The bessera is a lovely plant but I am a little perplexed by the judges comments reported on the AGS site as last year it was being sold dried in packets as a late summer bulb at the garden centre and has no special cultural needs.
I think you may have a point there, Tony.... here are various commments from the Forum in September 2008 on growing these lovely flowers......
"
Bessera elegans, just a few years ago so hard to find and now at most gardens centres, opened a few days ago. Easy to grow but difficult to store dry as the bulbs are so small and they will tolerate no winter moisture, at least here. It would be of interest to know how others store them and how early they plant them.
They are a magnet for slugs, one night alone I picked 14 slugs (not the huge banana slugs but the nasty small flesh-coloured ones) off the badly damaged leaves, resolved by placing the pot up on a trough. " (Canada)
"..... they are as easy as possible.Put them in a pot in the spring ,water and wait for then to flower! They also multiply with lots of offsets. " (England)
" .....They were planted in the field in April/May...." (Holland)
this last comment accompanied this photo of
Bessera elegans flowering happily in a Dutch bulb field.....
