Specializing in unique lilies
for your garden

I’ve been hybridizing lilies since 1971, and when my daughter Catherine was born, she shared her nursery room with 3 shelves of test tubes, containing some of the first embryo-cultured lily hybrids.  I established my business officially in 1979, determined to produce the widest possible spectrum of lilies bred and tested specifically for the garden, rather than the European cut-flower market.             

My hybridizing involves planning crosses, studying pollens and chromosomes, growing, flowering, propagating, and constantly evaluating for garden persistence and reliability.  It takes about 10 years from the time we select  a promising new lily to its introduction, with a few extra years needed for the slower-propagating polyploids.                                                                                            
Over the years, I’ve expanded the “gene pool’ far beyond my earliest vision...with no end in sight!  It’s been a pleasure to have Catherine an important part of the business in recent years.  Her second beautiful daughter arrived at the end of March, so Catherine is no longer able to be our “telephone voice.”  I am delighted that she is able to put this catalog together—her twelth!  We hope that we’ll be able to answer your calls during our new telephone hours, but we appreciate your understanding that the demands of field production, harvesting, propagating, and shipping make these hours unpredictable.  E-mail is often the quickest way to reach us: orders@thelilygarden.com.  

           
Because we grow them all ourselves, here on our own farm, we photograph all our lilies in the field to show you how they really look.  For more than 25 years, we’ve made it our mission to provide you with beautiful, reliable garden lilies, and we absolutely guarantee every bulb to grow and bloom.

Judith’s hybridizing involves planning crosses, studying pollens and chromosomes, growing, flowering, propagating, and constantly evaluating for garden persistence and reliability. It takes about 10 years from the time we select a promising new lily to its introduction, with a few extra years needed for the slower propagating polyploids.

Judith continues to pursue new breeding lines. She also works to refine well-established lines as the years show which of the “classics”—like Dr. Chris North’s absolutely superlative ‘Ariadne’— give outstanding progeny. Somehow, she also finds time to grow 8 acres of lilies, manage the crop and harvest, and pack all the orders!

Thank you for visiting our website and exploring the beauty lilies have to offer. We hope you’ll enjoy these beautiful plants in your garden as much as we do!