Paramongaia
Lee Poulsen (Thu, 21 May 2009 15:34:29 PDT)
pelarg@aol.com wrote:
I? have some Paramongaia grown from seed, though they are still too young to flower. This plant is a strict winter grower, when I worked at the NYBG I grew it with Cape bulbs in a cool greenhouse.? It will not remain green over summer, allow seedlings to go dormant, they will reemerge in the fall.? It is not a fussy plant, surprisingly, just think of it as a daffodil on steroids.? It appreciates good soil and fertilizer when in growth, but wants to be bone dry during its dormancy.
There are two strains of Paramongaia weberbaueri. The one from the
coast, which is the type I have, is just as Ernie describes. I grow it
just like my Cape bulbs and treat it the same way. It does very well in
this climate. (However, I have to warn people that if you grow it
outside during the winter in mild climates, it does not like any frost
on its leaves, so I grow mine near the house or under some protection
against night time radiation freezes.)
The other strain is from the Andes (I think around 10,000ft/3000 m
elev.) and its growing season is shifted from the coastal strain. I have
been told that it doesn't leaf out until late winter/early spring and
doesn't go dormant until the latter half of the summer, and that it
doesn't like winter rains while it is still dormant and the temperatures
are chilly.
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a