Yellow Sisyrinchium
Rodger Whitlock (Sun, 23 Jun 2013 14:12:18 PDT)

On 22 Jun 2013, at 12:03, James Waddick wrote:

S. californicum has bright chrome-yellow flowers (that is, with an orange tinge
to them). Drawback: it seeds like crazy, every seed germinates, and you have an
exciting new weed in your garden.

It's one of the very low sisyrinchiums, about the scale of Sisyrinchium
"macounii album" or the newish cultivars 'Devon Skies', 'Sapphire', and
'Californian Skies'. Hardy? I don't know; as soon as I recognized its weedish
propensities, I got rid of it.

S. patagonicum I only got last summer. Contrary to James's description, I'd
call the flowers small, but not "extremely tiny". Its growth habit is grassy,
on a scale much like that of 'Quaint and Queer' and 'Raspberry'. I notice that
its seed capsules are swelling, a sign it may turn out to be weedy. Can't speak
to hardiness, as last winter was fairly mild and didn't test anything's
hardiness.

S. striatum 'Aunt May' I don't grow, and I don't know anyone who does now. I
think it's more tender than the species and even in Victoria's rather mild
climate you need to overwinter it in a pot protected from serious cold. I would
describe its flowers as cream or ivory, rather than yellow.

This last year I've been running a home brew trial of various sisyrinchiums on
the local market, and the winner is the cultivar 'E K Balls'. Violet-blue
flowers in great profusion, grassy growth habit but shorter than S. patagonicum.

'Sapphire' has the pleasant habit of the flowers opening purple and fading to
sky blue. The mix of colors that results is very attractive, but it's one of
those plants you need a fairly extensive sweep of to make any kind of decent
show.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate