My current garden, a raised bed, was planted in 2004. I had lilies in the previous garden (in the same spot), but over time all kinds died out except one, which had increased very well. I had bought the bulbs from my local lily society sale and I remember the name being "African Queen". The color was a warm golden yellow; a hot yellow, not a lemon shade. I always remembered the name because of the movie. At that time I knew there were many different kinds of lilies but not what these were. I had no camera then so no saved pictures of it.

When we dug out the perennials from the old garden it was late June. Not a good time, but I was as careful as I could be. I transplanted the bulbs to the new garden. The next year there was no sign of my old African queen, and I thought it/they had not survived the move. I planted a lot of pastel asiatics in 2005 from a box of pink and white mixed bulbs, no yellows. But in 2006 up pops a lily that (I think) is the color I remember. If it IS my old lily, it took a vacation apparently, and came back refreshed.

I am trying to ID my lily but some things are not matching. I have looked up lilies named "African Queen" but what I find is a trumpet lily. Mine blooms too early for trumpets and is not really exactly trumpet formed. It is up facing and is formed more like an Asiatic, yet the petals are longer, the flowers are bigger (and with more substance) than my other asiatics. It is also much taller and the leaves are narrower.

Does anyone know if there is a lily named "African Queen" that is not a trumpet? Could it be a cross; like an asiatic-trumpet cross?