I apologize to everyone on PBS for having prematurely, and possibly falsely
raising hopes of Sebastopol, CA harboring both of these geophytes as
blooming naturalized colonies.
I forwarded the photographs that my sister had sent me to Jim Waddick & Jim
McKenney, and there was no doubt in their mind that my sister had
mis-identified A. belladonna as L. squamigera. As Jim Waddick indicated
"it happens".
It's important to set the record straight, and I've asked my sister to look
for blue-tipped petals in Sebastopol, but until we have better evidence
that there are L. squamigera there, my report should be regarded as
erroneous.
Thank you, Jims,
Jonathan Knisely
New Haven, CT USA
USDA 6a
Subject: [pbs] Lycoris squamigera & Amaryllis belladonna
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Before this topic fades away, I wanted to share back with interested PBS
subscribers that I checked with my sister, who lives in Sebastopol,
California (the namesake of the one that used to be in Ukraine) about
whether or not she has seen Lycoris squamigera blooming there. She and I
have previously communicated about Amaryllis belladonna and how I wished I
could grow it in Connecticut. She states that Lycoris squamigera does
bloom there, and that its blooming signals the end of summer locally (kind
of like goldenrod (Solidago spp) elsewhere in North America. She sent me a
few pictures of it that she snapped with her mobile phone that are in bloom
now as documentation. Now's the time, if anyone wants to make the trip to
see them there.
Jonathan Knisely
New Haven, CT 06511
USDA 6a