Nectaroscordum (Bulbs for Continental climates) + wiki pix
Antennaria@aol.com (Tue, 22 Apr 2003 21:32:53 PDT)
James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com> wrote:
Nectaroscordum siculum - I planted 3 or 4 and
only one survived and slowly grew to bloom and
now is putting up a half dozen spikes of weird,
but wonderful flower heads. Not to everyone's taste.
Wish there were more colorful cvs. Anyone know
of improvements? Don't recall much mention of
this, is it widely grown?"
I can relate to Jim's description of "weird but wonderful flower heads". I'm
not sure why this plant is "not to everyone's taste", but it certainly
appears to be the case that some people don't like Nectaroscordum. I find
the genus fascinating, stately, a bit coarse but impressive in flower, and
whimsical in leaf.
Regarding improvements or other species, I refer readers to the
http://www.hoogdix.com/ website, click on "Descriptive Catalog", then select
Nectaroscordum, for a bit more information on the "siculum" vs. "bulgaricum
confusion. There is another species that's much harder to find, namely N.
tripetale, with rich pink flowers, and reportedly it's a real stunner.
I have posted three good images of N. siculum to the PBS wiki, under a new
Nectaroscordum page, located at:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…
Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States
antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5
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