New England Lily Society stem holders

Back in 1997 the New England Lily Society (then, the New England Regional Lily Group) hosted the annual meeting and show of the North American Lily Society in Burlington, Massachusetts. Among other things, “we” (not me, but other then-members) designed and built a huge number of stem holders, which we have used for years ever since in our own shows. We’re hosting the show again in 2019, and may need more stem holders. I have a few (because otherwise they would have been thrown out as excess), and I thought I shold record and publish their dimensions. It turns out that for some of the larger trumpet-oriental crosses a larger base is needed, and the largest stems also inhale so much water (for respiration and/or bud opening) that a larger reservoir is necessary. But for most lilies these work great.

The stem holder has a wooden base and a removable stoppered PVC insert. The PVC is thin-walled (2mm), outer diameter appears to be 1-and-5/16 inches, length 11-and-5/8 inches. The base is stepped, with a 5-and-half inch square by 1-and-half-inch high bottom part (clearly cut from US “2-by-6”) and a 3-and-a-half by three-quarters top part (clearly cut from US “1-by-4”). The base has a central hole for the PVC to wedge into (pretty tightly, too) that is 1-and-a-half inches deep by 1-and-5/16 inches diameter.