Hi Rodger, I guess your report shows how adaptable martagons are - two weeks ago I visited a colony in their natural habitat, about 10 kilometers from here on the Swabian alb - that means: On the border between continental and oceanic climate with highly variable winters with mild wet spells (west wind) as well as freezing cold periods (east wind - zone 6 up there on the Alb while 7ish down here in the Fils valley) and hot summers - of course no extra water in the wild Soil: leafy forest ground on jura limestone / karst which obviously means good global drainage mostly filtered light only through deciduous forest canopy. Very few ventured into sunny meadows. I couldn't find any deer-caused damage I may upload some pictures to the wiki - i know. there are a lot already, but none of true wild populations from original habitat... I have to admit I didn't think of sampling the scent - I missed to do that on that trip on Gymnadenia odoratissima and Orobanche carophyllacea as well. When I'm on the run with a camera, I tend to forget the other senses... Gretings, Martin Am 21.06.2018 um 03:20 schrieb Rodger Whitlock: > Martagon lilies are flowering right now, and doing better than in the > past. They are even starting to self-sow a little, so the patch is > bigger than when originally planted; and one stray seed germinated > right by my front steps and is flowering right now. > > This is not because I am some super-gardener. Nor is it because the > seeds I grew these from were in some way "special". The show is due > entirely to the conditions of growth, so let me outline those: > > 1. Climate: cool Mediterranean with wet winters and cool summers. > > 2. Extra water? None. > > 3. Soil: a clay called "floured sand." This clay, unlike the blue > marine clay so common here, can be worked when wet because it isn't > sticky. > > 4. Drainage: poor. I get standing water near the martagons during wet > periods. > > 5. Light: almost no direct sun but plenty of sky light. > > 6. Pests: deer, which in many seasons eat all the buds. > > The great drawback to martagons is that though they are very > beautiful, they smell bad and hence cannot be used as a cut flower. > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… -- Martin ---------------------------------------------- Southern Germany Likely zone 7a _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…