Hardy Nerine bowdenii

totototo@telus.net totototo@telus.net
Sat, 07 May 2011 11:30:16 PDT
It has been my experience that many bulbs are hardy if kept on the dry side 
*or* kept from hard freezes. It is the combination of saturated soil and sub-
freezing temperatures that is particularly lethal.

Nerine bowdenii is fully hardy here in Victoria, but I notice that it needs a 
fairly well drained site. In my own garden, nerine hangs on planted close to 
the house where the perimeter drains and overhang of the eaves keep the soil on 
the dry side, but out in the wintertime squelch and ooze of the open garden, 
they don't last a year.

There is a notable, very large planting of nerine on Mt. Tolmie, a small 
eminence close by me. Using this link to Google Terrain View:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=48.452574,-
123.322692&spn=0.019668,0.038538&t=p&z=15

this planting in on Mayfair Drive, slightly southwest of Cromwell Drive. 
Unfortunately, the terrain view doesn't make it clear that that is a quite 
steeply sloped location. It is also close to a former sand pit and the soil may 
be sandy and well drained.

The nerines grow under the shade of Garry oaks, not in the open sun.


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada


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