[pbs] Lachenalia and Virus
Mary Sue Ittner
msittner at mcn.org
Mon Mar 3 12:10:46 EST 2003
Dear Jim,
I grew Lachenalias in my raised bed for years here in Northern California.
In 1990 (December) we had what we called "The Arctic Freeze". We were
unusually dry for that time of the year and it hadn't been cold yet when a
cold spell came in from the north. We got to 19 degrees (-7 C.). The ground
froze and it remained cold for 3 days. It was a fantastic time for plumbers
as most people did not have their water pipes well enough protected for
such an event.
Most of my South African bulbs in that bed turned to mush although there
were a few that put up second leaves in a month or so. The Lachenalias did
not, but some of them came back in later years. Lachenalia viridiflora
bloomed the next year before it disappeared.
Later I added new ones to that bed and found a number of them came back
reliably and bloomed well: Lachenalia bulbifera, Lachenalia pustulata and
Lachenalia aloides quadricolor were three with the latter being absolutely
wonderful for a very long time in winter. I probably have pictures some
where that I can add to the Wiki. In time L. bulbifera got a little out of
hand and there were leaves everywhere, but not blooms. Last year the leaves
on those Lachenalias looked virused so I took everything out of that bed.
I'm not sure the origin of my virus. I once bought some Ornithogalum
thyrsoides and added it to that bed and it very quickly started looking
worse each year. So it got removed. And someone gave me some Lachenalia
bulbs that were probably virused and he didn't know and I put some of them
in that bed without quarantining them first.
I offer up these examples because I think they illustrate the virus
problem. When I purchased those Ornithogalums I didn't know they were prone
to virus and in the second year when the leaves looked a bit yellow I still
didn't know. When I asked my friend whether he worried his Lachenalias were
virused he said he thought that was the way those leaves were supposed to
look. When you live in a place where there is a lot of rain and winter
hail, the leaves of bulbs in the ground do not continue to look pristine so
it is hard to know what is the result of the weather. So Alberto's comments
about looking at the plants as the leaves appear is an excellent point.
My Veltheimias sheltered from the heavy rain in containers look much better
than those in the ground at this point, but when the leaves of those in the
ground appeared they looked just fine.
I have lots of Lachenalias now that look very healthy I grew from seed and
I will be trying some of them in the ground again or in new beds I will
create. I think I wrote recently that L. mutabilis is blooming again in the
ground (for the second year). But we haven't had a cold year. I am sure
there are ones I could grow in raised beds. I'd need to look for species
that could tolerate the wet as well as the cold however. And I might need
to throw a blanket or frost cloth over them for a few days in a cold year.
There used to be a number of them on African Hill at the UC garden in
Berkeley. Maybe Liz can tell us if they are still there.
Don Journet advised us that he could grow them in the ground where he lives
in Australia if he positioned them to take advantage of protection from
trees. I have the trees so can make some experiments.
Mary Sue
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