. We hope that by making this information readily available, particularly the lists of named lilies, it will help preserve some of the fine work done by these folks, and prevent further losses, so we may all enjoy them for many, many years to come. We also believe gardeners can use this as a reference when shopping for lilies as there is no doubt Canadian-bred lilies perform best in our climate. If you have information to share with us, please contact us! We have not posted information on all those listed just yet, but stay in touch, we will as we get it compiled and written! One other note...we have tried to include a complete listing of lilies bred and/or registered by each breeder on their respective pages, with the RHS registry used as a reference. The year of registration is in brackets following the named lily, often with another person's name included. This is the name of the person who registered the lily on behalf of the breeder. It is often not known that a lily has been grown for up to 15 years before it is actually registered. Most breeders do this to ensure a lily meets or exceeds their growing expectations before introduction. In the future perhaps we will add this information to each listing to help in referencing. We have also included the classification info where known, at the end of each entry, also in brackets. |
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