Triteleia--PBS Tow

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Mon, 06 Jan 2003 21:03:08 PST
I am growing most of the Triteleia species that Mary Sue mentioned in her introduction, except guadalupensis and clementinae, but mostly in bulb frames, so I can't say how they behave in colder, wetter climates than they are used to. I do have T. laxa and T. hyacinthina in the garden, and a couple of others that just showed up, and will put more out as I get a surplus. T. peduncularis has been out one whole season but did not flower in the open, though it flowers profusely and self-sows in the frame. (Oddly enough, Bloomeria crocea, from seed collected near Monterey, survives in the open and blooms, too.)

Mary Sue wrote,
 >One of my most favorite Triteleias was grown from seed from Jim and Georgie as "Triteleia ixioides ssp. scabra."

This is available commercially under the cultivar name 'Starlight'. It has not done well in the open garden here -- probably too cold and wet.

I have my fingers crossed I may be lucky with the NARGS seed exchange of seed Jane donated of T. lemmonae that I didn't think was in cultivation until Rob Hamilton said he was growing it (and obviously Jane too.)

This is a funny one: I wrote in "Bulbs of North America" that I didn't know of it being in cultivation, and of course, the very next spring I saw a little bright gold flower in an obscure spot of a frame, and unearthed the label. It was T. lemmonae, grown from seed purchased from Sally Walker about 6 years before, flowering for the first time. It probably would have done better with dry winters and wet summers, given its range. Anyway, it set a lot of seed -- probably in an attempt to get somewhere else, which I hope will be Mary Sue's garden.

Jane McGary NW Oregon




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