Calochortus 2011

[Maren]

Hi,
here is my first.

Calochortus superbus

[fermi de Sousa]

Well, that truly is superb!
The ones I grow don't have that mauve shading - yours looks special!
cheers
fermi

[Michael J Campbell]

Calochortus luteus
Calochortus venustus.

[David Nicholson]

As I no longer grow Calochortus I have some spare small bulbs of C vestae. They are seed grown, some 2 years old, some 3, if anyone would like some just let me know.

[Roma]

Flowering earlier this month Calochortus barbatus.  I was very pleased it survived last winter.  I have only two mature bulbs after 20 years but did get seed a few years ago and have some young ones coming along.  The two bulbs did not flower at the same time this year so no seed.

[Maggi Young]

Goodness me, that's trying VERY hard disguise itself as a Fritillaria, isn't it? 

[David Nicholson]

Very nice Roma, can't be too easy to grow in your part of the world.

[Roma]

Goodness me, that's trying VERY hard disguise itself as a Fritillaria, isn't it? 

Indeed, Maggi.  I was thinking Fritillaria when I was going to post the pictures but corrected myself in time.

David, I have found this calochortus very easy to grow.  It does not start growing till early summer so I keep it dry all winter and only start watering in May or even June.  It survived last winter when I didn't have the heater lit when we had -14C. 

[Lesley Cox]

Calochortus barbatus can also produce stem bulblets sometimes and is even said to become weedy as a result but I've certainly not found that. I've had a very few bulblets over a few years but weedy? No such luck.

Yours is beautifully marked and coloured Roma. Mine is closer to plain yellow with just a little brown speckling.

[PeterT]

Very beautifull Roma

[Maggi Young]

There is a thread in the NARGS forum asking advice on growing Calochortus and Bob Nold has posted pictures of an old letter giving some advice on the subject.... it may be of interest........
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=432.msg12340#msg12340

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks for that link, Maggi, what a great letter to have as a keepsake of an incredible grower.
I'd forgotten that this thread existed!
Here are some pics which I'd already posted elsewhere,
Calochortus amabile struggling through the dianthus!


Calochortus superbus


Calochortus luteus


Calochortus venustus




Calochortus splendens


Calochortus umpquaensis


Sadly no sign yet of Calochortus fimbriatus! I wonder if it succumbed to last summer's wet?
cheers
fermi

[Luc Gilgemyn]

They're just as attractive as in the other thread Fermi !!
Glorious flowers !

[Lesley Cox]

Re Cliff's comments on the names of great gardeners both of previous times and of the present. Claude Barr's own name is a stand-out for me, a true plantsman and great gardener.

Isn't it odd now, with the perfect typescript on our computer screens, to see an old letter typed on a typewriter? As for hand writing, I still can do it but it's barely legible these days I'm so unused to writing, just scribbling really.