Cardiocrinium not-so-giganteum?

[Bulbaholic_anonymous]

Hello! I'm new here on forums. I'm a bulbaholic and have planted over 38,000 bulbs in my medium-sized garden in the last 5 years. I just think bulbs are the most extraordinary little packets of magic!

Last spring I planted 6 bulbs that were sold to me as cardiocrinum giganteum. Two rotted, two put up just leaves, and to my great surprise—two actually bloomed.  One was about 145 cm tall and the other was only 35 cm tall. 😂 The flowers were a pretty pale green shade, with only a very faint red/purple inner marking on the petals. To me they look more like cardiocrinum cordatum, but I'm really not sure. What do you think?

[Martin Bohnet]

Well, growing things outside their natural range can have many side effects. What I grow as Cardiocrinum giganteum

has more nodding flowers which are in some years more white than yours and "my" leaves seem more glossy, but at least color and glossiness are easily influenced by year to year conditions.

One thing which might give a clue is that the Wiki states a "hosta on a stick" phase with a several weeks long pause in vertical growth for Cardiocrinum cordatum

, which my C. giganteum definitely does not make - did you observe such a seemingly inactive phase?

Can the species hybridize?

[Bulbaholic_anonymous]

Nice to see your photos, Martin! Especially the first one where the color of the flowers is a bit greenish, like mine were.

I would say that there was a long period where it looked like a strange leggy hosta, and I remember being shocked when it suddenly shot out a flower bud. After that, the growth took off again.

I forgot to mention in my post that I'm in central Sweden, on an island called Adelsö, with a fairly mild climate, equivalent to USDA 6. Whatever my bulbs are, I enjoyed growing them, and will definitely try to get more cardiocriniums to try. The scent was incredible...