Ipheion
Lee Poulsen (Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:25:46 PDT)

As I mentioned the last time we discussed this, Ipheions of all
types, as well as the related Nothoscordums, behave like rabbits for
me here in So. Calif. (In fact if I were more diligent at re-potting
them, I should be sending Dell plenty of offsets every 2-3 years...)
Lauw, I've never been to the South of France. But everything I've
seen about its weather and what grows there, especially near the
Mediterranean like you are, indicates to me that it's probably more
like central or southern California than it is like where Mary Sue
lives. She is in a very cool, much wetter USDA Zone 10a as compared
to my much warmer and dryer Zone 10a. BTW, given all the things you
grow outside, I'm almost certain that you are not in Zone 8. At
minimum you are in a Zone 9 climate and most likely Zone 9b.

I grow the plain species, Wisley Blue (which to me is virtually
indistinguishable from the straight species form), Alba (from Jacques
Amand long ago), Alberto Castillo, Froyle Mill, Charlotte Bishop,
Rolf Fiedler, and this year I have some Jessies. (BTW, Jane, Brent &
Becky's offered them this winter so they've appeared in North America
already.) I also have a nice lavender-flowered one that appeared as a
seedling a couple of years ago that I've put into its own pot so it
can start doing the rabbit thing. I also got o.p. seeds of pink forms
from the Archibald's a couple of years ago and they started blooming
this year. I think they are from Charlotte Bishop open pollinated and
back crossed with each other. There were a variety of different
shades of pink, some more intense than Charlotte Bishop, and a few
that were a truer pink than C.B. is. I'm going to re-pot them this
summer when after they go dormant so I can select and multiply them
next winter.

I rarely notice the seeds pods because they do an almost peanut like
thing where a thick stem appears where the flower was and curves
downward until the pod lays on the soil surface under all the leaves.
Usually I only notice when one of these downcurving pods happens to
land in an adjacent pot and the next year volunteers appear at the
edge of the new pot.

I wonder if Alberto Castillo is a different species (or hybrid?) as
well because it is much more vigorous than any of my other types
including the straight species form, and the foliage is much bluer
than any of the others. It stands out as different, much more so than
Rolf Fiedler does. The Alba form looks just like most of the
uniflorum cultivars except that it's white. The leaves are the same
shade of green as all of them as well.
If you don't like Rolf Fiedler (Why?!), you're not going to like
Jessie either because it's fairly similar, the color being slightly
darker and slightly more intense than R.F. (but still not anything
like Tecophilaea cyanocrocus!).

I suspect that regions with warm summers, whether wet or dry, say
Zone 8 and higher, will be able to grow most Ipheions almost as weeds.

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a