Hello Jane, I was wondering why the name, Sternbergia is familiar with me. I checked the picture of flower. Now I remembered the bright yellow flower. I used to grow Sternbergia in Japan. I was not aware that they were originally from Mediterranean climate. They bloomed easily in regular garden soil. *Makiko Goto-Widerman* On Sun, Oct 14, 2018 at 4:42 PM Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> wrote: > Although Sternbergia lutea (including sicula) does often grow on rocky > slopes, I have also seen wild populations growing on flattish sites, > though also rocky. I've seen some growing in small holes in limestone, > too. Where it grows, however, almost all soils are rocky. Mine are > growing in sharp sand and gravel, but I remember seeing a good colony > here in Portland in what appeared to be pretty ordinary well-drained > garden soil. It does prefer full sun both in nature and in the garden. I > think the soil has to heat up in summer; some ordinary S. lutea I > planted under mat-forming thyme have failed to thrive. I put them there > to guard against the Narcissus fly. > > That raises another possibility why Sylvia's plants have diminished: > Narcissus fly, or bulb fly, attacks sternbergias badly. The best defense > is to cover the plants with Reemay or a scoop of gravel when the foliage > starts to turn color before withering, so the fly can't lay its eggs on > the leaves (the larva hatches and crawls down into the bulb through the > gap left by the scape, then eats the bulb). I didn't happen to cover my > S. greuteriana in an open raised bed, but I have a lot of ordinary > daffodils nearby, partly to lure the bulb flies away from more valuable > plants. Most of my sternbergia stock is in the bulb house, which has > wire mesh sides that seem to keep the bulb flies out; also I go into it > frequently during the time they emerge and kill any that I hear. > > I wonder if Sylvia's garden in Oakland (east of San Francisco Bay) is > shady? If you don't have a slope, a gravelly raised bed in sun will > serve the same purpose. > > Jane McGary > > > On 10/14/2018 11:35 AM, Sylvia Sykora wrote: > > Reading Jane’s posting about Sternbergia reminded me that here in the > Bay Area of California, I see very few plantings; mine have diminished to > only two stalwart plants from an original larger planting. I recently read > in a book by a British (!) gardener that based on where he saw Sternbergia > growing in the wild, success was dependent on growing them in full sun, > among rocks on a slope. And ideas for those of us without a rocky slope? > > > > Thank you. > > > > Sylvia Sykora > > Oakland CA where we’re in Fire Watch mode today > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…