LILIES - RHS Lily Group

the 1970s by the group at the RHS Halls in London, and was inspired by the very
wide range of different species shown then. The arrival of the group’s seed list
quickly became what it is now for him - one of the most eagerly awaited events
of the year.
He edited the consumer reports magazine Which? in the 1970s, started Holiday
Which?, and later set up the research and consumer policy side of the UK’s
National Consumer Council. His 1972 book The Automotive Nightmare was the
first analysis of the car’s impact on society, the environment and climate. He now
produces annual guide books including The Good Pub Guide, which is the UK’s
best-selling annual travel/leisure guide.
He and Helena lived in London for a couple of decades, moving house once.
In each garden they built a greenhouse in which lily seedlings and pots of some
tender species had to do their best alongside an eclectic mix of tomatoes, chillies,
melons, cucumbers, orchids, primulas and tender cyclamen species.
He was a founder member of the Cyclamen Society, and served a term as its
chairman, during which he initiated an ambitious research programme which has
included many botanical field trips to study and record cyclamen species in their
natural habitats, and which (in conjunction with the relevant national authorities
under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) has
introduced interesting new material into cultivation. He also edited that society’s
Journal for many years.
He and Helena now live in Sussex, where he grows a wide range of lily
species mainly grown from seed, in raised beds in a sheltered environment. He
also grows a few in their garden - notably some fine stands of Lilium pardalinum,
but his repeated attempts to plant out lilies in their small wood are invariably
foiled by the marauding deer. They share a house in south-west France with
Helena’s brother (L. henryi tolerates the hot thin soil over chalk quite well there),
and a house in the extreme south of Greece with his own sister (an attempt to
establish L. chalcedonicum there has so far been discouraging, although it grows
wild only a few miles away, but L. candidum is looking promising). He is an
enthusiastic member of the Mediterranean Garden Society, growing an increasing
number of plants native to areas with hot dry summers and winter rain, and in
2006 organised a trip to Rhodes for the MGS, with 40 participants from seven
countries.
He has always tried to return as much seed as possible to the Lily Group’s
seed distribution, seeing this as a crucial activity for the Group. In addition to
his lily growing accomplishments Alisdair is also a very fine photographer and
his enlarged prints of lily species have graced many of the Lily Group’s display
stands at the RHS London shows. Altogether this makes Alisdair a most worthy
recipient of the RHS Lily Group Lyttel Cup.
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