Lycoris season 1
James Waddick (Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:08:27 PDT)

Dear Friends,
As I mentioned earlier, Lycoris season has begun here in
Kansas City. I was driving around a day ago and was surprised to see
a few L. squamigera in bloom. This is nearly the ONLY Lycoris you see
in my area. My plants have not put on a sign of a flower stalk yet.
Hold that thought.

Since L. sanguineum is the usual first to bloom I really
wondered. I came home and ripped away the veil of weeds around my L.
sanguineum bulb spot and found two stalks with 3 or 4 spent flowers.
I had totally missed them. This is quite early.

Since then, more stalks have appeared. 2 different L.
chinensis x longituba are in bloom today. One with very pale petals
and strong yellow mid-stripe, the other a more uniform primrose
yellow; both with the longituba form.

I often pick up a few more bulbs of L. squamigera when the
opportunity arrives. 2 years ago I got some left over from a local
flower club plant sale. These have started to bloom - 3 plants but
even these are early. These early blooming squamigera are a few feet
from a bed of over 100 bulbs none of which show a hint of a flower
stalk yet.

It is long thought that L. squamigera is a natural hybrid,
triploid and sterile. I agree, but might this natural hybrid have
occurred multiple times and places resulting in various very similar
clones separated mainly by bloom season? The early plants mentioned
above were growing in a slightly protected part of the city, but my
newly blooming plants are too close to older non-blooming plants to
make me wonder.

I have multiple patches of L. squamigera around my 1 acre
garden. They usually bloom within a few days of each other, but these
new ones are clearly jumping the schedule.

I can't help but wonder. Any thoughts? 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 +