bulbs in Med. climate

Shirley Meneice samclan@redshift.com
Wed, 19 Mar 2003 22:02:22 PST









For you who are interested in what grows in various Mediterranean
climates, I live in Pebble Beach, California, less than 100 meters from
the ocean on a slope facing sothwest toward the sea.  I am in Zone 9,
probably Zone 10 except for exceptional winters which occur about once a
decade.  I currently grow the following bulbs, listed in no particular
order.  These are outdoors in the ground. Ferraria crispa, Babiana
stricta and rubrocyanea, various Lilium, Habranthus tubispathus,
Muscari, Chasmanthes floribunda, Ixia maculata, Lapeirosia laxa,
Lachenalia mutabilis, Hippeastrum advenum, H. equestre, Hesperanthes,
Hermodactylus tuberosus, Canna, Camassia quamash, Calochortus venustus,
Moraea, Ipheion uniflora, Scilla peruviana, Homeria, Sisyrinchum
californicum, S. angustifolium, Leucojum aestivum, Agapanthus
orientalis, allium moly, Clivia miniata, Gladiolus x colvillei,
Narcissus, Tricyrtus hirta, Galanthus nivallis, Tigridia pavonia,
Zigadenus elegans, Zauschneria, Dracunculus vulgaris, Watsonia,
Zepharanthes, Hymenocallis macrostephana, Triteleia ixiodes, Sparaxis,
Cyclamen persicum, Schizostylis coccinea and Amaryllis belladonna and
hybrids from The Doutt's.  I grow tulips but they are little better than
annuals as far as bloom goes.  The foliage appears for a number of
years, but no bloom.

My soil has been amended for over twenty years with compost, clippings,
leaves and pine needles.  The underlying soil is clay and partially
decomposed granite.  It drains poorly, thus the years of amending it.
Our rain generally falls from November to April 15 and averages 18" per
year.  This rain year (July 1, 2002-July 1, 2003) we have had about 13"
with not much more time to catch up.  The summers are dry.  We seldom
see temperatures above 90 degrees F. in summer nor below 30 degrees F.
in winter.  A prolonged "hot spell" is 3 days.  There is considerable
fog in the summer with resultant cool temperatures in the 60's.

Shirley Meneice


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