Tigridia
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 05 May 2008 19:30:16 PDT)

Dear Debbie,

Good for you for asking again when you didn't get a reply. I didn't reply
since I don't know the answers. I grew Tigridia chiapensis from seed,
keeping it dry in winter and starting it again the next spring and growing
it in my greenhouse. It bloomed last May, but has since died. I started the
seeds in March 2005 so that was about two years from seed. So I guess that
made it a biannual for me. Perhaps it would do better and grow faster in
conditions more to its liking. I once had a Tigridia pavonia bloom the
first year I started it, but never was able to repeat that feat. That would
make me think it possible to get it to bloom in a year. You'll have to tell us.

I germinated Tigridia vanhoutii, but it also was not a survivor. The seed
was from Rob Hamilton from Tasmania and I see a picture on the wiki from
Paul Tyerman from another Australia state with a different climate so
perhaps they can answer your question or maybe Dennis from Mexico will know.

When I lived in Stockton (central California with less rain and hotter
summers) Tigridia pavonia was a carefree plant coming back each year and
blooming well. It is not happy at all in coastal northern California and
only blooms briefly and in the ground does not return. I can only speculate
that it doesn't like our extra winter rainfall or cooler summer
temperatures or maybe I didn't water it enough here. In Stockton I had clay
soil and it was growing in perennial raised beds that I grew drought
tolerant perennials in, but I did water and there were no redwood tree
roots sucking up any water I gave the beds.

Mary Sue