Lycoris caldwellii
James Waddick (Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:12:34 PDT)

Dear friends,
I am more and more enthusiastic about Lycoris caldwellii.
This species was not described until 1957, relatively recently and is
not widely grown, but it sure deserves more attention. It is the star
of my garden this week.

This species is totally hardy here with typical spring
foliage and mid-late season bloom. L. squamigera is essentially gone
except for a couple very late stems resulting form a recent rain. The
flowers are good sized although smaller than the wide spread L.
squamigera. Buds show a lot of rose-pink, but flowers open pale
yellow - paler than the primrose of a steno note pad and gradually
fade to cream -near-white. Although the fresh petals are smooth, they
develop a wide open form with lightly ruffled edges. When fully open
the petals spread out to a wide star shape.

This species has the same genetic make up (2/3N= 27) as L.
squamigera, but is likely a sterile triploid hybrid of L. chinensis
x L. sprengeri. If flowers abundantly and offsets readily. I suspect
it would match L. squamigera in a side by side vigor trial. This
surely deserves wider cultivation and garden space.

See the wiki
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… picture
showing the pink buds and range of yellows in new and older flowers.

Best Jim W.

--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +