The Bulb Maven

The Morning Walkabout

My Mediterranean climate greenhouse is ablaze with color from Romulea to Oxalis, Tropaeolum to Gladiolus, but the very first thing I notice when I open the door is a delectable scent.  It comes from the most unpreposessing plant, so demure in its appearance you might even overlook it.  It is Muscari muscarimi.  Muscari, often called 'Grape Hyacinths' are from the countries that ring the Mediterranean, and there are about 60 species, most of which are fragrant.  The prize for fragrance, though, is taken by this little species from southwestern Turkey and some of the Greek islands.   It is seen here to the left.  Also from Greece and Turkey is M. macrocarpum, with bright yellow flowers and a heady scent.  Here it is to the right.  Both are easy to grow in a gritty mix with a warm, dry dormancy in late summer.  They reproduce vegetatively very slowly, and my plants have never set seed, so I am unable to list them on the web site.

I obtain many of my unusual bulbs by trading with other collectors or horticulturists, and I was happy to obtain three bulbs of a new color (for me) of Veltheimia bracteata.  It is a lovely ivory color, with a slight flush of pink.  I now have four colors, the usual pink, yellow, a very pale pink and this new one.

More Romuleas are now in bloom.  Here are R. subfistulosa and R. hantamensis (sorry about the poor picture of R. hantamensis, but this one is hard to photograph for some reason).    

Also from the Mediterranean is Scilla hughii, seen below.  This lovely Scilla is huge, with the flower heads a good 8 inches across.   It closely resembles S. peruviana, but has much wider leaves and longer bracts.  This very rare species grows only on a small island off the coast of Italy.  My seeds came from a most reliable source, and my plants are definitely the real thing.  I rarely get seed from my plants, but have found that tiny bulbils form on the roots, so propagating the plant is possible.

Canarina canariensis comes from the Canary Islands.  It is not a true bulb, but grows from a tuber, and produces large waxy orange flowers that drip with nectar.   It is in bloom now, and is dormant in the summer here, but can be unpredictable in its growth pattern, and will sprout in late summer or early fall if watered then.  Since it is not hardy, it is safer to treat it as a spring or early summer grower, withholding water until late winter.

  Narcissus bulbocodium is a delightful species.  I only grow a few of the small narcissus, and this, and N. obesus, are my favorites.  They are very easy to grow, and a pot full makes a delightful gift.  Mine were grown from seed distributed by the North American Rock Garden Society (www.nargs.org).  They bloomed in two years from seed.  If you don't belong to NARGS and you love plants, you should!  Don't be put off by the focus being rock gardening.  Their beautiful quarterly bulletin is a wonderful read, and rock garden plants and bulbs cover a very wide spectrum.

After the spectacular displays of the last two days, the geese have moved to different pastures.  They will be back, although soon they will head north for the summer, to be replaced by the swallows from the south.  Spring is here in northern California.  Ornamental plums and apricots are all in bloom in the gardens, and the wildflowers will follow.  My Hellebores in the garden seem to put on an inch of growth a day, and some have opened their buds.  The world is awakening after its winter rest.

www.telosrarebulbs.com 

Snowdrops

When you live in California you can only dream of great swathes and drifts of lovely snowdrops this time of year.  Ah, well.  I do have three species, however, and an exciting find this morning that I forgot to add to the Walkabout is the blooming for the first time of a lovely snowdrop called 'Dionysus'.  I am enchanted, and filled with desire for more species, although I should probably resist.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

Crocus

Most of California has such mild winters that Crocus are not that successful here, since many species come from the mountainous regions of the Mediterranean countries where they experience freezing temperatures in winter.  Bulbs that come from cold winter regions generally need that winter chill, and don't do well where there is little frost, as in coastal California.  You can buy the beautiful large-flowered hybrids from your garden center, and they may survive for a winter or two, but often die out after blooming once. 

