Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (Sep 30/02) - Darm Crook knows just about everything there is to know about lilies.

In his garden in Hay River, he has 38 different species and close to 300 hybrids of the flower.

Darm Crook of Hay River loves lilies, and is attempting to create a trumpet lily that can survive the Northern winter without any special assistance. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

However, there is one lily that Crook does not have - a trumpet lily perennial which can survive in the ground through a Northern winter without any special care.

For the last three years, Crook has been cross-pollinating Asiatic and trumpet lilies in search of a strain of what he calls a Northern hardy trumpet lily.

While noting Asiatic and trumpet lilies are not supposed to be compatible, he says, I dont necessarily listen to whats supposed to be.

There is no trumpet lily that he knows of that can survive the winter without special protection.

Among the numerous varieties of lilies, a trumpet lily is distinguished by a longer and more trumpet-shaped blossom.

Some perennial lilies will withstand the winter with no extra protection. Others, including trumpet lilies, survive the cold weather with extra help, including by having the bulb deeper in the soil, ensuring proper drainage to prevent freezing, and covering the flower bed with sawdust and snow.

It is that extra work for winter protection that Crook is trying to eliminate for a trumpet lily.

He is cross-pollinating, in other words selectively breeding, trumpet lilies with Asiatic hybrids, which are known for their toughness. So far, he has developed a hybrid seed. However, the seedlings died for some unknown reason when planted outdoors in the summer.

They havent survived for me yet, he says.

Crook remains undaunted, and is confident he will eventually develop a trumpet lily that will survive the winter unassisted and grow again in the spring.

His search is a long-term process and will involve more cross-pollination to produce seed. It will be six years down the road before I even get a trumpet lily thats hardy.

Crook, a former president of the Union of Northern Workers, says he has been growing lilies since the 1960s, and says developing a new strain of the flower is a matter of trial and error.