Bulbs for California's Central Valley
Shirley Meneice (Mon, 26 Jan 2004 21:49:47 PST)

A tuberous perennial I have not seen mentioned is Hermodactylus
tuberosus which does beautifully in my supposed Zone 9 garden in Pebble
Beach. The soil is not really ideal, but as John Bryan states in his
Burpee book on BULBS,it is "a great plant for the rock garden, it is of
easy culture and will most certainly be a conversation piece. It will
become natualized in areas where grass is sparse and little else grows."
And it is fragrant! You'd like it. Try it.
Shirley Meneice
Sue Haffner wrote:

Hi, Richard,

I garden in Clovis, not too far from Selma. Selma is a nice little town, by the
way, but is growing fast.
Amaryllis belladonna ("Naked Ladies") survive here with no care, at all.
Watsonias
Homerias
Crocosmias
Velthemia, in a protected spot
Lachenalias would not survive the winter in the ground, I fear. They haven't, even
in my fairly protected back yard. I have them in pots.
Sprekelia
Lycoris
Chasmanthe--can get invasive, though, as they really like our climate.

Hope this helps a bit.

Sue Haffner

----- Original Message -----
From: RichardPIV@aol.com
Date: Saturday, January 24, 2004 1:54 pm
Subject: [pbs] Bulbs for California's Central Valley

Please recommend some bulbs/geophytes for beginners for
California's
Central Valley. These should be Meditterranean climate type
bulbs which will
receive no or little water during the summer and natural rainfall
in the winter.
Summer days are usually above 100 degrees, with summer nighttime
lows in
the 70-80s, and winters are cool and damp, 35-45 degrees, but
rarely freezing.

My daughter is buying a new home there in a tract development
in Selma,
near Fresno, California. The soil appears to be well drained and
was
probably an old Thompson seedless grape vineyard. I have many
bulbs I can share
with her but my Medit. climate is coastal northern California,
with cool, wetter
winters and cool dry summers, rarely above 80 degrees day, usually
in 60s at
night. I doubt if Lachenalias would be successful in Selma, but
many Agapanthus
are in the area.

Richard
_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php

_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php

.