Lycoris frustration
J.E. Shields (Wed, 04 Aug 2004 07:17:27 PDT)

Dear all,

I too am always delighted when Lycoris time rolls around again! I love
these plants.

I have the same range of chinensis plus hybrids plus typical longituba that
Jim Waddick has -- after all, my bulbs came from him! I'm thinking of
tagging them as to color and probably identity too. I just hate to disturb
them, for fear they will stop blooming for a couple of years; but I
probably will, although again the question is "When?" Immediately after
bloom would be logical for the mere sake of keeping track of which is which
color variant. I assume however, as Jim W. did, that the summer dormant
period would be better for transplanting.

Re: transplanting Lycoris, I assume the critical point is, when do the
bulbs grow new roots? I don't know when this time period occurs for this
genus.

One longituba we have here has a lovely pink cast to the open flowers, from
buds that are a rich rose color before they open. It too seems to have
relative large flowers. It's raining today, but I'll try to get a digital
image tomorrow.

I am also interested in anyone propagating these bulbs and how they are
doing it. I'll definitely be watching for individual bulbs that have
produced offsets. In want of artificial propagation, selection may be the
next best approach. Any comment or suggestions, anyone?

I'm taking pictures of these with a variety of cameras. Older pictures of
these plants can be found on my web site
at: http://shieldsgardens.com/amaryllids/… and follow the
links to genus Lycoris. I'll expand those pages when I have additional
pictures of potential interest.

I have noted that Lycoris [chinensis X haywardii] bulbs are coming back
quite reliably each year, and blooming. Also, they are offsetting well. I
assume they are seedlings, but they flowers look nearly identical to
me. This and a couple others (all from China by way of Jim Waddick) are
shown at: http://shieldsgardens.com/amaryllids/…

I wish we could develop a source of reliably named bulbs of Lycoris,
selected by color etc. If anyone is doing this, please get in touch with
me privately at <jshields@indy.net>

Best regards
Jim Shields
in rainy central Indiana

*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA