Growing and Blooming Times
Mary Sue Ittner (Sun, 04 May 2003 09:20:26 PDT)

Dear Mark W., John I. and all,

I am always intrigued to learn how plants adapt in different environments.
So it is interesting to read that John Ingram's Tritonias are coming back
in a cold climate when they are probably finished blooming in Southern
California. Here in Northern California where the leaves emerge in October
for those from the South African winter rainfall area my Tritonias have
been very unhappy with the record rainfall in April and many of them are
diseased. I have noticed that in other years when we got a lot of rain
late. They definitely were happier when I grew them in the central valley
where there was less rain and I'd think they would prefer Southern
California too. I have one pot of Tritonia securigera which has been quite
beautiful, but I brought it undercover to wait out some of the worst
storms. John have you tried any of the summer rainfall Tritonia species in
Ohio? I'd expect them to do better.

It was interesting to see corms from Ann Marie in Southern California in
the BX of plants that haven't gone dormant here yet and in the case of
Homerias will still be blooming if the weather stays like it is possibly
into June.

Thanks Mark for clarifying about your Nerines. That was very interesting.

Allium uniflorum here blooms anytime from April to June. Every year when I
try to plan hikes ahead of time around when the flowers will appear it is a
gamble as so much depends on when it rains and how much. I expect we will
have bulbs flowering well into summer this year as the ground will remain
wet and some things will wait for more sunshine. So it will just depend on
the individual microclimates.

Coastal wildflowers in California are usually spring bloomers into summer
(depending on the weather.) Mountain wildflowers wait for the snows to melt
which will be very late this year so they are summer bloomers. There are a
few fall blooming plants but since in much of the state the rain stops in
spring, you are more likely to see berries in our fall than flowers. As
Diana has mentioned in the past there are thunder storms in the mountains
and sometimes southern California gets a tropical storm in the summer, but
where I live when we finally get our last rain (April to May most years),
it won't rain again until September or October.

Mary Sue
Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers