Notholirion thomsonianum

Jane McGary via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Fri, 06 Aug 2021 10:57:43 PDT
Note spelling change in topic species.

Actually, I find that this bulb -- which I grew from a single seedling 
in an AGS seed exchange packet -- will grow anywhere in my temperate 
Pacific Northwest garden. Sun, shade, leafy humus, clay, rock garden 
(not intentionally!), bulb house -- doesn't matter. It tolerates, but 
does not require, a dry summer dormancy.

It's a monocarpic bulb, similar to the cycle of Cardiocrinum, but 
produces hundreds of small offsets, which, if given their own space, 
gradually reach flowering size in four or five years. I fear that all 
the bulbs in circulation are derived from this single clone, which is 
not self-fertile, so it's fortunate that it offsets so much. A couple of 
years ago I was given a small bulb of another clone, which the giver had 
received from Australia, so I hope eventually to raise seed-producing 
plants.

Notholirion is winter-growing and mid-spring flowering, so it probably  
wouldn't succeed in very cold climates, but it stands up fine to 
temperatures at least down to 20 degrees F (minus 6 C). The leaves are 
long and lax, fairly messy, summer-dormant. The scape can reach 20 
inches and produces a good number of outfacing lavender trumpets, which 
are sweetly fragrant.

Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA


On 8/6/2021 8:33 AM, Kathleen Sayce via pbs wrote:
> Mark Akimoff sent an extra bulb, Notholirion thomsonium, along with the rest of my order. While I have read a little about this species in the past, my next stop was the archived list at PBS, where dozens of historic messages are available. After reading numerous comments from Jane and others, I think I can place this bulb properly in the garden (full sun, away from normal summer watering locales).
>
> Thank you, PBS, for keeping the past list comments archived. This made my task, which was figuring out where in the garden to place this new bulb, much easier.
>
> Kathleen
> Pacific Northwest
> zone 8, wet winters, dry albeit foggy summers
> _______________________________________________
> pbs mailing list
> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
> http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…
> Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>
_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…
Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>


More information about the pbs mailing list