Calochortus albus var. rubellus
Jane McGary (Mon, 26 May 2003 09:59:06 PDT)

Mary Sue Ittner wrote,> A number of years ago in the Calochortus Society
newsletter the question was asked whether the red ones continued to be this
color when grown in cultivation away from where they were found. Some
people had reported they had reverted to white. Has anyone on this list
managed to keep this color form going?

Reply:
I have C. albus var. rubellus from wild-collected seed and also from Dutch
commercial stock, and the color seems the same every year. They are just
starting to flower now. I grow them in the bulb frame on the south, or
slightly shaded, side, since in the wild they often prefer shaded sites
where moisture must linger later into the season.

People often claim that their flowers have changed color or "reverted," but
I think this is usually a mistaken belief. Variegated foliage plants do
revert. Soil chemistry can affect flower color, most famously hydrangeas;
for instance, roses that I plant here usually have darker flowers than they
do in many other gardens, and this may be due to a soil high in potassium.
However, when friends tell me their flowers have changed color, the reasons
are likely to turn out to be (a) they got confused about what they planted
where; (b) seedlings of another color (usually the typical color) grew and
proved to be better adapted than the form originally planted; or (c) mixed
colors were originally supplied instead of the advertised selection, and
one color form among these is better adapted and eventually dominates the
colony. For example, I have planted florist anemones (Anemone de Caen) here
at the limit of their winter hardiness, and the red forms survive longer
than the other colors--red being the typical color of at least one parent
of this strain. If I weren't a skeptic with a little knowledge of natural
selection, I might think that all the anemones turned red!

I believe the Dutch commercial calochortus stocks are mostly seed-grown, so
it would be understandable to find some variation in them.

I noticed, by the way, that Calochortus uniflorus is now available
commercially. I didn't keep the mass-market bulb catalog where I saw it,
but it was listed under a cultivar name and the species not identified.
This is an upfacing, cup-shaped flower, lavender in color and with minimal
markings in the throat. It should be well adapted to gardens (I have it
outdoors but a deer ate it this year), coming from low elevations in the
central and southern parts of western Oregon, where it rains a lot in
winter and gets fairly cold too. It is one of the less striking Calochortus
species, but quite floriferous and increases well. It blooms over a long
period, starting here in early April and continuing to June. It is a small
plant, which is an advantage because it isn't as gawky and floppy as some
of the larger Calochortus.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon