old homestead bulbs

dave s wusong@evilemail.com
Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:13:22 PST
There is a difference between naturalization and invasiveness, but I didn't
think Mary Sue was going there...

-Dave S.

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 4:34 PM, David Ehrlich <idavide@sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> Dear Mary Sue,
>   Just because the plants can survive here doesn't make them invasive.
> Allium triquetrum or A. neapolitanum occurs here, but it doesn't recur.
> Amaryllis belladonna is common, but it doesn't invade.  In fact I've had
> trouble growing it from wild collected seed.  Oxalis pes-caprae is invasive;
> so is Brassica, and so is Raphanus.  Daffodils survive, but don't seem to
> spread (in my backyard, they don't always even do that well).  I haven't
> particularly noticed the others along Highway 1.
>
>   However, I understand your point -- if a plant can survive untended, then
> it can produce seeds (or worse, bulbils) which may spread and survive, and
> that, after all, is the meaning of invasion.  And all the plants you list
> have certainly done that.  But still, I can't see denying someone a pot of
> paperwhites because they can survive outdoors in our mild climate.  I'd save
> my wrath for those species which spread rapidly and are not easily
> extirpated locally or are otherwise obnoxious, like Nothoscordum gracilis,
> or the aboove Oxalis and Brassicas.
>
> David E.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Thu, February 11, 2010 7:39:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [pbs] old homestead bulbs
>
> I've been busy fixing things on the wiki lately and only today read
> all the messages on this thread. In Coastal Northern California some
> of the invasive plants qualify for inclusion so for them wouldn't
> want to encourage anyone to plant them. Here are some bulbs I have
> observed in areas continuing to grow and thrive in areas where they
> are no longer tended:
> Allium triquetrum, Amaryllis belladonna, Oxalis pes-caprae, Narcissus
> spp. (could be hybrids, I've not tried to figure out what they are,
> but you see them along Highway One), Kniphofia (also not sure if
> these are species or hybrids), Zantedeschia aethiopica, some kind of
> Bearded Iris, Watsonia, more than one species but definitely Watsonia
> meriana var bulbillifera, Chasmanthe, again I'm not sure which species
>
> I've probably forgotten some.
>
> Mary Sue
>
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