Growing California Native Lilies

The author discussed fritillaries in our issue of April 1976. He was then employed at the University of California Botanic Garden and had for many years traveled the state collecting seeds for the garden. He is consulted internationally on California native plants.
California is blessed with many lilies. There is hardly a place in California where a lily cannot be found, but while all belong to the Lily Family — corn lily, desert lily, adobe lily, fawn lily and mariposa lily — most are not true lilies. Of the nearly one hundred true lilies of the world, those in the genus Lilium, about twenty species and varieties are found in California.

And what is a true lily? It is a perennial with a scaly bulb and a simple unbranched tall leafy stem with the flowers near the top. All lilies have showy flowers; five species in California are also fragrant.

I have tried to grow every species and variation of our native lilies I could find and I have noted some interesting things about them, particularly how well they grow or, more often, don’t grow in gardens. I have noticed that the higher the elevation at which a lily is found the more difficult it is to grow near sea level. I believe t...