Trillium 2018

[Carolyn]

Beautiful undulatum, Steve. Well done, too, as it has a reputation for being a bit difficult, so I have read. I bought fresh seed last year - or maybe the year before - I must go out and see if it is showing any signs of life. Do you grow it in composted pine needles - I have seen that recommended somewhere.

[Steve Garvie]

Many thanks Carolyn!

I grow my plant in a very open mix of Scots Pine needles, ericaceous compost, pine bark, granite grit and pumice. I top dress with Pine needles but until recently hadn’t used any liquid feed. Watering is with rain water, and rain water with 15mls/litre Cider Vinegar alternate waterings. It is kept on the dry side in Winter. So far it has not clumped up at all and so I have started to use 1/4 strength balanced fertiliser. It seems to be self-fertile as last year, after pollinating with a fine paintbrush it set seed. 

[johnw]

Steve  - Wonderful undulatum.  I have hundreds on my land so don't attempt to grow it; I can't recall ever seeing offsets or clumps now that you mention it.  In fact they seem rather evenly spaced but all solitary. It is the damnedest Trilllium to dig, I went down through about 10 inches of dryish moss and needle duff to find the the bulb sitting atop rock strewn wet mud with roots going down into the mud.  That's where it stayed!

john
17c & sunny, then rain this evening till Saturday

[Carolyn]

Many thanks Carolyn!

I grow my plant in a very open mix of Scots Pine needles, ericaceous compost, pine bark, granite grit and pumice. I top dress with Pine needles but until recently hadn’t used any liquid feed. Watering is with rain water, and rain water with 15mls/litre Cider Vinegar alternate waterings. It is kept on the dry side in Winter. So far it has not clumped up at all and so I have started to use 1/4 strength balanced fertiliser. It seems to be self-fertile as last year, after pollinating with a fine paintbrush it set seed.

I hope your plant will be OK with fertiliser. I wonder whether the acidic soil in its natural environment is low in fertility? Maybe johnw can tell us?
I haven't managed to locate my T undulatum seeds yet - I have so many pots of seeds, sometimes it gets a bit out of hand....

[Rick R.]

Trillium nivale in the Minnesota (USA) wild.  These are the largest flowers I've seen in a decade.  I think they really appreciated the 22 inch (56cm) snowfall we had just 3 weeks ago.

[Maggi Young]

Trillium nivale in the Minnesota (USA) wild.  These are the largest flowers I've seen in a decade.  I think they really appreciated the 22 inch (56cm) snowfall we had just 3 weeks ago.

Ooh!  Be still my beating heart!

[Claire Cockcroft]

T. nivale is one trillium I can't grow, because the slugs find it as divine as I do!

I have what appears to be a hybrid between T. sulcatum and T. vaseyi.  The flowers have tightly recurved petals like vaseyi, but are upright rather than nodding below the bracts.  The bed also has hybrids between T. sulcatum and T. flexipes, creating some nice picotees.

[Mariette]

A very showy plant, Claire! The upright flower is always a great advantage - one of my Trillium erectum hybrids has flowers which dangle from a 5 cm long pedicel - not helpful to enjoy their nice colouring.

[Leena]

A very showy plant, Claire! The upright flower is always a great advantage

I agree, very nice flowers!

Also Rick's T.nivale from wild is wonderful. It seems to be a very hardy Trillium, mine has survived now two winters.
I wonder if T.rivale is not so hardy? I have lost all seedlings grown from Claire's T.rivale seeds, and last summer I planted one bought bulb of T.rivale, and there is no sign of it yet. I fear it has also died during winter. It would have been so pretty little Trillium.

[Rick R.]

Regarding Trillium nivale in the wild, you may want to look at this thread of mine:
https://nargs.org/forum/hastings-scientific-and-natural-area-minnesota-usa

Many of you may have already seen it, but some not....

[Leena]

Rick, thank you for the link.
It is good to see Trilliums growing in the wild, what kind of habitats they prefer. Though they look fantastic growing in the cliffs, but I loved also a picture of them growing among oak leaves, I could imagine that happening also in my garden in my dreams.

[Maggi Young]

Link to part one of two part blog by Jim Fowler , shared by Rimmer de Vries - Thanks, Rimmer!

 A kaleidoscope of Trilliiums on the Blue Ridge Parkway — 2018-05-05 @ Jim's Blog
 
 http://www.jfowlerphotography.com/?p=8644

[ashley]

Rick, those T. nivale in the wild are wonderful to see.  Thank you.

I wonder if T.rivale is not so hardy?

Leena, here this survived -10°C even in pots last winter so should be hardier in the ground under snow.  It might be worth trying again.

[Leena]

Ashley, I might try it again and it is easy to germinate even from seed ex seeds. I was thinking maybe it doesn't tolerate ground freezing deep for a long time in winter or something like that. Even all T.chloropetalum seedlings have survived here but not T.rivale.

[Steve Garvie]

Trillium rivale -the wee sonsie “faces” bring good cheer on a dreich day!