frost tolerant Crinum foliage
J.E. Shields (Mon, 24 Jul 2006 05:04:56 PDT)

Hi Joe and all,

I've not in the past checked for when the crinums outdoors lose their green
foliage, but I'll try to do that this year.

We have C. bulbispermum, C. x-powellii, C. variabile, C. [bulbispermum x
lugardiae], C. 'Catherine', C. 'Emma', and some "J.C. Harvey" type hybrids
growing outdoors in the ground. Some of these are growing right next to a
greenhouse, so their bulbs are probably never subjected to actual freezing
temperatures. All of them however eventually lose all their foliage in
winter, here in Indiana, USDA zone 5.

We are ready to test some more crinums outdoors in an open bed -- not close
to a greenhouse -- this winter. We've lined out some [bulbispermum x
variabile] and some [bulbispermum x graminicola] seedlings. We've also
planted a few seedlings from two different batches of C. lugardiae in the
ground.

We tried a row of ca 20 seedling bulbs of [bulbispermum x macowanii] out in
the field some years ago. Only three of the seedling survived the
winters. After 2 or 3 winters, I lifted those 3 survivors and now grow
them in large pots. I am hoping to use them for breeding when they finally
start to bloom.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)

At 08:19 PM 7/23/2006 -0500, you wrote:

*************************************************
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