bulbs for rock walls

Cody H plantboy@gmail.com
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:52:39 PST
We grow what I imagine is probably a hybrid Muscari of garden origin (it
was in the garden when me moved in, and I've never tried to figure out
exactly what it is). It looooves the crevices in our rock walls, if
anything it is a little too robust, as it seeds about freely and thrives in
our climate north of Seattle, which is very soggy nov-april. They are
extremely easy bulbs and are really quite nice when they bloom in the
spring, fragrant even. The rodents don't seem to have much interest in
them. I wonder how species muscari would do in this climate...?

They're not exactly bulbs, but I've seen Lewisias and saxifragas grown
beautifully in rock walls here as well. We have a Lewisia columbiana (I
think) that lives outdoors year round in a tiny pot on a 2' stand against a
south facing wall--it gets baked in the summer and soaked in the winter
(but drains fast), and it seems quite happy with that, rewarding us with a
big cloud of tiny pink flowers in the spring and an interesting rosette of
succulent leaves all year round.

If you're looking for unusual, Lomatium columbianum is quite striking, and
its natural habitat is rock crevices in talus slopes in the Columbia gorge
so it should be right at home in a rock wall most places in the northwest.
You'd need quite the wall though as it is not a small plant and eventually
makes a very large root (more like a stump under the ground). I know at one
time Far Reaches farm was offering it. There are many smaller lomatium
species but few are as attractive as L. columbianum.

There are other regional native bulbs that grow in dry(ish) rocky soils if
you're into natives, including Olsynium douglasii, Allium spp., Fritillaria
spp., and various Themidaceae. I don't have a lot of experience growing
Calochortus but I can imagine having luck with some of the more drought and
cold tolerant PNW species, e.g. C. tolmiei, C. macrocarpus? Going out on a
limb with those ones.

Be curious to hear what you learn and how it works out!
On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 5:27 PM Kathleen Sayce <kathleen.sayce@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Greetings, all:  I have a planting query for bulbs on rock walls in a wet
> zone 8 climate (PNW coast, wet winters, dry summers). Dwarf iris, yes, also
> Pacific Coast Iris, crocus if I can devise rodent-proof caging, tulips
> ditto, small daffodils. The base is fine sand, which I am amending with
> rock grit, and several carbons, and mulching with gravel.
> Some walls are sunny (near full to half days), one wall is almost
> completely in the shade (ferns will go here).
> Please let me know your suggestions.
>
> Thanks ahead of time for all information.
> Kathleen
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