For rhizomes read stolons throughout. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pacific Rim" <paige@hillkeep.ca> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2010 8:55 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Flower count - WAS: What makes erythroniums bloom? > Paige here again. I sent my first message by mistake before it was > complete; then had to be offline for awhile. > > I now realize that I, too, have seen more than 3 flowers per stem. For me, > it's on that most robust of creatures, Erythronium tuolumnense. Try 7-10 > flowers on bulbs sown in 2003 and planted in the garden in 2007. A friend > was here this afternoon and counted idly, unaware of this discussion. > > Somehow I never think of tuolumnense as a normal Erythronium. It is so > much larger and has so much more energy than the others -- a beautiful > whale among dolphins. It is one parent of the prolific 'Pagoda' and > 'Sundisc', but in my experience it is more vigorous than those crosses. > And in my opinion more beautiful by far. The crosses make more and more > offsets, more stems. Straight tuolumnense makes more and more flowers on > the stem; and makes offsets; and seeds around madly. > > But the annoying thing about my incomplete email was that I had meant to > ask whether any of you can explain *why* eastern and western Erythronium > spp. reproduce differently: the eastern ones often preferring to spread by > thready rhizomes, without flowering; the western ones seeding whenever > possible, though they also make offsets. > > What are the constraints? I think of geography and climate, of course, but > details, please? > > Perhaps it was an arbitrary descision made in a backroom. :-)) > > Paige > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Laura & Dave" <toadlily@olywa.net> > To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2010 3:44 PM > Subject: [pbs] Flower count - WAS: What makes erythroniums bloom? > > >> Roy Herold wrote: >> >> >Paige wrote about Erythronium: >> >Has anyone seen more than three flowers on a stem? >> >> Erythronium helenae has four flowers on a single stem here this year >> - - - - - - - - >> It's nice to hear that E. helenae will have more flowers eventually. My >> seedling plants are blooming for the first time, with but a single flower >> on each. However, the diminutive, sparkling white flowers are very >> charming, and well worth the wait since sowing. >> >> I also have a number of plants of Erythronium oregonum ssp. leucandrum >> that have 3 and 4 flowers on the more mature ones. The flowers are >> large (~9 cm) and cream colored. Here in central Washington (Tumwater), >> we have E. o. ssp. oregonum, which has one or two large (~10 cm) white >> flowers. >> >> Though still cold, two days of sun have been most welcome. Some of the >> species tulips have opened fully and reminded me why I grow them. Yea!! >> >> Dave Brastow (zone 7A) >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >