[pbs] bulbs and their requirements.
Lee Poulsen
wpoulsen at pacbell.net
Wed Jun 25 20:36:35 EDT 2008
James Waddick wrote:
> Dear all,
> I find all the pros and cons of bulb needs very interesting,
> but like Adam give high credence to provenance or where the bulb
> originated. Ixiolirion is a plant of Central Asian steppes and would
> seem tailor made for my growing conditions in the Central American
> Steppes (U.S. Prairie) . Cold winter, low to moderate rainfall, high
> temps in summer. limestone soils etc etc.
> Perhaps the bulbs genetic transposition through Dutch care
> has made them less agreeable to quasi-native treatments.
>
>
Harold Koopowitz once told me very nearly this same thing about some of
the bulb types that have gone through centuries, even, of Dutch
treatment and selection to what they are today. I dimly recall that he
was referring to tulips and hyacinths especially, since hyacinths
originally were mediterranean climate plants, but most of the Dutch
cultivars don't do well at all in our area (Southern California). And
that had the Dutch not chosen results of all their tulip breeding that
only did well in their climate over the centuries, but instead tried
crossing and growing out all sorts of hybrids regardless of their
adaptability to the Dutch climate, we might today have some spectacular
tulip cultivars that would grow well and naturalize here in California
rather than needing to be grown like annuals and be pre-chilled in the
refrigerator, etc.
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a
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