Growing from seed versus importing bulbs from another hemisphere

Leigh Blake via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Fri, 26 Dec 2025 11:59:18 PST
Hi Everyone!!
My daughter gave me three Ixia viridiflora corms, potted and growing in the
beginning of December when she visited from Seattle. ( I'm in Southern
Oregon and grow primarily natives and alpines) .  I am sobbing...The
largest,  which was in full growth when she brought it down, promptly lost
its major sprout ( I brought all three planted corms into our home ) and
the only survivor I immediately changed soil carefully and have replanted
this incredible little ENDANGERED  South African native  with the hopes of
saving this tiny corm. I can not yell loudly enough...but I totally agree
with the above mentioned instructions on growing corms and bulbs from the
Southern hemiphere. If you have a green house set up...fine..we do
not...and I winter many of my more temperate plants insifde, even though we
are now considered zone 8.
Thank you for this information...I did order the Ixia viridiflora seed from
the NARGS seed list...if they are available..  we shall see.
Spring is coming...  Happy gardening to all of you!!!  My Narcissus
bulbicodiums are sprouting...


Leigh Blake, Trail Oregon

On Fri, Dec 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM Robert Lauf via pbs <
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:

>  It's good to hear all sides of a complex issue like this, and fun to note
> that no one on either side is "wrong".  Life is full of trade-offs.  I for
> one, won't live long enough to want to start seeds that won't bloom for ten
> years.  But I sure have fun starting seeds of faster growers and sending
> the young bulbs to the BX.
> No question jet lag is an issue, but a good vendor knows when is the best
> time to ship summer vs winter growers.  For example, I got a huge bulb of
> Brunsvigia grandiflora in a recent group order.  It is completely dry,
> completely dormant, yet it has been putting down huge, fleshy roots the
> entire time, and I expect it to pop into growth in the spring.
> We've already hashed over the issue of shipping costs, and I would just
> remind all that domestic shipping from typical mail-order nurseries isn't
> much different, esp. for a small order.
> PBS is blessed with many highly competent growers who are also good about
> sharing their surplus.  So I would hope that all the cool things we
> imported in the group orders will soon start showing up as seeds and
> offsets in future exchanges, which serves our conservation mission and
> also, of course, eliminates the jet lag issue.
> Importing isn't for everyone (nothing is!), but it is a crucial leg of the
> stool in the overall member ecosystem we're trying to maintain.  The high
> level of interest and participation seems to bear this out.
> Bob   Zone 7  gloomy but still warm
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