Colchicum questions
Jane McGary (Tue, 31 May 2005 15:07:50 PDT)
Jim McKenney asked me,Because so many of us grow bulbs from you, your
experiences are particularly
significant. It's a mystery to me, for instance, why Crocus goulimyi is an
easy garden plant here but will not do for you as a garden plant. I'm
tempted to offer you corms ripened here in Maryland to see if those would
survive at least the first Oregon winter.
I think I lose it simply because it is extremely attractive to predators,
like Crocus banaticus. It is cold-hardy in our typical winters.
Can you tell us more about why you think Colchicum cupanii fails in the open
rock garden? And maybe tell us a bit more in general about the problems
peculiar to your climate?
The foliage emerges in fall, and during the winter it freezes, thaws, and
refreezes while wet. A couple of years of this simply starves the plant,
and also may introduce rot into the corm through the frozen, rotting leaf
bases. In the bulb frame, it may freeze, but it won't be wet. This is the
usual difficulty with growing Mediterranean fall and winter flowering bulbs
in the Pacific Northwest, where the winters are warm enough for them to try
to grow, but intermittently cold enough that their growth is checked by
frosts. I expect the same thing happens in Britain.
That said, I do try most bulbs in the garden once I have propagated a
surplus (as long as I don't sell all the extras), and sometimes I have a
nice surprise. For example, Narcissus cantabricus has just flowered for its
second winter in the open -- but we just had the two warmest winters in the
past 50 years, too.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA