HELP! Eremurus
Cathy Craig (Sat, 25 Jan 2003 13:25:34 PST)
Well, that's a bummer. It sounds like me and my F. imperialis. (Not even one
leaf!)
Lauw once suggested E. himilayicus might do ok here (he lives in France,
south central I think, perhaps he grows them there and the climate is
similar to So Cal). I can't remember the reference(s) but I just read that
they like a hot, dry, dormancy and that's why they are called desert candle.
I planted some here once a few years ago but thinking back on it, I planted
them about a foot deep. Well, as Tony Avent says, keep trying.
This year I planted about a dozen F. Imperialis in several different
places - we'll see.
The E. bungii looked quite dessicated but I am soaking them in hopes of
plumping up the roots a bit prior to planting out.
Cathy Craig President PBS
Maritime zone 9b
The grit sounds like a very good idea, but I'm afraid that I can't
offer more help than that. I have tried Eremurus a half dozen times
over the years, and never had one sprout emerge from the soil. From
the growing zone maps I have seen, and everything I have read,
Eremurus require a considerably cooler climate than I can offer them.
BAsically, the most favorable growing areas in the USA were
'heartland', and only the most northern coastal areas were shown to be
hospitable. I think you're a few degrees milder than here, so you may
have similar results. I can't grow herbaceous Peony here either.
One thing that I found to be discouraging was the fact that the roots
on my plants were in pretty bad shape