Legacy Bulbs
totototo@telus.net (Mon, 17 May 2010 17:11:21 PDT)
On 17 May 2010, at 7:06, Mary Sue Ittner wrote:
I have added another page of Kathleen Sayce's treatment of Legacy Bulbs.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…
This page covers Colchicum through Erythronium. As I edited it, as
with other pages, I find some of the plants she has listed as
lasting, really amazing, as some of them are very challenging for
many of us to grow. Oh to have Cypripedium naturalizing in your
garden or adjacent woods. I think Giorgio was growing Cypripedium.
Any one else growing this successfully in the ground or aware of
specific species that are lasting? Perhaps Giorgio could give us an
update on how his are doing.
Kathleen also mentions Erythronium as naturalizing. I've yet to try
it in the ground although I have enough of a couple of species now to
try. Are there any specific species that people have found that once
planted become persistent in the garden with little care?
My impression is that naturalization of just about any plant depends on
delicate details of climate, soil, and exposure. Shortly after moving to my
present house, I scattered considerable quantities of erythronium seed (E.
revolutum and E. oregonum, both natives) along the verges of my ~300' long
driveway. Only a handful of plants ever resulted, probably no more than a
dozen, at most.
At the street end of the driveway, I repeatedly tried to establish assorted
rampageous perennials in a patch of waste ground: Oriental poppies, Macleaya
cordata, Alstroemeria lutea, etc (if I recall correctly). Plants that many
books warn about. Not one survived.
Primula vulgaris sibthorpii didn't naturalize, but the divisions I planted
along the driveway survived for most of the 20 years, until I rescued them and
brought them back into the garden.
OTOH, Cyclamen repandum is slowly colonizing the driveway verges, presumably
from seed carried there by ants.
Vinca minor has gone mad, but that should be no surprise.
One or two stray Tulipa sprengeri have turned up, but not the dozens that are
spread through my garden.
What this really means is that the concept "invasive plant" is contingent on
local conditions. What is horribly invasive in one place may be utterly well
behaved elsewhere.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island