One Size (or Condition) Does Not Fit All
Joe Shaw (Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:01:15 PDT)

Hi Gang,

I have a strategy I use for plants from Africa, Asia, and other continents
that come from seasonal wetlands, and which can take some mild frosts (20-25
F for a few hours). I call it the "average seasonal wetland plant growth
strategy."

I plant such plants in good soil in big pots, 3- or 5-gallon nursery
containers or larger, and I water them twice a week in hot summer weather
and less often in wetter or cooler times.

Such plants are often some of the few things from mostly Mediterranean
climates that will grow here in the greater Houston area. They survive (I
surmise) because they are riverine or seasonal wetland plants and adapted to
humidity and wetness, but many of them are great survivors of seasonal
drought too. Alternating periods of wetness and drought is the case for the
Gulf Coast of Texas. We have months of too much rain, and then months of
not enough rain.

Anyway, I've been growing Crinum variabile seedlings for several years.
They have muddled along and done OK. But, last Fall I put several bulbs in
pots and set them out in the low part of my yard where they often get a few
inches of water for weeks on end (2-3 seedlings per 3-gallon pot). I also
kept a few pots of C. variabile in my "typical conditions" for seasonal
wetland plants from not-too-cold areas-conditions where the plants get
irrigation but not flooding waters.

I have been very pleasantly surprised to find that the C. variabile plants
in flooded areas have grown a lot, producing much top growth. The species
doesn't seem to create large bulbs, but the "wet" plants are surely making
more bulb growth than the plants in the compromise conditions.

So, I infer that one size (or type of growing conditions) does not fit all
plants, even though I wish such were the case.

Cordially,

Joe