Mike: Thank you very much! Just returned from a trip home to southern New Mexico to assist with caring for my grandmother. Might try to send some to relatives still living in the area - they definitely don't have a problem supplying a lot of sunlight or completely dry conditions in the summer. Boyce Tankersley, now returned to a relatively cool and wet Chicago from a very hot and dry Las Cruces, NM. On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 4:15 PM, Michael Mace <michaelcmace@gmail.com>wrote: > Boyce asked: > > >> How difficult are they in containers? > > I would like to invite other growers to chime in, but here's my take: > > Calochortus range from the Canadian border to Mexico, and from California > to > Colorado. So you can find species for a variety of climates. But most of > them are from California, and those are what I'd call particular but not > difficult. In other words, if you give them the conditions they want, they > are easy to grow in containers. But if you don't get the conditions right, > they can be unforgiving. > > In general, most California-growing Calochortus will take the same > conditions as winter bulbs from places like South Africa and Chile. If you > grow winter-growing species bulbs like Moraea, Romulea, and Gladiolus, you > can probably grow Calochortus. But you need to use deep pots and pay > special attention to keeping them *totally* dry in summer. > > Specifically, they want: > > --Deep containers. You can grow them successfully in standard 8-inch / 20 > cm pots (I've done it), but within a couple of years they dive deep in the > pots. If they hit the bottom of the pot, they run out of growing room and > will die the next year. People who dug them in the wild (I haven't done > it) > wrote of finding a long series of shed bulb cases underground, each one > deeper than the one before. > > --Summer dryness. Some Calochortus species grow in areas that get a bit of > summer moisture, but the big Mariposas I wrote about are very intolerant of > any summer moisture. In the UK, you hear about growers leaving the pots > out > in the sun, under glass, to "cook" all summer. If you try that in > California, where the sun is a lot hotter, you literally will cook the > bulbs. Here you leave them in the shade and let them stay ruthlessly dry, > with absolutely no rain or sprinkling from a hose, from dormancy until the > rains start (late October/early November). > > --Good light and moisture in winter. Their light and water needs are very > similar to mediterranean-climate bulbs. They need a well-drained mix (I > use > 50-50 peat and sand, with some inorganic bulb fertilizer). Do not skip the > fertilizer, and do not use organic products like chicken manure as they > encourage rot. As long as drainage is good they like a lot of moisture > when > in growth. They also like a lot of sun, which I suspect may be a challenge > in some winter climates. > > --Cool conditions, but not frozen. Again, this is similar to other > mediterranean bulbs. The ones I grow are very hardy to around 20F, but do > not appreciate long periods of freezing. On the other hand, they seem > happiest with winter coolness and good air circulation. Seedlings will > damp > off if they are too humid/warm. I suspect that in a heated greenhouse > geared to tropicals you'd get rot. > > Some very beautiful Calochortus species come from the Great Basin area and > are adapted to extreme winter cold. These grow like some Asian Tulips -- > they want to be cold and dry in winter, and then in spring will grow very > quickly, blooming in early summer before they go dormant. I can't grow > them > easily because I don't have enough winter cold, but for someone in a very > cold winter climate they might actually be easier. > > > The now-defunct Calochortus Society collected a huge amount of data on > growing these things. They gave permission to reprint their findings, and > you can read them on the PBS wiki here: > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… > > Hope that helps. > > Mike > San Jose, CA > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >