Lilies of the field

The work of the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG), founded in 1978, has resulted in the creation of over 600 national collections of plants that might otherwise have been lost to current and future generations of gardeners.

One of the most recently established of these collections is that of Mylnefield  lilies, held the National Trust’s stunning Branklyn Gardens in Perth and with huge local significance here in Tayside.

Helen Brown found out more about the creation of these beautiful and unusual plants which are set to find a new lease of life with this latest development in their fascinating history.

Considering the lilies came as something of an afterthought for Dr Chris North, at least in professional terms.  As a horticulturalist and botanist by training who had worked in Cambridge and Sweden, his work at the Scottish Crop Research Centre at Mylnefield near Dundee during the 1960s and 70s mainly concerned research into the breeding of brassicas – the cabbage family to the uninitiated – and indeed, the Celtic cabbage owes its existence to his efforts.

In private life, he and his late wife Marie were very keen gardeners, creating their own at their at their house in the Carse of Gowrie and travelling abroad, most frequently to the Mediterranean, where their plant hunting activities culminated in the publication of a book, “Wild Flowers Around The Mediterranean.”

The mix of professional and private interest that eventually led to the creation of the Mylnefield lilies actually came about at the suggestion of the then director of the institute.  As a sideline to his main responsibilities, Dr North began investigating the possibilities of breeding hardy, disease-tolerant lilies that would do well in the north-east of Scotland, far from the Asian homeland of their exotic forbears.

Dr North explained, “The problem was getting a virus-free strain and plants that would stand up to conditions here.  A lot of plants from China or the Himalayas do well here, but lilies were a bit of a special case.  The suggestion came from my boss, but something about it just intrigued me and I suppose it went on to become a bit of a personal project for me.  Once you start on these things, they tend to take over.”

The first step was to intercross different Asian lilies and the results were then crossed again with a beautiful, pink, scented lily from Yunnan in China, Lilium lankongense.  Propagation took place under sterile laboratory conditions and the plants were then subjected to rigorous selection for vigour, freedom from disease, ease of propagation and ability to stand without staking.

The selection eventually taken from this process were what came to be known as the five “Greek god” hybrids, including ‘Ariadne’, ‘Theseus’, and ‘Adonis’, which was awarded the Reginald Cory Memorial Cup by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Vital genetic elements played a major role in the creation of what finally became a collection of Mylnefield lilies, eventually sold to the the Lily Group of the Royal Horticultural Society, which decided that ten of the lilies should be named after the female members of Dr North’s family, including his wife Marie and grand-daughter Hannah.  Subsequently developed was Lilium Christopher North, a scarlet hybrid named after one of Dr North’s grandsons.

According to Dr North, the strength of what became the Mylnefield lilies was really that they turned out to be triploids with 36 chromosomes, bigger and better than those with fewer or with a different structure.  That gave them exceptional vigour, comparable to that of the traditionally very popular tiger lily, a great favourite with amateur gardeners and horticulturalists alike.

Commercial production of the lilies was originally carried out by a colleague of Dr North’s but subsequently fell into the doldrums and recently there has been a real danger that these highly individual examples might die out completely.

That’s where the NCCPG came into the picture.  The idea behind the national collection movement, which celebrated its 25^th anniversary last year, is to maintain and save our plant heritage.  It encourages the propagation and conservation of endangered garden plants in Britain, as well as supporting research into their background and historic significance.

Heather Berger, of the NCCPG’s Grampian and Tayside group explained, “Plants once popular and commonly grown can succumb to disease or simply go out of fashion, or those that are lesser known can fall by the wayside if people just don’t know about them, where to see them or find supplies from which to grow their own.”

“The tradition of small growers or plant breeders still exists, but many have gone and left few, if any, records of their activities and the resulting plants.  Where this collection was concerned, we felt that it was of huge local interest and with Chris still living in the area and able to provide the details of how and why the lilies were created, it seemed a natural step for the NCCPG to step in.  And if there was to be a national collection, it should be here in this area.  Steve McNamara at Branklyn was also very keen to maintain it, as people who visit are always interested in exotic species that do well in Scottish conditions.  Aren’t all gardeners?”

Elizabeth Harrison, also a Grampian and Tayside committee member, added, “With this one in particular we felt that there were such important local links and such an interesting story behind them that it was an obvious avenue to pursue.  The fact that Branklyn has so many of them on show and that people who visit the garden like them and comment on them made us think that there was definitely a good chance that public interest would grow if people were more widely aware of these beautiful flowers and their history.  It’s a very personal story, too, and that’s always something that gardeners anywhere enjoy.”

With many species, it has also been possible to reintroduce them to gardens public and private by encouraging their availability and creating opportunities for them to be grown as widely as practical.  Where the Mylnefield lilies are concerned, the Scottish nursery, Border Belles near Dunbar, is working on the creation of virus-free stock so it is hoped that bulbs will be available for sale to the general public in the near future.  Meanwhile, enthusiasts can see the lilies, true to their local Tayside and Perthshire roots, in the Branklyn collection during the garden’s open season which runs until September 30. 

Article courtesy copyright D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd (Dundee, Scotland)