I trust Jim McKenney will forgive me for substituting plain English for
his neologism "oporanthous" (I cannot trace it back any further than an
old synonym for Sternbergia, and the only way I can derive that is a
crasis form of a Greek phrase meaning roughly "O, flower hard to get,"
which in these days of CITES is rather apt).
Nonetheless, in my plain American garden a number of bulbs are flowering
a bit ahead of schedule, possibly because of the very warm late spring
just past. Cyclamen graecum is flowering in the dry part of the bulb
house, but not in its tufa-based bed in the open garden. Cyclamen
hederifolium is starting up, mostly growing on the root zone of two huge
Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii, the curse of the Northwest garden).
The first colchicum was Colchicum kotschyi (under cover), followed
closely by another medium-sized species, Colchicum hierosolymitanum ("of
Jerusalem"). The Merendera species, or Colchicum if one lumps them,
haven't appeared yet, perhaps because I lifted and potted them to escape
a drainage problem where they were growing. The first in the garden is
the large white cultivar 'Innocence', formerly known as C. byzantinum
'Album'.
Acis autumnalis (which has a subsp. oporanthus) has popped up in the
bulb lawn, where perhaps the turf keeps it cooler than its other spot on
the rock garden. A few Prospero autumnalis (syn. Scilla autumnalis) have
appeared.
Thanks to Joyce Miller, I now have some Crinum, probably the pink and
white forms of Crinum x powellii, and they flowered a couple of weeks
ago. I hope I can keep them going, but adequate moisture will be a
challenge. They should be a bit hardier than tuberoses (Polianthes
tuberosa), which has opened in its pot and must be kept dormant indoors
in winter here--a lovely fragrance on the patio at night, mingling with
the breeze-wafted honeysuckle.
Not many western American bulbs flower at this season, but there is an
odd onion, Allium sanbornii, which produces its dark pink flowers now,
long after its western relatives have gone dormant. I grow it fairly dry.
Sternbergia (syn. Oporanthus!) has not flowered yet, but they survived
the aforementioned drainage disaster well, and I have some to send to
the BX next week. Please share them equitably!
Jane McGary
not gardening today, it's far too hot in Portland, Oregon (but the
humidity is 15%)