Erythronium 2013

[Gerry Webster]

Fabulous Erythroniums everyone.

Does anyone know why my E. dens-canis do not flower. They are in bought soil improved with leaf mould and grit. In the same bed are Snow Goose and Kinfauns Pink which are prolific. The bed was made in 2009 and in this time flowers have been absent

Mark - it took me several years to find a position in the garden - under a N.  wall - where E. dens canis would survive & flower though the Americans have always done well no matter where. My limited experience suggests  E. dens canis  is a fussy plant.

[mark smyth]

Mine get full sun at this time of year until approx. 9am or maybe 10

[Gene Mirro]

More sun = more flowers.

[mark smyth]

More sun = more flowers.

But Snowgoose and Kinfauns do so well in the same bed

[Gerry Webster]

More sun = more flowers.

I think that might depend on where you live.

[David Nicholson]

Some from the garden yesterday.

Erythronium 'Pagoda'
E. 'White Beauty'
E. revolutum 'Knightshayes Pink'

all of these in a North Eastern facing bed in gritty soil top dressed with composted bark annually. Pagoda has been in-situ for about five years starting with three (bulbs?); White Beauty for about three years starting with with one and Knightshayes Pink bought from Beeches Nursery earlier this year to replace another Knightshayes Pink which flowered last year, gave me loads of seed and promptly disappeared. May have been my fault since I did a bit of re-construction on the bed and may have dug it by mistake.

I have two dens-canis in a peaty, East facing bed under a Camellia, bought from Susan Band in 2011 one of which I'm sure is in bud and the other possibly may be. That bed also has E. tuolumnense and E. 'Kinfauns Pink, again from Susan which are a little behind dens-canis.

[Susan Band]

Mark, there can be some clones of E. dens-canis which are a problem to flower. Is it all one clone or are they different plants from different sources?

Susan

[mark smyth]

Susan I cant remember where they came from

Some of the leaves

[Ed Alverson]

I ordered another batch of seeds from Alplains, December 2012. I had enough screened compost to start Elegans, Hendersonni, Oregonum ssp. Leucandrum and Revolutum seeds in pots. Stuck the pots in my basement, Hendersonni and Oregonum ssp. Leucandrum are starting to germinate. No germination yet with Elegans and Revolutum seeds.

Five of the six Erythronium seed lots I ordered from Alplains and planted in early December 2012 have now germinated nicely - this includes E. idahoense, which I am expecting to be a bit difficult because its native climate is continental rather than maritime. The only species that has not germinated is E. klamathense, but being a high elevation species I didn't have high expectations anyway.

Ed

[Ed Alverson]

Last week I went for a hike along the Rogue River trail in Josephine County, SW Oregon. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive to the trailhead so it makes for a long day trip, but it is definitely worth it. All sorts of interesting plants can be found here, I was actually mainly looking at the ferns.

Erythronium oregonum is common along the trail on the south (shady) side of the river, though past the peak bloom I still found a few good flowers. There were lots of leaves so I definitely need to visit next year a bit earlier in April. The trail is along a particularly scenic part of the Rogue River, and in many places the trail has been blasted into the side of vertical cliffs. It had rained a few days earlier, and in one spot there was a set of waterfalls along a small side stream dropping in to the canyon (this is in the 4th photo).

This region probably has the greatest Erythronium diversity in the world for a similar sized area - go 15 miles south from here and you are in Erythronium hendersonii country, then another 10 miles south to Erythronium citrinum land, and 10 more miles or so south it is Erythronium howellii. Erythronium grandiflorum and E. klamathense are at higher elevations so they bloom later. Add in both subspecies of E. oregonum and E. revolutum which grows on the western side of the county, and Josephine County alone has 8 native Erythronium taxa.

[Rob Potterton]

Seed raised ex Gothenburg Botanical Gardens 2000 - Erythronium grandiflorum ssp. parviflorum

[Guff]

1 Pagoda
2 White Beauty
3 Oregonum

[Gene Mirro]

Rob, I believe all E. grandiflorums are yellow.  One source says that parviflorum has white or light yellow anthers.  Take a look here:  http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2008/300408/log.html  at the photo of Erythronium revolutum hybrids.  That looks a lot like yours.  I don't believe pure E. revolutum has the dark band near the base of the petals, like yours does.

Also, take a look at my reply #44 in this thread.  That's probably a hybrid between californicum and revolutum.  Just guessing here.

Another clue with E. grandiflorum is that it can be very picky about where it will grow.  Even in the Pacific NW, it is common to have 100% losses with them, planted right next to many other species that are doing well.  I believe it's because it comes from a dry summer climate with cold winters.  Maybe Ed can help with this.

[Gerry Webster]

Rob - I agree with Gene that your plant is  probably a hybrid - E. revolutum x californicum. I have one that is virtually identical.

[mark smyth]

Whatever it is Rob it looks great