Now that Lycoris squamigera is blooming, I'm giving more thought to the question of how to use this plant effectively in the garden. In particular, have any of you seen a planting of this Lycoris which combined the Lycoris with other plants in a particularly effective way? Or a planting which used the Lycoris alone in a particularly effective way? One traditional combination, that of Lycoris squamigera and Hosta, is very nice. So too is the combination of Lycoris squamigera and ferns. I have not tried it myself, but Lycoris squamigera and garden Phlox should make a nice combination, at least if some thought is given to the colors of the Phlox. This Lycoris combines very handsomely with big bushes of dwarf box. Leadwort is another very good companion for Lycoris squamigera, and I envy those of you who can grow both Lycoris squamigera and Ceratostigma willmottianum, which is taller than the C. plumbaginoides I grow here. I notice that hardy ageratum, Eupatorium coelestinum, is starting to bloom here, too: has anyone tried this with Lycoris squamigera? The big Sedum cultivars with glaucous foliage might make good companions, too. I'm thinking pink and blue here, but maybe combining the Lycoris with something in a suitable shade of red would be nice, too. And what about the range of "purple" leaved plants such as barberry, basil, perilla, smoke tree and so on: they might work, too. Does anyone have some favorites? Jim McKenney Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the naked ladies currently cavort over equally bare earth. -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of J.E. Shields Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 9:59 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: [pbs] Lycoris, Crinum and other blooms Hi all, The first Lycoris are in bloom here -- Lycoris sprengeri. I have a couple of scapes up on LL. longituba, but no flowers open on them yet. L. chinensis should not be far behind. Other than this, things are pretty quiet in my garden just now. I do have a couple scapes in bloom on Crinum variabile (in the ground) and a scape is up on Crinum lineare (in a 5-gal. container). I have not seen any signs of scapes on any Hymenocallis occidentalis so far this season. Other Hymenocallis in pots have bloomed well this year -- durangoensis, liriosme, henryae, palmeri, latifolia, maximilianii, rotata, eucharidifolia. Even had one scape and blooms on harrisiana! H. harrisiana almost never blooms for me. They have not been so generous at setting seed this year, unfortunately. My Leptochiton quitoense seem to be dwindling away. Only had one flower and no seeds on quitoense this year. A question for our taxonomists: What is the gender of Leptochiton? I assume it is neuter, but I don't really know. The ending -on in Greek usually equates to the neuter ending -um in Latin, but is that always true? Nerine krigei has been blooming, and now we have one flower open on Nerine laticoma. I've been trying to set seed on krigei using stored pollen from N. bowdenii (Aad Koen's hardy clone). It looks like I may have gotten one or two seeds at least. NN. krigei and filifolia cross readily; the plants from [filifolia X krigei] have twisted leaves like the pollen parent (krigei). Maybe I'll try to cross laticoma and krigei. I want to try [bowdenii X laticoma] or the reverse, as well. Since bowdenii does not bloom until November, I'll have to store the pollen of laticoma to make that cross. Regards, Jim Shields in central Indiana (USA) ************************************************* 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 _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php