Legacy Bulbs

On a series of wiki pages Kathleen Sayce reviews bulbs that outlast their gardeners, with some hints as to why. Suggestions came from PBS list members, review of world weed lists, USDA PLANTS National Database, Flora of North America, and some university databases. Because of these resources most of the information below is a listing of plants that outlast in North America. This is a partial list; formal recognition of persistence/naturalization/weediness comes slowly, typically through collection of plants by botanists, who send specimens to herbaria, and crop growers dealing with persistent weeds. Thus any list lags reality. Expect many more geophytes to have become legacy bulbs than are listed. And expect that when a bulb is documented as naturalized in one area, it may already be so in other areas as well. Many that have persisted in California have the same tendency in New Zealand, Australia, and other Mediterranean areas. With worldwide warming of growing zones, any such list is a work in progress. In addition plants that persist in one part of the world may be impossible to grow in some locations. Feel free to add bulbs that should be on this list from your experience, documenting where they persist or other comments.

There are degrees of plant behavior, beginning with establishment, the ability to persist in place, expansion via seeds or bulbs in the garden (naturalization in the gardener’s sense), then throughout cultivated or urban areas, spread to natural areas, and finally, an outward expansion that moves a bulb first into the naturalized (in the botanical sense) category, and then into the thug category. Caution balances desire. Much as gardeners who plant bulbs want to grow exotic geophytes, no one wants to be remembered for planting thugs. The desired balance is somewhere between those bulbs that fail to establish or persist, and those that become outright pests.

If there are pictures on the PBS wiki of these plants, they will be added over time. Species listed on the legacy bulb pages can be found alphabetically by clicking on the links below or by clicking on the species listed in the table.

Albuca through Amaryllis - - Anemone through Chionodoxa - Colchicum through Erythronium - Ficaria through Hyacinthus - Ipheion through Iris - Ixia through Lycoris - Merendera through Nerine - Ornithogalum through Sternbergia - Trillium through Zephyranthes

Legacy Bulbs
Albuca bracteata Allium ampeloprasum Allium bulgaricum Allium caeruleum
Allium carinatum Allium cepa Allium cernuum Allium fistulosum
Allium moly Allium neapolitanum Allium nigrum Allium oleraceum
Allium paradoxum Allium porrum Allium sativum Allium schoenoprasum
Allium senescens Allium sphaerocephalon Allium triquetrum Allium tuberosum
Allium vineale Amaryllis belladonna Anemone blanda Anemone nemorosa
Anemone ranunculoides Anthericum liliago Arisaema triphyllum Arum italicum
Arum maculatum Arum palaestinum Belamcanda chinensis Bulbocodium vernum
Calydorea coelestina Camassia leichtlinii Camassia quamash Camassia scilloides
Canna indica Cardiocrinum cordatum Cardiocrinum giganteum Chasmanthe bicolor
Chasmanthe floribunda Chionodoxa sardensis Colchicum autumnale Colchicum bulbocodium
Colchicum vernum Colchicum trigynum Convallaria majalis Cooperia pedunculata
Crinum asiaticum Crinum bulbispermum Crinum × powellii Crinum zeylanicum
Crocus angustifolius Crocus chrysanthus Crocus flavus Crocus imperati
Crocus kotschyanus Crocus pulchellus Crocus sieberi Crocus speciosus
Crocus tommasinianus Crocus vernus Crocus zonatus Cyclamen cilicium
Cyclamen hederifolium Cyclamen persicum Cyclamen purpurascens Cyclamen repandum
Cypripedium guttatum Eranthis hyemalis Erythronium dens-canis Ficaria verna
Freesia alba Fritillaria imperialis Fritillaria meleagris Galanthus elwesii
Galanthus nivalis Galanthus plicatus Galanthus reginae-olgae Hemerocallis citrina
Hemerocallis dumortieri Hemerocallis fulva Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus Hemerocallis middendorfii
Hemerocallis minor Hermodactylus tuberosa Hesperantha coccinea Hippeastrum × johnsonii
Hippeastrum puniceum Hippeastrum reginae Hippeastrum striatum Hippeastrum vittatum
Homeria collina Hyacinthoides hispanica Hyacinthoides italica Hyacinthoides × massartiana
Hyacinthoides non-scripta Hyacinthus orientalis Ipheion uniflorum Iris × albicans
Iris aphylla Iris 'Caprice' Iris 'Crimson King' Iris domestica
Iris ensata Iris × flavescens Iris foetidissima Iris germanica
Iris orientalis Iris pallida Iris pseudacorus Iris pumila
Iris sibirica Iris spuria ssp. maritima Iris tectorum Iris tuberosa
Iris xiphium Ixia campanulata Ixia coelestina Ixia maculata
Ixia polystachya Kniphofia uvaria Leopoldia comosa Leucojum aestivum
Leucojum vernum Lilium bulbiferum Lilium candidum Lilium formosanum
Lilium henryi Lilium lancifolium Lilium longiflorum Lilium martagon
Lilium philippinense Lilium regale Lycoris radiata Lycoris squamigera
Merendera candidissima Merendera trigyna Moraea collina Muscari armeniacum
Muscari botryoides Muscari comosum Muscari latifolium Muscari neglectum
Narcissus assoanus Narcissus bulbocodium Narcissus x incomparabilis Narcissus jonquilla
Narcissus x medioluteus Narcissus × odorus Narcissus papyraceus Narcissus poeticus
Narcissus pseudonarcissus Narcissus tazetta Nectaroscordum siculum Nerine bowdenii
Nerine sarniensis Nerine undulata Ornithogalum caudatum Ornithogalum longibracteatum
Ornithogalum nutans Ornithogalum pyrenaicum Ornithogalum thyrsoides Ornithogalum umbellatum
Oxalis convexula Oxalis debilis Oxalis hirta Oxalis pes-caprae
Oxalis purpurea Oxalis radicosa Oxalis rubra Polygonatum multiflorum
Polygonatum odoratum Puschkinia scilloides Ranunculus ficaria* Rhodophiala bifida
Romulea ramiflora Romulea rosea Salpingostylis coelestina Scilla bithynica
Scilla sardensis Scilla siberica Sparaxis fragrans Sparaxis tricolor
Sternbergia lutea Tristagma uniflorum* Tulipa bakeri Tulipa batalinii
Tulipa chrysantha Tulipa clusiana Tulipa dasystemon Tulipa gesneriana
Tulipa greigii Tulipa humilis Tulipa kaufmanniana Tulipa linifolia
Tulipa praestans Tulipa saxatilis Tulipa sylvestris Tulipa tarda
Tulipa vvedenskyi Watsonia borbonica Watsonia marginata Watsonia meriana
Zantedeschia aethiopica Zantedeschia albomaculata Zephyranthes candida Zephyranthes citrina
Zephyranthes drummondii Zephyranthes grandiflora
*synonym

Albuca through Amaryllis - - Anemone through Chionodoxa - Colchicum through Erythronium - Ficaria through Hyacinthus - Ipheion through Iris - Ixia through Lycoris - Merendera through Nerine - Ornithogalum through Sternbergia - Trillium through Zephyranthes


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