Ipheion bulbs

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Fri, 13 Sep 2002 20:05:21 PDT
Dear Alberto,

I have tried Ipheions in my garden with and without summer water. There are 
some that I can never get out of one of my raised beds I grow vegetables 
in. Right now they are coming up as the beans are still growing. Before I 
planted the bed, I dug out all I could find, but there are still quite a 
few coming up. After I dig the vegetables out I usually put pots of bulb on 
top of this bed and the Ipheions do their best to bloom around them.

Others reseeded themselves in one of my raised bulb beds. I never planted 
them and they got no water from when it stopped raining until it started 
again (about some time in May until September or October.) Every year they 
returned and were in bloom a very long time.  I really couldn't see a lot 
of difference in the two populations except that one broke dormancy months 
before the other. On my data base I have indicated I have blooms from 
January-April.

On the other hand,  Muzza (from Australia) sent me some white ones several 
years ago that he had lost the tag on so I don't know which cultivar they 
are. They were not very robust so I doubt they are your namesake as many 
people have spoken about what a great plant that one is. I planted them in 
a bed that gets some water weekly and they have not bloomed as reliably. I 
grew some of those in a container too and they only bloomed for a couple of 
months. Next year I'll keep watering and see if that extends their season.

Bulbs of Ipheion 'Rolf Fielder' that had lost their perennial roots from 
being dried out last summer bloomed from November to March last year after 
I got them back into growth. I thought that was really good so am surprised 
to read that they will perform better with summer water.

This is got to be one of the easiest bulbs I ever tried to grow. Also I 
found they were easily changed from one hemisphere to another.

Mary Sue





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