A stay of execution for Colonel A.J. Welch

[maryvonne]

We've had this lily for 5 years now. It was in a part shade pond for the first 2 years and although it produced lots of very nice pads it refused to bloom and only produced vipips. Last summer we moved it to the full sun pond thinking it needed more sun. It still produced vipips and a couple blooms. Meanwhile this lily is getting so large it takes up a big area of our large pond. This June I decided it would have to go, but Pete begged me to give it more time, so I did. Well a week later it had 3 blooms at once along with one vipip and hasn't had nay less than 4 blooms at a time since.
I think this lily likes warm water. This has been the hottest summer in a long time and the water temp has been the warmest since we built the ponds.
The flowers are very large and a pretty soft yellow. Hard to get a good photo though but got a good one the other day. I will only pass this lily on to people in warmer climates.



Has any one else had the same experience with this lily or any others?

Maryvonne

[Krista]

I forgot to email you Maryvonne.. but the plant you gave me of this one is the only one that is actually doing anything.. in fact I had one bloom 2 weeks ago. It was beautiful!!!! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture since when I was out by the pond it was with at least 3 two year olds...  I don't see any other buds but I'm thinking that its not getting enough sunshine now with the kids shade structure. 

Of the others you sent me, one has a nice cluster of small leaves at the tuber, one has 4 or 5 mid sized leaves with  a couple in transition, one has some nice leaves but isn't doing much and the other doesn't have any. Maybe I planted it too deep so I redid it after checking for rot.  Thank-you so much! It really makes a difference to my little pond.

[Cindi]

Ok, here is a newbie question.  What is a vipip?   

[Pa Nancy]

Cindi it's a new little plantlet that grows from the pad. If you notice some pads will get a little nub on them. If left to grow out it will become a new little plant.

[maryvonne]

I forgot to email you Maryvonne.. but the plant you gave me of this one is the only one that is actually doing anything.. in fact I had one bloom 2 weeks ago. It was beautiful!!!! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture since when I was out by the pond it was with at least 3 two year olds...  I don't see any other buds but I'm thinking that its not getting enough sunshine now with the kids shade structure. 

Of the others you sent me, one has a nice cluster of small leaves at the tuber, one has 4 or 5 mid sized leaves with  a couple in transition, one has some nice leaves but isn't doing much and the other doesn't have any. Maybe I planted it too deep so I redid it after checking for rot.  Thank-you so much! It really makes a difference to my little pond.

That's interesting Krista. Your experience with the same plants is opposite to mine. We do live in different climates. The AJ I sent you was a vipip from last year and was more developed that the others. That may account for the difference in growth. Sometimes mine take a while to get their root systems going. They should be ready to take off for you next year. I'm glad AJ bloomed though and hopefully it will again before winter. Are you able to overwinter hardies in the pond?

Maryvonne

[maryvonne]

Ok, here is a newbie question.  What is a vipip?   

As Nancy explained vipiporous are plantlets that grow from the center of leaves on tropicals. With hardies however the babies grow out of the flower bud. On A.J. the bud doesn't open when this happens.

Maryvonne

[thedahlialama]

viviparous   

beautiful lily and pic maryvonne!! i had to check at V-A to confirm it is a hardy. it has so many tropical characteristics!! i'm really glad you hung on to this and shared the triumph with us. i really love seeing the hardies that are not quite as common as some others. personally, i would have been thrilled with the cool looking pads this variety produces, but the bloom is striking and well worth keeping this WL where it will do its best! i think my wish list is getting longer. 

[tranquility]

I can soo relate with this story....I did the same thing with aroura this year...I have had this lily for 4 years and only 1 bloom....this year I repotted it...and said if you don't bloom this year your outta here....it has now bloomed numerous times...always at least 2 blooms on it at a time...and loads of buds still coming....
Lawanna

[Sean]

The proper spelling and pronunciation is "viviparous"
Many people either spell it incorrectly or pronounce it incorrectly.

Cheers,
Sean

[Krista]

Maryvonne,

The hardies won't stay in the pond; the back one freezes solid And I can't get them into the front one because of the safety grid. My grandfather keeps threatening to dig a pond but I doubt his would be deep enough to over winter. I used to put them in the garage but we lost our heating system due to the garage shifting and breaking the hot water pipes that were in the floor in there a couple years ago (that is when I lost my previous collection). So basically I'm not sure what I'm going to do.... I wonder if I could insulate the raised pond enough to keep both the lilies and the fish in there. Normally the fish live in the basement over the winter.  I"ll find a solution though

[Cindi]

Thanks for the many explanations of what a vivip is.

[Bartman]

Krista -

Do you have a cool/dark corner in your basement?  You can chop off all your hardy lily growth and stick them in a black bag then tie it shut.  As long as they can sit in the dark and stay as cool as possible they will be okay until spring.  Ideally a root cellar works good, but I know a guy who bought an old fridge and keep them stored in there for the winter.

Bart

[maryvonne]

viviparous   

beautiful lily and pic maryvonne!! i had to check at V-A to confirm it is a hardy. it has so many tropical characteristics!! i'm really glad you hung on to this and shared the triumph with us. i really love seeing the hardies that are not quite as common as some others. personally, i would have been thrilled with the cool looking pads this variety produces, but the bloom is striking and well worth keeping this WL where it will do its best! i think my wish list is getting longer. 

Sorry about the misspelled vipiparous. I didn't take the time to check spelling earlier.
AJ is a nice plant with it's thick pads that also curl out of the water and almost look like bowls. Some times my fish jump into one of them and die. The flower is a lovely shade of yellow and stands up there just like a tropical. It's also very large in size. We have a small man made lake at our new property. AJ will go in there when we move. It will have lots of room to spread out.

Maryvonne

[maryvonne]

Maryvonne,

The hardies won't stay in the pond; the back one freezes solid And I can't get them into the front one because of the safety grid. My grandfather keeps threatening to dig a pond but I doubt his would be deep enough to over winter. I used to put them in the garage but we lost our heating system due to the garage shifting and breaking the hot water pipes that were in the floor in there a couple years ago (that is when I lost my previous collection). So basically I'm not sure what I'm going to do.... I wonder if I could insulate the raised pond enough to keep both the lilies and the fish in there. Normally the fish live in the basement over the winter.  I"ll find a solution though

I remember when you lost your lilies. Such a shame. Hope you can come up with a solution for this winter. It's hard when the winters are so cold.

Maryvonne