Here are my choices for the Pacific Northwest: [I am presuming, since Mary Sue mentioned Cyclamen, that we are including geophytes and not strictly just bulbs.] 1. Lilium martagon--a wonderful bulb for shade that seems easy to please and is possible to grow quite easily from seed. It just takes patience, 3-4 years to bloom, which isn't so bad. It comes in several forms and colors: white, a mauvey-reddish-pink and, apparently from the Olympic mountains, a color that I am still trying to track down--a claret red--seen in a slide presentation. 2. Arisaemas of any sort, but a few of my favorites are AA. sikokianum, candidissimum, taiwanense griffithii, and tortuosum. They are all pretty easily obtainable and not hard to grow--at least here. OK, if I have to pick one, it would be sikokianum, especially the silver leaved forms and when grown in masses. There is just something about that pure, pristine, white spadix against the very dark spathe that really does it for me. 3. Corydalis nobilis. This is a lovely, statuesque tuberous corydalis with glaucous foliage and 2-3" heads of yellow flowers with a mahogany tip, not often seen in gardens here. Each head has about 10-25 flowers that are a little over an inch long. I can't say that I have mastered the culture of this plant and it sets very little seed for me and what it does set does not germinate terribly well, even when sown directly off the plant. Someone in Sweden actually sent me about 3 oz. of seed, just after collection from a woodland with thousands and thousands of plants, and I sowed it immediately upon receipt--at least much of it--and I have had two, yes, two seedlings germinate so far! Anyway, nice if you can get it somewhere. 4. Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense. Talk about statuesque! One of the most exciting things about this giant Himilayan lily is that it takes so long to come into bloom--as long as 7 years from seed--or three to four from an offset. It creates so much suspense in the spring as the huge leaves begin to unfurl--well, is it going to bloom this year! And then I suppose what adds to the alure somehow is that after producing that huge bloom stalk (in our thin, sandy soil, only about 6-7 feet, but sometimes up to 12' and more in richer soils), up to 5" across at the base, surmounted by enormous and fragrant white bells, the parent bulb dies, producing a few offsets. These can either be dug out and replanted (which I recommend), or left in place and, if the soil is rich enough will bloom in a few years, themselves. Oh, var. yunnanense has purple tinted leaves and stems upon emergence and the stems remain darker even at blooming time. 5. Erythronium revolutum. An Oregon native and my favorite fawn lily. It is a great 'dooer', making quite a show given a few years, reseeding easily in place. Just don't weed out the little seedlings the first year, thinking that they are grass, which is what they look a lot like! I love the mottling on the leaves and the large dark or light pink flowers, and the proportion of flower to leaf is just right, in my opinion, unlike, for example, tuolumnense, which is a bit leafy! 6. I was going to include Podophyllum delavayi, but I didn't know whether it would be considered enough of a geophyte to count! Those huge, velvety, darkly mottled leaves are a real surprise when one comes across them in a shady corner of the garden or alongside a path. They seem to be quite fast to 'bulk up', too, unlike P. difforme, which sulks in our climate (at least in our garden). And then there is the bonus of the bright red flowers just blooming now and reddish fruit later in the year. We have lots of seedlings coming on and it will be really exciting to see how they all look, since each plant has a different pattern and slightly different shape to the leaves. Ernie O'Byrne Northwest Garden Nursery 86813 Central Road Eugene OR 97402-9284 USA Phone: 541 935-3915 FAX: 541 935-0863 Eugene, Oregon is USDA Zone 8a on the map, but we can only grow Zone 7 plants reliably. Member of NARGS, SRGC, RHS, American Primula Society, Meconopsis Group, Alpine-L, Arisaema-L, Hellebore Group "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Mary Sue Ittner Sent: Monday, May 19, 2003 2:22 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: [pbs] Bulbs for Shade--TOW Dear All, The topic for this week is bulbs for shade. We had requests from people who were wondering what to plant in shady areas of their garden. We also had a suggestion I really liked (a way to make my job easier) for a number of topics that everyone could help with, that is everyone who was willing. The idea was that each person could nominate their favorite five bulbs for shade. <SNIP> I hope a number of you will participate in the discussion this week. Mary Sue