[pbs] TOW: Bulbs with surprising hardiness
Rodger Whitlock
totototo at mail.pacificcoast.net
Wed Sep 10 00:36:25 EDT 2003
On 9 Sep 03 at 19:40, J.E. Shields wrote:
> Finally, after growing Brodiaea coronaria in a pot in the greenhouse
> and getting very little bloom, and grumbling because I did not think
> it worth the precious greenhouse benchtop space it took up, I
> planted the whole potful out in the rock garden in summer 2002.
> This summer, they bloomed abundantly! Whoever convinced me that B.
> coronaria was too tender for Indiana was apparently wrong. These
> bulbs were grown from seed from Ron Ratko, collected in the wild,
> his #NNS 97-37. Maybe Ron collected these seeds from a harsher,
> wetter locality than the usual California types grow in.
Brodiaea coronaria grows as far north as British Columbia and is
bone-hardy as far as I am concerned. Our winters are *usually* mild,
but every so often we get an "arctic outflow" of extremely cold air.
Februrary 1989 is the last one that was really memorable; the soil
froze a foot deep in some places.
Brodiaea coronaria doesn't turn a hair at these cold snaps.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island
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