not flowering bulbs in Scotland

[Alex S.]

1. I have Sternbergia lutea planted against a south-east facing house wall. It has never flowered (planted 3 years ago). Should I try it in a pot inside a green house? And replace the one outdoor with Sternbergia lutea ssp. angustifolia?
2. Another problematic plant is Crocus kotschyanus. It has never given me decent flowers. It's planted in a pot outdoor. This summer I kept the bulbs inside a potting shed to keep them as warm as possible. Result was the same, just very few deformed flowers.
3. And the last question is about Bessera elegans. Planted in a pot in 2012 it was hit by cold Spring (the pot was left outdoor). Some corms rotted but others did not too bad when I moved the pot in the green house. So I managed to get some flowers. Unfortunately none of the corms kept with no watering over winter survived.
This spring I used sandy compost, kept the pot indoor all the time. As a result all the corms produced healthy leaves but flowering buds started forming very late and never fully developed. The plants are almost dormant now and don't get any watering.
I live in outskirts of Musselburgh, is it too far north to grow first two species outdoor? I would appreciate your advice

[Maggi Young]

 Hello Alex and welcome!
If you follow Ian Young's Bulb Log ( http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=bulb ) you will have seen the difficulty we have in getting Sternbergia of any kind to really flower well for us here in Aberdeen.  We are not alone in this difficulty!  There are often comments about how many Sternbergia sp. need a good warm - or even hot , summer o promote good flowering. In the Forum, you can see photos from members in Norway and Denmark, for instance, who grow these plants outside and have wonderful flowers on their plants, so it can hardly be decided that Musselburgh is too far north. It may  be more a case of lower summer temps. and wetness -  though most of our plants are under glass, so you'd think they  were getting a nice cosy life! 

 As regards your Crocus kotschyanus, I wonder if they may be virussed- that would account for both poor flowering and mis-shapen flowers.

 I don't grow Bessera, so cannot help there -  others will be able to , I'm sure, and will comment on the other plants too......

[pontus]

Hello Alex,

I would highly recommend ssp angustifolia, as it is much more vigorous and much more free flowering then the normal lutea. I still have a few flowers on my biggest clump now as I write, on 7/12/14 and they begun flowering in september! we had a strangely abormal cold and wet summer here in switzerland this year, but they flowered well anyway, so dont need a hot summer bake to bloom.

the bulbs can also become very large, and multiply so rapidly into offset FS bulbs that you need to devide clumps every 3-4 years in july.

Yes as Maggi says, your kotshyanus are probably virused. Quite a few dutch stocks seem to be, and the corms sold are often the strain producing large corms, producing mainly leaves and very few flowers. It is an easy sp to get to bloom well for many years if you get the true sp, or var "reliance"" whichis very free flowering.

Regarding Bessera, they are notorious for rotting in storage. I lost 40 corms this winter to moulding, rotting ,,etc in storage overwinter. It is tricky to keep alive when dormant. I would suggest keeping them as dry as possible, in an atmosphere which is dry and not damp. I had ok sucess keeping them in an office cupboard at about 15-20 °c, and also moderate sucess in a box with wood shavings in the basement at 10°c, checking on them regularly.

However, they do not like being grown indoors. It is best to plant corms in well drained humus rich gritty soil that does not dry out too quickly in summer, keeping them fairly well watered. in full sun, Plant corms in april/may. They then flower in september-october, although my last flower scape is just going over now. It is one of my favourite autumn flowering bulbs. The corms need to be quite big to flower, the smaller offsets freely produced usually need 2 years or so with good feeding before reaching FS. It is a prarie plant in the wild growing in mexico.

Pontus

[Alex S.]

Hello Maggi and thank you!

I absolutely agree that summer in the continent is warmer. What I meant to say if Musselburgh was too far north in Britain for growing Sternbergia outdoor.
I noticed that Ian's Sternbergias are all grown under glass. And I saw wonderful flowering of Sternbergia in RHS Harlow Carr.

Geographically Musselburgh is roughly in the middle between Harrogate and Aberdeen. So I was hoping that someone in the Central belt was successful with outdoor Sternbergia.

And I am so disappointed with my Crocus kotshyanus! None of the bulbs I bought weren't healthy then :-/ I will try to find and attach a pic of its flowering.

[Alex S.]

Hello Pontus,

Thanks for your reply. I certainly will try ssp angustifolia. An autumn flowering yellow bulb plant is very welcoming addition to common purple, pink and white.

By the way do you know any yellow autumn crocus?

I believe my kotshyanus were from Holland. They were in a pack with picture. And they produce wonderful crop of corms indeed 

I haven't checked my Bessera corms yet. I probably need to dig them urgently and keep indoors, dry and warm. If they are still alive, of course.
I agree it is beautiful. Next year I will plant it outdoor as you recommend.

[pontus]

yes, there are 2 yellow autumn flowering crocuses..or yellow orange,

crocus scharojanii
and crocus scharojanii flavus

very rare, very expensive and very difficult to grow, but fabulousely beautifull!!

Pontus

[Alex S.]

Thank you for giving me its name. I remember seeing it in Caucasus mountains long ago. But it never produced clumps. I guess it mainly multiplies by seed.

[Alex S.]

By the way I've just checked my Bessera. All corms looks fine to me apart from the one with kind of missing base. Probably rotten.
And other two that never died back have started producing new roots and even leaves. What would be advice for those? My green house isn't heated.