Dear all,
I have appreciated the comments on Dichelostemma so much!
My daughter and I are collecting herbarium specimens of the current
season of bloom for all of our natives. We have D. capitatum all over the
area. We also have Calochortus splendens and concolor in widespread bloom
all over the hills. Calochortus albus is more rare, but we did find one
colony of it nearby. We have a Bloomaria ( I haven't keyed it out, but is
probably B. crocea) all along one roadside bank. I have pictures of all of
these and many more non-geophytes, but am barely finding time to do my
normal chores.
We are out on weekly expeditions; taking zillions of pictures and
documenting information about the taxons according to the museum
requirements. This is all part of what the museum is calling its
'parabotanist program'. We are doing the labor so these taxons will be
represented in the museum's herbarium. The program is planned to last for
five years. The lovely advantage is that the resident botanists will
confirm the plant names, so I will know them even better in the future!
By the way, Mary Sue. I have tried B. Ida-Maiae, in it is wonderful in
bloom, but I haven't seen it bloom after the first year. I tried it in a
pot, then in a bed. The next attempt will be in a less watered area of
the garden.
Marguerite - Gardening with bulbs and perennials at 3500 feet in the
mountains of southern California. Extreme temperatures in our
Mediterranean climate from 0 to 110 degrees F. Average temperatures 15 to
90 degrees F. A few days of snow in winter and a few days of extreme heat
in Aug-Sept.