Hello Jane, Kathleen: I'm in the Mt. Vernon area north of you both and am in Zone 8b too. I have Notholirion thomsonianum from a late-2017 BX that do Ok with me here. The first year I had them in the ground and the last few years I have had them in pots in my frost-free greenhouse. They did well there and flowered several times, very much as Jane describes. Describing the leaves as long and lax and fairly messy is correct so consider this, Kathleen, when you choose where to place the bulbs as the leaves do (for me) attract slugs and rabbits in the winter, so they may need to be guarded against these. I've moved my bulbs back out into the ground outside this summer when dormant as they took up valuable space in the greenhouse that I need for other plants in the winter. Hopefully they will be happy flowering again in the outdoors. Steve Willson, Bow WA (where we eventually had some overnight rain yesterday) ________________________________ From: pbs <pbs-bounces@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> on behalf of Jane McGary via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> Sent: Friday, August 6, 2021 10:57 AM To: pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> Cc: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> Subject: [pbs] Notholirion thomsonianum Note spelling change in topic species. Actually, I find that this bulb -- which I grew from a single seedling in an AGS seed exchange packet -- will grow anywhere in my temperate Pacific Northwest garden. Sun, shade, leafy humus, clay, rock garden (not intentionally!), bulb house -- doesn't matter. It tolerates, but does not require, a dry summer dormancy. It's a monocarpic bulb, similar to the cycle of Cardiocrinum, but produces hundreds of small offsets, which, if given their own space, gradually reach flowering size in four or five years. I fear that all the bulbs in circulation are derived from this single clone, which is not self-fertile, so it's fortunate that it offsets so much. A couple of years ago I was given a small bulb of another clone, which the giver had received from Australia, so I hope eventually to raise seed-producing plants. Notholirion is winter-growing and mid-spring flowering, so it probably wouldn't succeed in very cold climates, but it stands up fine to temperatures at least down to 20 degrees F (minus 6 C). The leaves are long and lax, fairly messy, summer-dormant. The scape can reach 20 inches and produces a good number of outfacing lavender trumpets, which are sweetly fragrant. Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA On 8/6/2021 8:33 AM, Kathleen Sayce via pbs wrote: > Mark Akimoff sent an extra bulb, Notholirion thomsonium, along with the rest of my order. While I have read a little about this species in the past, my next stop was the archived list at PBS, where dozens of historic messages are available. After reading numerous comments from Jane and others, I think I can place this bulb properly in the garden (full sun, away from normal summer watering locales). > > Thank you, PBS, for keeping the past list comments archived. This made my task, which was figuring out where in the garden to place this new bulb, much easier. > > Kathleen > Pacific Northwest > zone 8, wet winters, dry albeit foggy summers > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com//… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com//… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>