The exceptions to this very broad generalization are the autumn blooming species, but these are not often seen in garden centers.  They are very well suited to California gardens.  I have only a few in my collection, not because I am not interested, but I have neither the space nor the time to grow all the bulbs I would like.  One of my favorites, seen here to the left, is C. pulchellus, from Turkey and Bulgaria, where it grows in damp forests.  Crocus goulimyi, seen below and to the right, from Greece, is a lovely Crocus that is often available from specialists.  Another beautiful autumn blooming species is C. kotschyanus, below and to the left.    It is also from Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.   Although all these species are from dry summer regions, they can tolerate some summer water if drainage is good.  There are many other species, and writing this post reminds me that I should try to squeeze a few more in.  I haven't tried them in the garden, since I am plagued with gophers, but just recently I am experimenting with planters scattered in the perennial beds where I can grow bulbs safe from predation.  Fortunately, with few trees in this windswept valley, we don't have squirrels, the bane of crocus lovers.

We are, of course, past the time of bloom for the autumn species.  I have been experimenting with other spring-blooming species to see which ones will do well in this mild climate.  The species from the Mediterranean islands, predictably, have done well, since they do not experience a very cold winter in their homeland.  C. minimus is a delightful one from Sardinia and Corsica.  It is seen here to the right.  Another species from Corsica is C. corsicus, and is stunningly beautiful with large deep lavender flowers that are strongly scented.  One wonders if the first Napoleon appreciated these lovely flowers.  Here it is to the left.  Crocus sieberi 'Bowles White' is from Crete, and is also doing very well, with very large pristine white flowers and egg-yolk centers.  Here it is.  

I am also growing some other spring-flowering species that are doing well, in spite of the fact that they come from regions that have snowy winters, although others that I have tried have rapidly disappeared.  One vigorous species from Turkey is C. ancyrensis (also known as C. susianus) with brilliant yellow flowers produced in abundance.  It is seen here below.   

Crocus tommasinianus is very well known, and comes in a range of color forms, all more or less purple, but still distinctly different from each other.  It comes from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, where it experiences cold winters, but it does well here.  It is the classic crocus to grow in lawns where it will seed itself and scatter beautiful purple and lavender stars throughout the grass.   Here, below, is the pinkish form called C. t. roseus , and to the left is C. t. pictus.

These are only a very few species, for to talk in depth about Crocus would require a PhD-like thesis, but for those who wish to delve more into this wonderful genus I would recommend the web site: http://www.thealpinehouse.fsnet.co.uk/crocus%20pages/.  You can happily browse through all the species and look at their wonderful photographs.

www.telosrarebulbs.com  

Telos Bargains

Inspired by Ferndale's Bargain Lover's Weekend, I have decided to take stock of what I have on hand, and offer some price reductions before winter sets in.  So far, I haven't had the time to go carefully through my stocks of bulbs to make many decisions, but below are a few.  I need room in the greenhouses for the big seed-sowing season which will start in October.  At that time I sow seeds of all the California native bulbs, as well as seed of South African bulbs.

Bomarea caldasii, seen to the left, is offered at a reduced price, as are all the other Bomareas.  See the web site:  www.telosrarebulbs.com for details.

Leucocoryne purpurea, seen here to the right, is now offered at the reduced price of $2 per bulb. This gorgeous South American bulbs has beautiful showy flowers that are scented like sweet almonds.  They are excellent garden plants in California.

As my customer base grows, and with very little help in the nursery, I am finding it hard to meet customer demand for certain species.  I have been growing all my bulbs from seed, and have not been purchasing bulbs for resale, other than occasionally buying bulbs from small growers to establish my own stocks. 

This year I have changed that, and will offer a few (very few) species grown by other small growers, whose quality and reliability I can depend on.  I have, therefore, just added some species to the web site, seen below.     

