Canarina canariensis
320083817243-0001@t-online.de (Thu, 04 Mar 2004 15:58:20 PST)

Dear All,

Canarina is a beautiful plant but can be tricky and I had failures before.
Seedlings need a certain tuber size before they flower and this may take
several years. Also it is important not to keep them too warm in spring as
warmth induces dormancy, if this happens too early in the season tuber growth
will be poor and the tuber will be prone to rotting. Also the tuber must not be
kept totally dry when dormant, even with watering in summer growth will not
start, it has a very precise timing for winter growth. I have seen cultivated
plants in German Botanical Gardens more than 3m high (or long)

Canarina canariensis is not an epiphyte. All the wild plants I saw in habitat
were definetely terrestrial but in a soil with good humus content, some also in
rock pockets. Most grew on steep slopes together with bracken and rubus in
disturbed places or in endemic canarian laurel formation in more unspoilt
areas.
They grow in relatively high altitudes in the cloud belt forests where it is
moist and cool all year (I have never been there in summer but it will not be
hot and dry there) I wonder if the tuber and the summer dormancy are a relic
from either a differnt climate or from ancestors that came form a typical
mediterranean climate. Maybe there is a botanist out there who can answer this.
In its present habitat it does neither "need" nor tuber nor dormancy. I think
the plant never gets any frost, I find it extremely sensitive to frost, even
cold air currents when opening the greenhouse door during hard frosts has
caused leaf burn on my plant that growns near the door.

A picture and more text can be seen
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Sorry for my picture being out of focus, I did not notice that when sending it.
I looked at Bill Dykes plant which is magnifident!

bye for today, Uli