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Alberta Bred Lily Collection

As with all the collections within the Botanic Gardens and Constructed Wetlands, the Alberta Bred Lily Collection offers an invaluable resource to all gardeners - beginners, advanced, lily collectors and those looking to add their first lily to their gardens.

Seeing these plants in a garden setting, in bloom, carefully labelled with their names, enables gardeners to take photos and make wish lists. Each summer the College collaborates with the Alberta Regional Lily Society to carry out research on Alberta bred lilies. Their support and leadership in this area is invaluable.

The Valley K Lily Ranch has information on Canadian lily breeders, including those from Alberta.  Historically Alberta lily hybridizers have lived and hybridized from about Red Deer/Rocky Mountain House north to the Edmonton Region. Read the Hybridizing Lilies in Alberta article written by Terry Willoughby, Shaun Willoughby and Bill Mackay, previous published in the Edmonton Horticultural Society's Centennial Issue - A Century of Gardening in Edmonton.

One breeder of note is Fred Fellner. Born in 1931 on a farm near Vermillion, Alberta, Fred Fellner has been recognized as a breeder of some of the finest lilies in the world.  With over a hundred lilies registered, his plants are bred to exhibit drought and disease resistance, winter hardiness, high bud count, and brilliant, fade-resistant colour, all of which are important factors in growing lilies in the sometimes harsh Alberta environment. To read more about Fred Fellner see A Lifetime of Lilies (from plantlilies.ca) and Robert Simonet and the 'Rescued Lilies' by Fred Fellner (Manitoba Regional Lily Society).

Lily Resources

Article Series

In 2016, the Botanic Gardens collaborated with the ARLS on a series of articles covering the basics of growing lilies. These are intended to serve as a good foundation for information on lilies, ideal for new growers of this group of valuable garden plants. They were published in the newsletters of both the Edmonton and Calgary Horticultural Society. 

Lily Basics Articles

Hybrid Lilies: More Lilies to Love

The Lily Beetle

The Lily Beetle is a bright red-scarlet beetle which feeds primarily on lilies and fritillaria. They cause extensive damage to all parts of the lily plant above ground.

Learn about the Lily Beetle

Lily Research Plots Results

View the reports from Olds College on lily research including bud/bloom counts and average heights.