Lycoris: Withholding Ain't My Thing
totototo@telus.net (Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:30:37 PDT)

On 2 Jul 2010, at 9:44, David Maxwell wrote:

Generally speaking, eastern Asia has a summer monsoon climate: hot, humid, wet
summers, with dry, cold winters. On the Pacific coast of North America, we have
quite the reverse where moisture is concerned, with coolish, very dry summers,
and very wet, not overly cold winters.

I have found many eastern Asiatic plants most unhappy in the west coast
climate, likewise some natives of the American east coast. (Note that my garden
has a rather heavy, badly drained soil, which aggravates the effects of winter
wet.) Tricyrtis disappears after one year, for example. I've learned the hard
way not to waste time growing things that dislike this climate.

You, in Sacramento, have warmer winters and much hotter summers than we do in
Victoria, but your rainfall pattern is the same as ours. Hence, for an eastern
Asiatic like lycoris, you need to protect the plants from the rain during
winter and water like mad in the summer. Is the effort worth it? Maybe not; it
might be easier to set up a tent in Jim McKinney's backyard and live there.

Don't forget to feed your lycoris.

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

http://maps.google.ca/maps/…