Mary Sue wrote, Dichelostemma ida-maia has the reputation for being the
most challenging from seed and may benefit from a wide range of
temperatures between day and night for success.

I assume this means growing it from stored seed? I certainly have no
problem "growing" it from seed here, where it has thoroughly infested one
bulb frame by seeding and then pulling the bulbs down below a wire barrier
where I can't get at them, as Lauw de Jager mentioned is a habit of D.
volubile too. This deep delving no doubt protects them against mice and
voles; however, the above-ground plant is sought by deer and (I think)

By the way, I got a planting of Lilium rubescens (the small California
relative of L. washingtonianum) past the rabbits this year by surrounding
each stem with a cylinder of hardware cloth (stiff, closely netted wire
mesh) about 10 inches (25 cm) high. I think it kept the slugs out, too. I
pinned the cylinders down with groundcloth staples.

D. ida-maia has survived about 5 years in the open garden here, receiving

little summer water and experiencing temperatures as low as 5 F (minus 15
C). I was not able to establish D. volubile outside the frames. D.
congestum and D. capitatum are easy garden plants for us.

What are some opinions on the parentage of the commercially available
cultivar Dichelostemma 'Pink Diamond'? I've seen it called a selection of
D. ida-maia, which it resembles in flower form. However, it is about the
color of D. volubile and has a twining stem. Could it be a hybrid of the
two? I'll have to see what it does in the garden.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon

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