Lewisia

Shoal Creek Succulents group@shoalcreeksucculents.com
Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:07:51 PDT
Hi Jane-

Thanks for the education.  I just bought the plants, so I have been doing
some reading here and there.  I will label them so they are treated properly
according to type.

Best regards, Lisa

-----Original Message-----
From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]
On Behalf Of Jane McGary
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 11:21 AM
To: Pacific Bulb Society
Subject: Re: [pbs] Lewisia

Lisa may be mixing up the two sorts of Lewisia species, the evergreen and
the deciduous.

At 05:09 AM 4/13/2013, you wrote:



>I know in the summer they go dormant.   Would I just entirely skip watering
>during this time?  If they were planted in the ground; they wouldn't 
>dry out (I think), so perhaps a light misting directly over the tuber 
>once a month during this time would be ok?

The commonly grown L. cotyledon and L. tweedyi (which has been under
discussion) are evergreen. Tweedyi goes semi-dormant in winter. Some
species, such as L. brachycalyx, L. nevadensis, and L. oppositifolia, are
summer-dormant. They do not have "tubers." The storage organ is an enlarged,
partly underground stem known as a caudex. In many but not all species,
these caudexes (or caudices) multiply as the plant ages, and it can be
lifted and propagated by division.

I have always grown the deciduous species with my summer-dry bulbs, under
cover, but I planted some L. nevadensis seedlings on the rock garden a
couple of years ago, and they are flowering this spring.

Evergreen species in the Pacific Northwest should be planted where there is
extremely good drainage, such as in a pocket of a dry stone wall. Some
people have good success with L. tweedyi west of the mountains (it is native
east of the Cascades, in a much drier area) by planting it within the drip
line of a large conifer.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA







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