TOW: Bulbs with surprising hardiness
Rodger Whitlock (Fri, 12 Sep 2003 12:36:25 PDT)
On 9 Sep 03 at 19:40, J.E. Shields wrote:
Finally, after growing Brodiaea coronaria in a pot in the greenhouse
and getting very little bloom, and grumbling because I did not think
it worth the precious greenhouse benchtop space it took up, I
planted the whole potful out in the rock garden in summer 2002.
This summer, they bloomed abundantly! Whoever convinced me that B.
coronaria was too tender for Indiana was apparently wrong. These
bulbs were grown from seed from Ron Ratko, collected in the wild,
his #NNS 97-37. Maybe Ron collected these seeds from a harsher,
wetter locality than the usual California types grow in.
Brodiaea coronaria grows as far north as British Columbia and is
bone-hardy as far as I am concerned. Our winters are *usually* mild,
but every so often we get an "arctic outflow" of extremely cold air.
Februrary 1989 is the last one that was really memorable; the soil
froze a foot deep in some places.
Brodiaea coronaria doesn't turn a hair at these cold snaps.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island