Hello Ian and Leo, I live in San Diego and in wet winters I see Hesperocalis Undulata quite often in a variety of environments around Borrego Springs and points south. Provided we have had a “ wet winter”. Additionally I’m told an active monsoon “ primes the pump” if precipitation is wide spread like this past summer. The largest population I’ve personally observed is in the Coyote Canyon area on the NE side of Borrego Springs. It’s a very reliable and well known late winter wild flower viewing spot. Possibly the most visited in the Borrego Valley. It’s a wide intermittent stream bed fanning out from a narrower canyon. Very sandy and ideal for a large variety of wild flowers to thrive. Hesperocallis Undulata are scattered and widespread throughout Coyote Canyon area. I saw none the last two years, during the protracted drought. Both “ superbloom “years before that, it was a treat to see them two years in a row. Both those years in addition to traditional areas of sandy soil with intermittent water sources. I observed them at Fonts Point a dry clay compacted cliff edge that’s popular for its view into the badlands. Interestingly it’s at the top of a wash, a high point and all water that occasionally falls would immediately move elsewhere. I would never expect to find them in notable quantity there, however a healthy population exists there. An additional spot and possibly my favorite setting is along the S-2 county highway, several miles north of the roads terminus at I-8. In Sweeney Pass there is an overlook pullout for the Carrizo Badlands. I’ve observed Hesperocallis mixed in on east facing slopes with Lupines, cacti and other wild flowers there. The blue/ purple of the Lupines and intense white of the Hesperocallis trumpet shaped bloom were striking. I’ve been told that ample December rain, very light frost or none in January are the keys for a decent wild flower display to end winter in the Borrego Springs area. It’s been my experience over 20 years that we have close to the right conditions at this point for Hesperocallis Undulata to produce their leafy rosette and flower around Borrego Springs this coming March. I’ve observed Hesperocallis Undulata maybe 5 of the past 20 years in the Borrego Valley. I don’t think conditions would have been favorable except a couple of the years I did not make it out there in March I’ve also observed that there is about a 10-15 day peek that’s pretty consistent for them, the first two weeks in March to see them in bloom. I’ve also heard that the bulb is typically 4-6 feet below the surface by the time they reach blooming size. In the Borrego Springs area I’ve only seen them in bloom in March for the most part. As you move towards April the desert heats up quickly and the late winter blooming wild flowers along the desert floor are withering. Deserts USA has an active wild flower spotting section for all the desert areas of the west. For the Anza Borrego Desert State Park/ Borrego Springs they are accurate with both flower species and locations. We have a flood watch today for the entire county inclusive of the desert regions where Borrego Springs is located. it seems like the conditions are coming together for a good wild flower season and enough moisture for Hesperocallis Undulata to have an active bloom also. I’ve included photos below from past trips to Borrego Springs of Hesperocallis Undulata. Plus two general ones from Coyote Canyon. Mike San Diego Zone Soggy On Tue, Dec 28, 2021 at 12:16 PM oooOIOooo via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Ian wrote > > A new member here interested in seeds/bulb sources > > for Sonoran Desert species, along with any tips on > > how to get them to thrive in Central Phoenix. > > Amoreuxia gonzalezii > > Amoreuxia palmatifida > > Calochortus kennedyi > > Hesperocallis undulata > > I know with A. gonzalezii, it may be happier in a > > shady pot, but I'd ideally like to have any/all in > > the ground. Soil is fairly clayey. > > Hello Ian, > There are also the very widespread and easy to grow Calochortus nuttallii > and Dichelostemma capitatum, which has been called Dichelostemma > pulchellum. I think there are one or two other Calochortus in Arizona at > higher elevations. > > Amoreuxia are summer monsoon growers. They may rot if you water too early. > They like lots of water when in growth, and flower profusely. Sprout seed > when the monsoon arrives. > > The Calochortus and Dichelostemma are winter-rainfall species. Keep them > moist and sunny all winter. Let them dry when they finish flowering. > > Hesperocallis undulata is an opportunistic grower, depending on rainfall. > I have seen