Skip to main content

Perhaps the most famous lily of all...

 
"Star Gazer" 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the beloved "Star Gazer" lily which is blooming right now next to a bench in our vegetable garden. This morning I noticed a hummingbird fluttering around it. Despite the location being shaded most of the day, it has performed nicely here for years. The only requirement is a stake to keep the winds and storms from knocking it down.

This lily has quite a history, filled with legal issues, tainted friendships and lost fortunes. Leslie Woodriff, of Brookings, Oregon was passionate about hybridizing oriental lilies and begonias but a little disorganized and short on business sense. Enter businessman Ted Kirsch, who created Sun Valley Farms in the late 60s in Arcata, California. Kirsch recognized Woodriff's talent and offered him and his family jobs at his nursery in exchange for his lily collection. Woodriff, in dire financial straits and suffering from health problems, took him up on the offer.

Woodriff's lily collection was cultivated at Sun Valley Farms and Kirsch quickly saw potential in the lily that would become the world famous "Star Gazer". He applied for a patent in 1976 for although he credited Woodriff as the lily's creator, he had bought the collection and the rights to name and patent them. 

Relations between the two turned sour when Kirsch fired Woodriff less than a year after their agreement. Kirsch stated that Woodriff and his family were unemployable, failed to take orders from supervisors, never showed up for work on time and were removing lilies from the premises. Woodriff filed a breach of contract stating the contrary. In the spring of 1974, a judge awarded the Woodriffs $5,000 in recognition of transferred property but rejected the Woodriff's claim that the lily collection could generate great profits in the future.

The saga ended bleakly for Woodriff who felt that he had been cheated out of the "Star Gazer" fortune but Ted Kirsch didn't get rich either. He sold 3,000 bulbs to a Dutch company for $15,000 in 1976 but, in a written contract, agreed not to apply for grower's rights in Holland. The Dutch went on to sell millions of the lily without having to pay royalties to Kirsch.

Kirsch and Woodriff died within one year of each other, Kirsch in 1996 and Woodriff in 1997. There are 36 million "Star Gazer" lilies sold annually.

If you'd like to read more about this fascinating story, check out "Flower Confidential" by Amy Stewart.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Labels:

Comments

Rob (ourfrenchgarden) said…
Ah bulbs, you can always rely on the Dutch to sell bulbs with gusto. They turned tulips into a currency at one point in history.

Stargazer is justifibly popular.

That's such a sharp image you've taken by the way.
July 1, 2011 at 12:56 PM
Lisa at Greenbow said…
I didn't know this story. I am glad you brought it to our attention. I just love this lily. It has stained more than one blouse and tablecloth at my house. It smells so good too.
July 1, 2011 at 1:22 PM
Unknown said…
Piękna Ci ona ,,uwielbiam ich piękno i dostojność .....pozdrawiam Bogusia.
July 1, 2011 at 2:33 PM
Larry said…
Beautiful... our lilies should open any minute now! I haven't checked on them this afternoon but it's 105 heat index and i suspect that should be an encouragement to them! Larry
July 1, 2011 at 2:41 PM
Unknown said…
That has to be the most beautiful lily I have ever seen. No wonder it has sold millions. I have a space for them in my back garden. When do I plant lilies, spring or fall?
July 1, 2011 at 5:38 PM
F Cameron said…
It is stunning!

I moved my 'Starfighter' (a sibling) beside my monarda 'Raspberry Wine' but the bee balm bloomed early and the lily still hasn't bloomed. So much for timing! Maybe next year!

Do you grow regal lily? It's supposed to be deer resistant, maybe because it grows so tall? LOL
July 1, 2011 at 7:14 PM
Anonymous said…
I'm still waiting on mine to bloom. Looks like maybe another week or so. Mary
July 1, 2011 at 8:11 PM
Crystal said…
What a sob story, it sucks when creative people don't get to profit from their genius, due to bad business sense or just plain bad luck. Thanks for sharing, your Stargazers are stunning!
July 1, 2011 at 9:02 PM
serial tiller said…
I can almost smell these thru the screen! I love stargazers (heck I love all lilies!)
July 1, 2011 at 9:51 PM
Jess said…
Plants coming from a long line of vultures :)
July 2, 2011 at 6:26 AM
compost in my shoe said…
Great history lesson. I just love them in the garden where the fragrance can spread out without harming anyone's delicate fragrance issues.
July 2, 2011 at 3:05 PM
Les said…
I'll remember it as the flower at our wedding, and not part of an ugly, but fascinating story.
July 2, 2011 at 5:10 PM
Dee/reddirtramblings said…
So interesting. I grew it for years, but I guess the heat finally made it disappear. I do love it though.~~Dee
July 5, 2011 at 11:24 AM
sweetbay said…
Interesting story... didn't sound like either man had a whole lot of business sense..
July 5, 2011 at 1:23 PM
Anonymous said…
wonderful story!
July 5, 2011 at 5:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Tall Skinny Plants for Tight Spaces

A blog post I wrote for work and I'm sharing it here - It seems like every day we get questions about plants for narrow spaces. This might be a tight area between buildings, between a sidewalk and the house, or maybe along a garage wall or fence. Choosing an inappropriate plant for such a situation will surely bring troubles down the road. There are a number of selections for this situation and hybridizers continue to introduce new plants every year. Here are a few selections to help you make the best decision.   Rose of Sharon 'Purple Pillar' or 'White Pillar' (Hibiscus syriacus) - This old-fashioned shrub is easy to grow and once it starts blooming in mid to late summer, the blooms continue to come until frost. A member of the hibiscus family, older varieties can attain very hefty sizes. However, newer introductions like 'Purple Pillar' (pictured) and 'White Pillar' (white flowers) provide a columnar effect. You can expect plants to grow 10' f...
5 comments
Read more

New Additions

January is usually a quiet month for us but we've had a flurry of activity lately. Today, we are getting a new roof. That news is painful, but a few other projects bring more joy - New boulders! For a while now, I've wanted to place larger boulders out front along the street. While they are not huge, they are bigger than the former ones and hopefully will make a bigger statement. The most exciting event for me was a new gate and arbor. Our older one was getting rickety and the gate itself never closed properly. I've been collecting photos of gates for the past year on Pinterest and kept returning to this one - I showed this to our handyman, and I was totally amazed that he made it exactly like the photo. I told him it didn't have to be exact, but he not only did that, but he built the entire thing in one day. Happy birthday to me!  An improvement over the past one. It was a bit sentimental seeing it go. We realized that it was built 10 years ago by the same man. Now, we...
9 comments
Read more

I'm worried about the Cryptomeria

{{Read an update to this post here}} For the past month or so, I've noticed that our big Japanese Cedar ( Cryptomeria japonica ) has been turning brown. I know that it usually does this but I don't recall seeing it to this extent. The entire backside of the tree looks completely brown and the opposite side is slowly turning brown also. Is this normal??? I can see new growth sprouting out from some of the branches. I hope this is a good sign that nothing is wrong. If any tree experts can weigh in on this, I'd appreciate it! Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
29 comments
Read more