Lycoris and Dierama

Michael Mace michaelcmace@gmail.com
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:31:29 PDT
Nhu wrote:

Nhu, I really like your idea of posting pictures of what's blooming.  I'll
participate as soon as I have something in bloom.

Although I love the ease of use of Picasa, I don't like that I have to start
paying them once I go over a certain number of photos.  Maybe I'll make a
separate account for "what's blooming" photos.

Thoughts on a couple of comments people made...


Nhu wrote:

>>I'm about to give up on Lycoris...

I've had the same experience here, an hour to the south of Nhu and with a
lot more summer heat.  I don't know what's missing in my case -- I have
tried Lycoris in spots where they get summer warmth and water, but at best I
get one year of flowers, and usually not even that.

My complaints sound exactly like what I hear from folks in the US south and
midwest trying to grow Amaryllis belladonna.  I think there is some sort of
natural rule -- if you can easily grow A. belladonna, you can't grow
Lycoris, and vice-versa.


I want to echo the enthusiastic things that some folks said about Dieramas.
Mine here have just finished blooming.  For years I had trouble getting them
established because there was a gopher in the vicinity that loved the corms.
Eventually I got rid of the gopher (or it died of old age), and the Dieramas
came back from a few small corms the gopher had missed.  Now I have a huge
clump that puts up flower stalks over six feet in height (2m).  They are
magnificent!

The one drawback is that in my conditions, the Dieramas appear to prefer a
bit of high shade over them.   The ones I've planted in full sun didn't
thrive, while the plants under a tree are doing great.  Their flower stalks
are just tall enough that they hide in the bottom branches of the tree.  As
the tree gets taller, I am gradually cutting out the lower branches, so
hopefully in a few more years I'll be able to see those flowers more clearly
when they bloom.

Mike
San Jose, CA (zone 9, min temp 20F / -7C)




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