Sternbergia

John T Lonsdale john@johnlonsdale.net
Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:39:28 PST
Hi Jane,

I took a look at your new photos and remain as confused as ever about
Sternbergia clusiana.  My confusion in large part comes because I've never
flowered it so haven't anything to compare leaves/flowers/flowering times
with.

It seems to be a mid-late fall flowering plant that flowers well before the
leaves appear, at least from photos I've seen.  I have seedlings coming
along from wild seed of known provenance and, as far as I know, correctly
identified.  Even in the greenhouse the leaves appear in mid-winter and are
broader, thinner and flatter and less glossy than those of lutea, for
example.  However, they are not quite as broad as those of fischeriana,
whose leaves are beautifully glaucus - just like in your wiki picture of
those that came from Panayoti.  Is there any reason the latter might not be
fischeriana - if they flowered in very late fall?  I can't find any good
pictures of S. clusiana on the web showing fresh leaves but my seedlings
definitely have green rather than blue/gray-green leaves.  Depending upon
the weather fischeriana flowers here, in the garden, anything between now
(10 blooms open) and March in a cold winter.  In my hoop-house I had it in
flower before the end of November one year.  It behaves very much like
candida, the sheathed flower buds appearing with the leaves.

Does anyone on the east coast grow bone fide S. clusiana in the garden - if
so when does it flower and does it flower before the leaves appear?

Thanks,

J.

John T Lonsdale PhD
407 Edgewood Drive,
Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, USA

Home: 610 594 9232
Cell: 484 678 9856
Fax: 801 327 1266

Visit "Edgewood" - The Lonsdale Garden at http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/

USDA Zone 6b




More information about the pbs mailing list