When plants bloom
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:01:09 PDT)

Hi,

Some of the Brodiaeas that are not tall bloom late too, like Brodiaea
terrestris. But it often blooms in pathways and other areas where the
grasses are lower. It's still in bloom here now. The native Allium species
I grow are really variable. None of them bloom in the beginning of the
growing cycle, but some of them bloom early spring and some late spring to
summer. We observed Allium dichlamydeum in the wild today and some of the
flowers are still in bud.

There are California monocots that are late to emerge and bloom earlier in
their growth cycle. Some people might argue whether all of them can be
considered bulbs. Scoliopus comes to mind here. In the wild it has been
seen in bloom in January and February. Cardamine which has tubers is an
early bloomer too. Some coastal Erythroniums emerge January to February and
bloom a few months later. Our local Trillium and Calypso orchids bloom
relatively quickly after they emerge. Lilium species however are summer
bloomers. The Fritillarias I have seen locally are spring bloomers so they
behave more like Erythroniums, but come up a little earlier in my experience.

I don't know a lot about the pollinators but I guess that when our "bulbs"
bloom would have to do a lot with when the setting of seed is most likely
to be successful. I think butterflies are pollinators for some of the bulbs
in the Brodiaea complex (Brodiaea, Dichelostemma, Triteleia) and you see
them more active after it gets dryer and warmer.

Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers