Crinum Season and hardiness

Ellen Hornig hornig@oswego.edu
Fri, 05 Jul 2013 16:35:57 PDT
To my (extreme) surprise, several C. bulbispermum that I planted out (not
near the house) here in Shrewsbury MA, just east of Worcester (zone 6-ish,
with good snow cover this winter), came through the winter just fine.  They
didn't limp through - they leafed out early and with conviction.  They were
roughly 3-4 years old from seed, and had previously overwintered in my
Oswego, NY garden.  No flowers yet, but definitely healthy plants.

Other bulb news:  Albuca fastigiata rotted, but A. humilis overwintered so
well, and self-sowed so freely, that I will be more cautious with it
hereafter, and will deadhead it.  Rhodohypoxis baurii overwintered fine and
bloomed well (pinks, whites and a lovely dark pink form).  Like the other S
Africans, these are on an east-facing slope in sandy loam mulched with a
ground bark mulch - not necessarily what you'd think of as good for small
bulbs.  In the same conditions some Gladiolus dalenii (a collection from
Dawie Human that tends towards tans and reds rather than yellows and
oranges) fared well, but I think most of my orange/yellow types perished.
Tritonia disticha looks good, T. dracomontana is gone. Gladiolus
oppositiflorus salmoneus came through, but not too well; G. saundersii was
fine; G. crassifolius has disappeared; and - the real surprise - G.
aurianticus overwintered well.  This bloomed two years ago in pots, and was
the real thing.  It didn't bloom in the garden last year so I'll be
interested to see if it does this year.  Gladiolus 'Boone', that old
stalwart, 5 feet from the G. aurianticus, is limping back in the form of
smaller corms and bulblets.  Galtonia candicans, G. viridiflora and/or G.
regalis (I'm not entirely sure what I have there) are all back and in bud.
Most of my eucomis died, but good old 'Peace Candles' came back like a
champ, and a few of a dwarf E. autumnalis situated in the driest part of
the garden did fine, while others from the same batch in a less dry area
all rotted.  A couple of Zantedeschia albomaculata came through, albeit
weakly, as did a few Z. aethiopica from the eastern Cape (also small and
sad-looking, but technically alive, with, I would assume, few prospects).
Kniphofia uvaria from the eastern Cape did fine.

All in all, interesting and somewhat unexpected.  I'm guessing that a cold
dry winter will do lots more damage, when it inevitably comes along.

Ellen


On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 6:06 PM, Kathleen Sayce <ksayce@willapabay.org>wrote:

> I've grown Crinum x powellii on the coast of WA, SW corner, for  years. It
> flowers late, usually in August. I also have a slowly increasing bulb of C.
> bulbispermum, which has yet to flower for me. So I would have to say that
> lack of heat units doesn't deter the first one from flowering, it simply
> delays it.
>
> Kathleen
>
>
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-- 
Ellen Hornig
212 Grafton St
Shrewsbury MA 01545
508-925-5147



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