PBS Forum

I've noticed that some Narcissus species seedlings do not go dormant in conditions here (water while in growth, kept in part shade). They do go dormant the second year, though, and don't seem to suffer by being kept growing.

If you have an alternative to putting the bulbs in the open garden, such as a large pot that can be kept rather dry and in the shade, do that. In the ground, they will probably just get eaten again. Do not use vermiculite. Use a well-drained mixture, say coarse sand or grit mixed with a little commercial potting soil. Leave the bulblets attached for now and lift them after 2 years, when they can be detached. This is a desert species; do not keep it wet in summer.

And after many iterations of writing nonfiction text with AI, we will have a trove of fantasy botany.

Sorry, Bern, I worked in the publishing industry for many years, mostly for Oxford UP, and I know the rules. PBS should not post an entire work, even on this forum.

Oops! Not fair use to quote an entire poem that is probably still protected by copyright. Hope PBS doesn't get in trouble for this.

Since many weeds that afflict our gardens are not native to our particular region, allowing them to crowd out other plants and spread to the vicinity is not what most people would consider a benefit to "nature." Last night, on the other hand, I sat through a polemic about choosing "native plants" (those recommended were not, in fact, native to our region, but to a nearby area with greater extremes of temperature and much less precipitation), and it was tiring. So, is your nature-lover happy with the shiny geranium? And does anybody know how to get rid of it? It's far too natural for me.

Diane asked how long from seed to flowering. In my experience with three seed collections (still have two), it takes about six years. This is slower than many Calochortus species.

Since I have many bulbs in pots plunged in a sandy mixture, I usually add to the plunge material the soil from pots in which seeds have remained ungerminated for three years (more in the case of irises and colchicums). Between the pots rise some things that are unwanted (Tulipa ingens, well named 'huge') and some that are a wonderful unexpected treat. Today a tall green stem that arose between pots opened its four buds: the beautiful Leucocoryne vittata. I would not have expected it to survive the cold winters of the bulb house, though L. coquimbensis does. It is well adapted to the weather this week -- four or five days of record hot temperatures for May. The Calochortus are also handling it well.

If you come upon any of the articles they asked me to write for their journal, I apologize in advance for how dumbed-down they are. The editors asked me to mention only bulbs available commercially, and for which they had professional photos.

Some years ago I shared bulbs of Fritillaria liliacea, grown from wild-collected seed, with Mark Akimoff of Illahe Rare Bulbs. I lost my plants in a move and Mark gave me some back. They're in flower now and have a purplish flush at the base of the tepals, whereas my original plants had more typical green nectaries and greenish flush. According to Jepson, the nectaries vary from green to purplish. Is it possible they react to temperature? Or should I worry about hybridization? I came up with F. liliacea x F. agrestis in the old collection, per Diana Chapman. I think all these F. biflora types probably cross readily, as witness the vigorous, fertile series of F. biflora x F. purdyi that also originated in my old place and have been widely distributed. Biflora is almost unkillable, and purdyi is all too killable.

It looks like one of the commercial varieties known as Fosteriana hybrids. They are relatively short and stout and come in many color forms, including both pale and bright yellow. They're recommended for naturalizing. The longevity of your plants may reflect excellent placing and originally virus-free stock.

Nice to see the fading of the conspiracy theory thread, something I don't enjoy even though my father was born on a remote ranch near Roswell, New Mexico (UFO Central). I occasionally fling out an objection to social trends, such as the hotly, but eruditely, worded email send to my undergrad college's alumni office the other day in response to their asking whether I am an "alumnus, alumna, alumnx." Yet people my age (75, and I know some of you are in that range) have seen many annoying trends settle down, and we know new ones will arise continually. Someday nobody will be getting tattoos. Someday nobody will feel compelled to perform stereotypes from the past, though surely they will invent new ones, writing science fiction with their minds/bodies.

I use the iron phosphate slug pellets, but instead of putting them in the pots, I put little piles of them between the pots (which are plunged almost to their rims), since the slugs are likely to hide out under the pot rims and crawl around at night between the pots. This seems to have been very effective on slugs, but it doesn't get rid of cutworms. There are enhanced products containing (can't remember the exact word -- spinosab?) which are supposed to be better, but they don't get the cutworms either. Only late-night visits with a strong headlamp work.

Thanks to all for this professionally informed discussion. I just ordered a bag of Peters Dark Weather formula to use next week in the bulb house. I got it from Amazon; although there are a couple of other vendors offering it at a significantly  lower price, with Amazon Prime's free shipping (for a 25-pound parcel) it comes out to nearly the same cost, and I will get it much sooner.

I usually apply soluble fertilizer to plants in my unheated bulb house now. However, we are having an unusually cold late winter: near freezing every night, and in the 40s F daytime. Many plants are in active growth, if a bit later than usual. Should I apply fertilizer now, or wait until the daytime temperatures are a bit higher? I don't use pelleted fertilizer on the container plants but have some for the garden which is designed to release slowly at cool temperatures, unlike Osmocote-type slow-release fertilizers which need higher soil temperatures than is typical in the Pacific Northwest.