Lycoris season 2 - L. squamigera : 2?

totototo@telus.net totototo@telus.net
Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:06:27 PDT
On 8 Aug 2010, at 9:41, Jane McGary wrote:

> I see a lot of interest from our eastern North American members in 
> Lycoris, but I have never been able to keep it here in the Cascade 
> foothills, for which I blame cool summer nights. However, yesterday I 
> went to a party at a great garden, that of Norm Kalbfleisch and Neil 
> Matteuci, that is less than a mile from my new house, and they had 
> huge clumps of Crinum in flower. Am I correct in thinking that if you 
> can grow Crinum well, you have a chance with Lycoris? If there is a 
> similarity in their requirements, I might try Lycoris again -- though 
> I don't think I want to use the space for Crinum.

My experience is that of the Lycoris species, only L. squamigera survives here 
(Victoria, BC), even though crinums do quite well. Don't ask me *which* 
crinums: I don't know. Some are probably the hybrids with Amaryllis.

I have all my crinums planted fairly close to the foundation, where heat from 
the basement helps keep winter frost from causing much harm.

As for the Lycoris, I've always suspected that the issue for me is the 
narcissus fly. Around here the flies are so prevalent, thanks to indestructible 
old narcissus cultivars lurking in waste places, that such lovelies as the 
triandrus hybrid narcissus cultivars (e.g. Thalia, Liberty Bells) last only one 
season, and then they are gone.


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island

http://maps.google.ca/maps/…


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