Ornithogalum--PBS TOW
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 05 Dec 2002 18:08:19 PST)

Dear All,

Thank you Jane for your interesting discussion of the Ornithogalums you
grow. Are the non South African ones also susceptible to virus?

I have grown a number of Ornithogalums from seed and sometimes have a hard
time convincing them to break dormancy the second year. Do those of you who
grow these from seed keep them dry during the first dormancy or water them
monthly?

Ornithogalum dubium (none of mine have looked virused) also chooses to stay
underground some years. Paul Tyerman reported the same problem with his.
They are sold so cheaply by the Nurseryman's Exchange one is tempted to
treat them like annuals and buy new ones each year but I don't know if this
would be risky if they are prone to virus.

I tossed all my Ornithogalum thyrsoides. I had planted them in a raised bed
and they seemed to be splitting into smaller bulbs and not flowering well
and the leaves looked questionable as well. I never fertilized and that may
have been part of the problem. In Darling I saw this species in very wet
sand and perhaps it needed more water too as it is a late bloomer after our
rains have slowed down and I didn't always give it supplemental water.
Alberto, how soon can you tell if you have virused plants? Please describe
how they look. I assumed mine were as they were in that bed with the
Lachenalias that got virused after a number of years of being quite wonderful.

Ornithogalum umbellatum brings to mind that what some people are delighted
with (read the word naturalized), others think of as a pest (weed). My
father-in-law despaired of getting rid of it in his San Francisco sandy
garden and my husband made it clear I was never to plant it, but I remember
a friend being thrilled in Midland Texas when it came back each year.

O arabicum I agree with Lauw is a very handsome plant. I have tried it two
or three times in my gardens (Stockton and Gualala) and have never gotten
it to last longer than a year or two at the most. I'm not sure why this is.

I hope someone will be able to answer Tom's questions. When seeing them in
the wild in South Africa we too saw a similarity between Albucas and
Ornithogalums. And I agree some of them had wonderful curling leaves.

We saw O. maculatum often in South Africa, usually in the rocks. It is very
tiny in habitat and most of the time it was closed when we saw it as we
just happened to see it on overcast and rainy days. It was attractive
closed however, but so small that none of our pictures captured its charm.
I have tried it a couple of times from seed, but never had any luck.

Mary Sue