Schizostylis - friend or foe!!

Paul, I second your findings of Schizostylis, aka Hesperantha. Everyone who
sees it in bloom wants some for his or her garden. I try to warn them that it
is as hard to eradicate as the old Crocosmia. I pull whenever the ground is
soft, so I can get the runners as well as the parent plants. I still have
jillions to entrance my friends and neighbors when they persist in blooming
each year. This is in USDA Zone 9 in Pebble Beach, California, on
not-too-well-drained partially decomposed granite. They are content with full
sun, partial sun, and full shade. I began with a 1 gallon plant that has
spread over most of a half acre in spite of what I can do to discourage it.
Round-up would probably work, but I am not into that. SO --beware!
Shirley Meneice
Paul Tyerman wrote:

Howdy All,

I have to chuckle a bit about everyone trying to find the different types
and varieties of so many things that I grow. Aren't we collectors picky!!!
<grin>.

Schizostylis however is NOT one of the things I am looking for, in fact I
am still trying to get rid of the darn thing. S. coccinea, a white form
and a pink form used to be a part of my garden, until the red in particular
started to spread like the wind. I started having visions of
Crocosmias/Montbretias (which grow very well here, thankfully the named
varieties are a little slower..... but I STILL grow them all in pots) and
removed them. By time I did there were runners out to over 1 metre from
the original plant in the red and 40-50cm for the other two. 2 years later
I am still getting seeds or dormant pieces still appearing in that garden
and every one is dutifully removed as soon as I see it.

Thankfully none of the Hesperanthas I grow appear to run (or at least the
couple I have do not) and I just love the Hesperantha falcata with the
purity of it's white blooms with the fascinating arrangement of stamen at
an angle. Very striking if you can actually remember to catch it open in
the evening or the early morning. For ages I kept finding shrivelling
flowers but I finally managed to catch one open on afternoon and after that
I saw them regularly. As far as I can tell this one doesn't run at all,
although it does seed but hasn't appeared anywhere else as yet. I was
surprised that the Schizostylis had been shifted into Hesperantha given
their somewhat different structure (to me) and tendency to send out
underground runners, but there are other genus where the species vary
considerably in this count.

In a nutshell..... Hesperantha are lovely and Schizostylis are a 4 letter
word <grin>. I very nearly bought a Hesperantha coccinea at one point as I
thought it was another species that I didn't have...... thankfully it was
explained what it was before I found out the hard way <big grin>.
Obviously out climate here suits it nicely as I have not noticed anyone
else mentioning how much of a pest it can become. I think that we here get
the best of numerous worlds as in protected areas we can grow frost tender
plants outside, yet still grow those things that require some cold to grow
and flower ideally (Aaaah, my beloved Galanthus, Fritillarias,
Erythroniums, Crocus etc.....)

Cheers.

Paul Tyerman
Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9
mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au

Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus,
Cyrtanthus, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about anything
else that doesn't move!!!!!

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