From left to right:  Arum creticum, the fabulous primrose yellow Arum from the Mediterranean, that has (unlike most Arums!) a very sweet scent; Crocus pulchellus, a lovely Crocus; Erythronium revolutum, the pink flowered Erythronium that grows in the mountains close to my home.

I have, of course, been growing all these species, so I am familiar with their needs, but have never had the quantities I needed to list on the web site.  Hopefully, the relationships I have developed with other small growers will help with that, and I hope to add more species in the future, but, rest assured, Telos will still continue to grow the vast majority of the bulbs here on the nursery, and from seed, to assure my customers the quality and variety of bulbs they are accustomed to.

For pricing and further details, consult the web site:  www.telosrarebulbs.com

Mystery Solved -- Pancratium

Some years ago someone sent me his bulb collection, saying he no longer had the time to maintain it.  It is a lot of work, taking care of bulbs in containers, repotting, treating for disease, keeping records and keeping them accurately labeled.  Some of the bulbs I received had lost their labels, and it was great fun figuring out what they were. 

One such bulb, seen to the left, has been in my possession for about five years and never bloomed.  It was with great excitement, therefore, that I saw a bud emerging.  I was so excited that I went to examine the said bud, and --- snapped it off by mistake!!!  Imagine my chagrin.  I jumped up and down cursing myself and my clumsiness, but took it inside and put it in water.  It did open up, and I am delighted to say that it is Pancratium canariense, so at least I know what it is now, although it would have looked better still attached to the stem.

Pancratium is a small genus found largely around the Mediterranean and in northern Africa.  The above, as you would suspect, comes from the Canary Islands.  The most common species is Pancratium maritimum, and I am growing it, but it seems to be slow to flower from seed.  My five year old bulbs have not yet bloomed.  The flowers of all species look a bit like a daffodil, with a prominent central cup or corona, and they are pleasantly fragrant.  They are in an umbel of up to eight or ten individual flowers, and all are white.  P. maritimum is often called 'Sea Lily', since it grows around the Mediterranean in sand dunes, and is often available in commerce.

In mild climates, they make wonderful additions to the dry garden, since most need a dry dormancy, or at least very little water while dormant, and must be grown in a fast draining sandy mix.  They are not very hardy, but can take light frosts.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

Dead Horses

The 'bulb' (it is actually a tuber) that I get the most e-mail requests for is the Dead Horse Arum, Helicodiceros muscivorum, or maybe it's called Drancunculus muscivorum now, I'm not sure.

E. A. Bowles, the great British plantsman, had something to say about it:

"the most fiendish plant I know, the sort of thing Beelzebub might pluck to make a bouquet for his mother-in-law - a mingling of unwholesome greens, purples, and pallid pinks, the livery of putrescence, in fact ... It only exhales its stench for a few hours after opening, and during that time it is better to stand far off, and look at it through a telescope."

This amazing plant comes from the Mediterranean islands of Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics.  The inflorescence is large, mine are about 12" long by about 8" wide, so you certainly can't miss them, and the odor is quite dead-horse-ish.  The spathe, unlike most arums, hangs down and is blotched all over with pinks and purples, plus it has fairly large coarse black hairs scattered over its surface.  The spadix hangs down too, and is shaggy like the tail of an animal.  So, it not only smells like a dead horse (it really does!), but it looks a bit like the posterior of a dead horse, with flies that pollinate it entering an orifice under the tail-like spadix.  Mother Nature has a sense of humor, albeit a bit twisted.  I won't say what the emerging bud looks like, but it isn't fit for polite company.

Mine are blooming now, and I know as soon as I step outside that they have opened.  As Bowles says, the odor doesn't last long, but I can even smell it wafting through my open office window.  Here's a picture of one this morning that had just opened and was covered in flies.

I took the above quote from Deni Brown's outstanding book "Aroids - Plants of the Arum Family".  If you are interested in aroids, this book is a must have, and a really fun read.

I Googled 'dead horse' just for fun, and found this great link: http://wilk4.com/humor/humorm170.htm