early Erythronium helenae flowers
Laura & Dave (Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:20:18 PST)

After reading the posts regarding the Erythroniums, I strolled outside to see
what was up here. As Ian pointed out in his SRGC blog, the E. caucasicum is the
clear winner on early blooming, as I've had a couple flowers open for a day or
two, and now being joined by several more. The E. multiscapodium plants have
raised buds above the leaves, but are still tightly closed and erect. The E.
helenae are showing buds, but still down nestled by the leaves. The race for 4th
and 5th places may go to E. citrinum or E. hendersonii, but though barely
showing, E. revolutum develops quite quickly, and may overtake these other two
species. The last to flower is usually our native species, E. oregonum. Other
species flower in between these two extremes, but I haven't been growing them
long enough to have any valid data.

Dave Brastow - Tumwater Washington USA ~7A
at the southern end of Puget Sound, inland northwestern Washington.