Spring Bulb Misc - responses

Clayton3120 Clayton3120@cablespeed.com
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:21:14 PDT
LOL,
Like you said, location, location, location.
Arums  in my garden(Seattle) have  become a weed, even the selected forms 
people pay big $$$$ for. They apparently like our wet climate with dry 
summers.
As for Aril  and Onco Iris, they look like  a wet dishrag going thru winter, 
and barely survive. It just gets too wet here.
My greenhouse and tunnels  are overflowing with other goodies to be 
coddling these spring flash-in- the pan  beauties, so will admire the photos 
you all send in.
Happy Spring.
Rick
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Waddick" <jwaddick@kc.rr.com>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 7:10 AM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Spring Bulb Misc - responses


> Jane McG wrote- paraphrased:
> ARUM I think many gardeners avoid them because A. italicum is
> viewed ... as a trash plant.
>
>>One weedy species can condemn an entire genus in the minds of 
>>unadventurous
>>gardeners. Ornithogalum and Muscari are good examples (though the latter
>>has more than one weedy member). Some gardeners here feel this way about
>>Anemone nemorosa,
>
>
>>          Aril-bred and oncocyclus iris ....Junos
>
>>I think (a) they are hard to get and expensive, and (b) as Jim noted they
>>require special care, which here would include overhead protection in
>>winter and constant spraying to quell the leaf pathogens to which they are
>>very susceptible in mild, wet weather.
>
>
> Dear Jane: location, location, location ( to borrow from the
> real estate market)
>
> Here most gardeners are still marvelling at any Arum even A
> italicum.   Almost no one grows any other, yet some do quite  well
> here; even those I got from you.  No one that I know or can imagine
> would consider any Arum a 'trash' plant.
>
> I totally agree with you that one species can "ruin" ones
> view of the whole genus and Muscari and Ornithogalum (as I mentioned
> earlier) are excellent examples, but NO Anemone fits that description
> here. Few people even know let alone grow A. nemorosa. Even the most
> vigorous cvs stay well contained in small ephemeral patches that seem
> like they could never encroach on another, the plant equivalent of
> the proverbial "flea"*. I have to physically dig and divide a clump
> to re- establish a new planting. Can't imagine it running rampant
> ever.
>
> Although some Arils and Junos ARE expensive, Some good ones
> are not at all: As Jim McK suggests, the Regelias  I stolonifera and
> I hoogiana are cheap and available widely and among the easiest.( As
> an aside, membership in the Aril Society allows you to purchase Aril
> iris from their annual sale with MANY excellent species and cvs as
> low as $3 each. Some amazing plants)  Among Junos I bucharica,
> magnifica, and graeberiana also qualify as cheap and easy.
> Back to location- here they grow in the open garden, do NOT
> require overhead protection and I have never seen virus or other leaf
> pathogens (disregarding late freeze damage). Here.
> I know they are much more difficult to grow in the Pacific
> NW, and they are more than challenging there.
>
> As Jim McK also said, and I fully agree, many American
> gardeners are over influenced by the pronouncements of the British
> garden publication world and would sooner believe Gertrude Jeykll
> than the personal experience of a grower down the block.
> The US is far from uniform for growing conditions and many of
> my most challenging plants are weedy on either coast. As I continue
> to garden I learn to appreciate more fully the unique Mid-Continent
> climate here that allows me to grow some plants that are a challenge
> on either coast. I guess the lesson is 'Grow locally'
>
> And I must respond positively to Diane's comment about plant
> variations and need to grow lots of stuff. Having studied a variety
> of plants in the wild from Asia to South America and much of the US,
> it is very obvious to me that many plants in gardens represent a very
> small piece of the total variation in the wild. To some extreme
> extant I have seen people argue that plant "X" should be considered a
> separate species because it is so distinct from plant "Y", yet in the
> wild both "X" and "Y" freely mingle interbreed and represent just 2
> points on a wider range of variation. We often have a very limited
> gene pool for cultivated plants and we tend to focus on just one
> selected form as typical of a variable population. Yet another good
> reason to grow more. Get rid of every inch of lawn and grow every
> possible wild collected seed you can lay your hands on.
>
> Sorry to babble so, but I encourage everyone to try a plant
> even though "everyone' says you can't grow THAT HERE.
>
> Location is only one part of the success or failure. There is
> also dogged, stubborn enthusiasm.
>
> Best to all especially Jane, Jim McK, Luc and Diane for their
> 2 cents worth. Jim W.
>
>
> *As in  "He wouldn't hurt a flea"
> -- 
> Dr. James W. Waddick
> 8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
> Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
> USA
> Ph.    816-746-1949
> Zone 5 Record low -23F
> Summer 100F +
>
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