rosettes in leaf in summer and in late winter, in different > places. > > Right now is the time to plant seed of Calochortus, Dichelostemma and > Hesperocallis - late October would have been better. > > Calochortus and Dichelostemma I've seen in Arizona habitats, or that occur > in habitat I'm familiar with, generally grow in very rocky or sandy soil on > slopes, with not much soil over the underlying rock. Sometimes > Dichelostemma grows in small pockets of sand in cavities in rocks. > > Hesperocallis mostly occurs in deep sand. This may be in or alongside > intermittent streams or dry lakes, or close to these. > > I tried growing both Amoreuxia species in 5-gallon pots of heavy, fine > clay and sand screened from a wash; they only grew well for a few years. My > pot of A. palmatifida sprouted weakly this spring, but did not flower. It > soon died down. I don't know whether they're still alive. Both species gave > seed only the first year they flowered in those pots. > > The Desert Botanical Garden gift shop in the past has carried seed of the > Dichelostemma. You can probably find it from other sources if you search > online. Members of both the Central Arizona Cactus and Succulent Society > and the Arizona Native Plant Society grow it in their gardens; it is a > reliable native plant that flowers every spring if it gets enough winter > water. The CACSS meets the last Sunday of most months at the DBG. Many > members grow both winter- and summer-rainfall bulbs, providing seed and > plants to the club auctions. We are friendly and welcome people. If you > can't find seed I'm sure a member will save some for you this coming > Spring, if you come to a meeting and ask. > > The species other than D. capitatum are not always easy to find. Searching > online may help. I provided seed in 2020 to the PBS seed bank of > Hesperocallis from Ford Dry Lake in Riverside County, California; I did not > see any plants there in spring 2021 (nor in any other of the past 38 years > I've driven by that lake.) This winter promises good rainfall, so they > might reappear in spring 2022, and I will again collect seed if possible. > > Hesperocallis undulata is easy to grow but not to flower. It grows like a > weed in almost any sized pot, provided the roots don't get too hot nor dry > out when in leaf in the summer. Many people report it is difficult to get > it to resprout if it is allowed ever to go dormant from drought. It's an > Agave relative. > > I can offer only speculation about growing it. It is a plant from regions > with little or no winter frost. It grows in deep sand. I know people who > have dug 6 feet into sand and have been unable to reach the plant below a > surface rosette. The sand kept collapsing so they could not dig deeper. > Populations in or near intermittent streams, where water occurs regularly, > will produce leaf rosettes every year. This might be in spring after winter > rains, or summer after summer rains. The vast population around Ford Dry > Lake has only sprouted once in the last 38 years I've driven by. That > followed some wet winters. I suspect plants far from streams may lie > dormant for decades awaiting a plentiful rainfall. > > The above leads me to think the bulbous buried stem will be cooler than > surface temperatures, even on very hot days. I suspect water must reach the > stem in a good quantity to trigger production of a rosette, which might be > at any time of the year. Leaf rosettes are puny compared to the size of the > inflorescence, fruits and seeds. I suspect in habitat they require several > to many years of bearing sterile leaf rosettes to gather enough starch to > produce one inflorescence and fruit. And being Agave relatives, I suspect > rosettes are monocarpic, flowering only once, then dying, leaving offsets > behind. > > I'm going to move my Hesperocallis seedlings into very deep, > well-insulated containers I will make out of 4" diameter PVC pipe standing > on end. I'm going to grow them in sand. I will keep a few as foliage plants > in standard pots as backups. I don't know whether this will work at all, > and it might take many years to find out. > > One of these years I need to get to a population of C. kennedyi I know > beside a road an hour out of Tucson, during fruiting season, but I've never > made it. Maybe if I retire. > > *** > Michael Kent chimed in > > Do I want to know why Amoreuxia gonzalezii > > is known as Santa Rita throwup weed? > > I suggest you apply for a PBS research grant. > > Leo Martin > Phoenix Arizona USA > Zone 9? > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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