Ready for the bulb party
Jane McGary via pbs (Sat, 18 Feb 2023 16:48:02 PST)

Just finished weeding the path through the center of my bulb house,
heartened by a few species in flower and a great many emerging in a
promising way. The bulbs are getting ready to throw a party, and I hope
somebody other than yrs. truly will come. If you live nearby, write me
privately (don't post to the list) if you'd like to see what can be
grown in a roofed but otherwise unprotected situation in the maritime
Pacific Northwest. Significant flowering should start 3 or 4 weeks from
now. If I hear from enough people, there will be snacks! Coming on this
early for my private delight are some crocuses, including the
interesting C. alatavicus, C. veneris, and C. cyprius; the first
flowering of Fritillaria karelinii, sown in 2014; a bit of yellow
showing on Narcissus albimarginatus, and 4 of 5 other earliest spring
Narcissus species. Gymnospermium, a tuberous dicot, is in flower both in
the bulb house and in a raised bed outdoors; hope a few of you got it
from the BX last summer.

Today the sun emerged about noon, and I had anticipated this by watering
the plants in the bulb house. A few hours of sun and a light breeze have
dried the foliage so it won't go into a cold night damp. We're
threatened with a deep freeze (21 F) next Wednesday and Thursday, but
these plants have faced that before, some for decades. Even several
fritillarias from coastal or island Greece routinely emerge and flower
at this time, making me wonder if their resilience derives from some
ancient time when their ancestors experienced more cold. F. striata from
southern California had its foliage well developed by early January and
has suffered no damage, but it comes from fairly high elevation. The
Rhinopetalum fritillarias are all early, and mostly from steppe regions.

Now if we can just get through to spring without an ice storm!

Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA

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