a forum for the bulb aficionados
Hello Trillium growers,
I created this thread for Trillium postings in 2010. Feel free to add to it. I debated whether to place it in "Woodlanders" or in "Bulbs", the later name used in the broadest sense to cover plants having underground storage structures (bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes) that we associate with geophytes. I believe the topic belongs here in "Bulbs".
It's always my first flower of the year, here in the far north! The flowers emerged on Tuesday, and I'm told they opened today in the sun. I missed it!
(But, despite the first flowers, it will snow a few more times here before winter is over!)
I skimmed through The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs this morning and found myself attracted to the pure floral colors the genus Ixia. Are any of these lovely plants hardy in the intercontinental U.S.? Any sources for them?
Many thanks!
Just stumbled on this old picture of a rather little known scilla. Considering what work horses Scilla bifolia and Scilla sibirica are in our gardens (not to mention the Endymions), a few more scilla would never hurt. Now to figure out where I photographed this and if I still have it!
Does anyone have any information or experience growing Agapanthus of any species in the Rockies or comparable locations? They are (over-) used in public plantings all over southern California, but would be a rarity here. I'd love to grow one or more.
Thanks!
I realize Lilium philadelphicum grows across much of the USA, yet one rarely sees it in gardens. Thanks to Laporte Avenue Nursery in Fort Collins, our local Rocky Mountain form is getting pretty wide distribution: here is a clump I've grown for a number of years beneath the big Scots pines in the eastern corner of my garden. There is something about the graceful bearing of the plant (not to mention its small size--only about a foot tall) that makes it a great addition to the woodland rock garden. The literature says it needs acid soil: that must be the eastern subspecies L.
Calochortus are usually grown in containers in Britain, say, or occasionally in a corner of a "xeriscape" in drier climates (there are some high mountain species I suspect would do just fine in a sunny rock garden anywhere, but they are the exception...).
The Olympics are one of the most spectacular mountain groups with a phenomenal range of plants - these are pics of three of the bulbs.
Lilium columbianum is common in the Pacific North West ( and it gets as far as CA, ID and MT) but that doesn't make it any the less pretty.
Erythronium montanum is another Pacific North West speciality (just OR, WA and BC)
So Happy Groundhog Day - if that's an appropriate greeting. If groundhogs lived in England, right now they would have no shadow - it's very dull and damp, but it is warmer than recently (about 4oC). So hope that is a bit of a sign since we've had more snow this winter - not much by many people's standards - three weeks of snow cover and then two more bursts than any year I can remember since 1963. And there's so much I want to do - new sandbed for one. Still tomorrow I want to get some more seed sown so that I'm pretty much up-to-date when the NARGS seed arrives.