Coming into bloom in my greenhouse (min. temp. 32oF) is Cyrtanthus suaveolens, and the question is: should it? It's described as evergreen and summer blooming: I got it as a dormant bulb a couple of years ago in July and, after being watered in the fall, it obligingly bloomed in January. And then again this last July! I think I half-heartedly tried to force it into dormancy then; whatever I did, here it is doing it's winter thing again. I'm curious about other PBSer's experiences.
Jim Jones
Lexington, MA
-----Original Message-----
From: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net>
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tue, Jan 29, 2013 6:36 pm
Subject: [pbs] What's flowering this week January 28
It's time for even those who live in non-banana-growing climates to
notice the advent of "spring" (or "late winter") bulbs. Here in
Portland, Oregon, we've just had a 10-day period when the temperature
at lower elevations rarely climbed above freezing (there was an
inversion, and temperatures in the mid elevations of the mountains
were much warmer). Not much seems to have been damaged in my garden,
though, and even the germinating seedlings in the potting shed are
active again, despite having been cold enough for the tops of the
pots to freeze stiff (they're mostly Central Asian this year).
Cyclamen coum 'Urfa Strain' in the garden held onto its flowers that
had opened at Christmas, and the other C. coum groups are raising
their buds. The earliest snowdrops ('Dionysus' and 'Oluna's Mother')
are opening in the garden, and Galanthus fosteri in the bulb house.
The first of the crocuses growing in turf have opened, and prove to
be Crocus rujanensis; apparently a few seedlings of it (it sets seed
readily) were in between the pots in the old bulb frames and got
mixed into the miscellaneous baskets of bulbs I laid down before
replacing the sod. Puschkinia scilloides has opened the first of its
pretty pale blue flowers between the cyclamen patches.
In the bulb house, which has a roof but open sides, Narcissus
cantabricus has been in full bloom since late December; after the
coldest frozen nights some of its stems drooped, but they're back
upright now. There are some of its hybrids too, salvaged from the old
frames and showing their mixed parentage (N. romieuxii and/or the
earliest N. bulbocodium subspecies) in their pale yellow shades. N.
romieuxii itself is starting up, and N. bulbocodium ssp. pallidus and
ssp. praecox. These are all excellent container plants, their bulbs
being quite small and tolerant of crowding, so anyone who can protect
them from temperatures below about 20 degrees F would enjoy having
some. All are easily and quickly flowered from seed, and also I'll
try to get some surplus bulbs to the BX next summer.
The small-growing midwinter colchicums are appearing: Colchicum
hungaricum in several forms, including the bright white 'Velebit
Star'; C. turcicum and C. doerfleri, similar small species; C.
munzurense, pale pink and very little; and C. trigynum, short and
white. Hyacinthella species are showing their dark blue buds --
another little container subject, if you can find seed. The first
"thog" is Ornithogalum lanceolatum, with broad leaves and its flowers
right at ground level. Crocuses that have opened thus far include
Crocus michelsonii, white flushed with blue-lavender; C. sieheanus,
bright gold; C. rujanensis, mid lavender and of good size; and C.
laevigatus, a holdover from December still producing blooms. And as
always, Iris stenophylla shows some color before January is quite
over; it is a very small Juno with two subspecies, of which ssp.
allisonii flowers here about 2 weeks before ssp. stenophylla.
Many seeds arrived in fall and got sown when I prefer to do so, but
now the NARGS seeds and a Chadwell expedition share have arrived, and
those requiring moist chilling need to be sown this week. We still
have two months of real winter (or at least as real as it gets in
Portland) before us. Some of North America is being talked about for
its deep freezes, but after spending 12 years in Fairbanks, Alaska,
I'm rather bemused to see that minus 20 F gets into the national news.
Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA