Slightly OT Serapias
Paul Tyerman (Thu, 23 Jun 2005 06:31:09 PDT)

At 11:09 23/06/05, you wrote:

Jim,

Serapius lingua sails through winters down to -8'C here in Canberra without
pause. Never been a problem any year I have had them, multiplying steadily
and flowering happily despite being in small (5 or 6") black plastic pots
(which therefore magnify the cold to a certain degree... which means that
in the ground they would take colder than -8'C I would imagine?) and
hopelessly neglected some years. I do repot them every couple of years
because I feel sorry for them but they are left to themselves over summer
generally and tend towards pretty dry (although most of my pots I do give
at least some summer watering to). -8'C is definitely not a problem to
them at all, or at least it definitely hasn't been here any time in the
last 7 or 8 years or so that I have been growing them (and one of those
years I think we got down below -9 from memory).

I give them no special care or potting mix, just potting them up as I would
any of my other bulbs. I keep them out in full sun and they are definitely
pots that are in an area that doesn't always get watered as much as some of
my pots as I know they seem to like a dryish summer. They don't seem to
mind crowding and don't seem to mind if we get a wet period in winter while
they are in full growth. They are fully dormant in summer, with absolutely
no evidence that there is anything in the pot, as they die down to similar
tubers to many of the terrestrial orchids. When repotting I give them some
slow release bulb food and Saturaid to help in water penetration, but
otherwise they get no liquid feeding or later top-dressing of fertiliser or
anything like that. They can grow quite happily for a couple of years
without any fertilise obviously as I don't get them repotted every year and
therefore they don't get any fresh fertiliser in those years I
don't. Doesn't bother them and doesn't affect flowering or offsetting as
far as I can tell?

So the upshot is if you were expecting them to not be hardy to -8'C then
either you have a strain that is cold sensitive, or else the ones in my
garden have not read any of the gardening books and don't know that they
shouldn't grow here. Yes, I am a harsh man who doesn't let his plants do
any reading of gardening reference books..... I prefer to keep them
uninformed about what they should be preferring by way of environment! LOL

Hopefully some of the information above is of some use to someone out there
reading this. If there is anything I can clarify or expand on just
ask. Apologies if it does take me a bit of time to respond but I am not
always using the computer at the moment because of ill health.... but I
will respond when I get the chance.

Cheers.

Paul Tyerman
Canberra, Australia. USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9 (Extremes approx
40'C/summer and -8'C/winter)

Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Trilliums, Cyclamen,
Crocus, Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just
about anything else that doesn't move!!!!!