Crinums in Cooler Zones
Judy Glattstein via pbs (Sun, 05 Jul 2020 10:33:03 PDT)

I have pink  and white Crinum xpowellii that are grown in pots, wintered
over in a cool greenhouse. Also xAmarcrinum but let's ignore them at the
moment.

One plastic pot is 13 inches in diameter. In this pot there is one very
large bulb whose pseudostem and whirligig of leaves is over 3 feet tall.
There is another not quite so large and several more smaller bulbs, all
in this same pot. I suspect the soil mass is solid with roots.

I do not want to move everything up to a larger pot. Space in the
greenhouse is already an issue, plus I do not want to contemplate
heaving and hauling an even larger pot outdoors in spring / back inside
in fall.

Nor do I want to divide - I have no need of ever increasing quantities
of pots of identical crinum. Even the smaller ones are larger than the
stipulated BX size for donation. I suppose I could replant only the
larger bulb. Or both of the two larger ones and discard all the smaller
ones. Attached is a picture of the pink crinum from August 2019. I'm
sure it is crinum and not the xAmarcrinum because flowers of the latter
are held somewhat above horizontal while these droop somewhat below
horizontal.

I have Musa basjoo right next to the house by concrete basement wall.
They do winter over but it involves cutting them back quite hard,
covering the stubs with tubs filled with oak leaves, piling more leaves
on top, and putting plywood roof covers over them. To benefit from any
warmth seeping though the basement wall and / or the plywood covers the
crinum would be heavily shaded by the bananas. Image of bananas from
June 26 2020 attached. The bananas will get significantly larger by
summer's end.

So if I bite the bullet and plant this large pot of crinum outside -
when is this accomplished: spring, right now, in the fall? What happens
to the above ground pseudostem in winter? Plant as one colony or divide
and plant individually? Not really eager to plant individually . . .
Anyone want any pink crinum in exchange for postage and a donation to PBS?

Judy in New Jersey where today's midday temperature is again above 90
degrees Fahrenheit, and it is humid

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