Dear Mary Sue< Thank you for your insight. I am doing fairly well as a plant lover, but just when I think I know what I am doing, something strange happens. My daughter gave me a gift of a little portable green house, so I am going to try my luck with that. I also removed some potted plants for the upcoming Winter and combined soil that looked as if nothing was growing; now stuff is popping up all over the place. Nothing grew in those pots all Summer and not they like the dirt etc. Now that I have mixed the soil, I know I shouldn't have. Don't give up on me because I have learned a great deal about plants, also my famaily says they love to see me working with my plants. Of course I never thought I would get excited over a blossom or a root, perhaps I am finally in my element. Thanks again for your advise, I shall get some more books. See Ya, Chris > [Original Message] > From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> > To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Date: 9/19/2004 10:55:57 AM > Subject: [pbs] Bulb Questions from Chris > > Dear Chris, > > I'm sure none of us want to stifle your enthusiasm about growing bulbs, but > I think you might find a few books really helpful in answering your > questions. I think Growing Bulbs: The Complete Practical Guide by Brian > Mathew is an excellent book and I expect others could suggest other basic > books as well. > > It is impossible to give an answer that would work for all bulbs. Our group > talks about plants that are bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, tuberous roots, corms. > What they all have in common is an underground storage organ that helps > them survive difficult times. Some of them may be buried under snow and not > appear until spring. Others are sitting out a summer without rain and will > sprout when the rains begin. Others may be evergreen and never really lose > their leaves. There are so many different variations. > > How to treat them depends on what you are growing. There are books that > will give you information about different plants. It is also helpful to > find out where they come from and what the conditions are where they grow. > Oxalis, one of your favorite bulbs, grows all over the world. We have > Oxalis growing in our Redwood forests in deep shade where they have winter > rainfall and a dry summer except for the moisture that comes from fog drip. > There are Oxalis growing in forests in Europe. Many of the really gorgeous > ones are native to South Africa where some of them are found in areas that > are low in rainfall, hot in summer, but never really cold in winter when > the rain comes. They sprout with the first rains and go dormant when the > weather becomes hot and dry. But there are summer rainfall Oxalis too. > Other species come from Central or South America where they may have year > round or tropical summer rainfall and grow in summer and are dormant in > winter. So even with Oxalis you need to know something about the species > you are growing if you want to be successful with it. > > Some bulbs benefit from repotting and others will sulk for years when you > disturb their roots. It may be fine to leave bulbs in pots while they are > dormant or to remove them. It just depends. Most can be grown from seed. > Some will bloom quickly from seed and others will take many years and even > then may not bloom if the conditions are not to their liking. Some seed may > germinate quickly and other seed will take a long time. Some will grow > underground the first year and you won't even know that anything is happening. > > Unless you have a greenhouse or a large indoor growing area with lights as > a beginner you'll have much better luck growing bulbs that are happy with > your climate. Many people in our group are able to grow bulbs that you > wouldn't expect they could by knowing what conditions the bulbs need and > providing those conditions. Some of us started however with things that > were very easy to grow before we tried harder things. > > If there is a plant you are wondering about tell us what it is and > hopefully someone in the group who grows it will try to help you. > > Mary Sue > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php