Lycoris squamigera

[Jim McKenney]

I’ve read that Lycoris squamigera is not a good garden plant in the UK. Here in eastern North America it thrives mightily and provides acceptable solace for our not being able to grow Amaryllis belladonna successfully.

In the past this Lycoris was very inexpensive, and one sometimes sees old gardens where it was planted by the hundred. I visited such a garden last week, and I would like to share some views which will give you an idea of just what this plant can do under favorable conditions.

If you find the one image attached to this message fetching, then check these out,  too:

http://jimmckenney.com/Lycoris%20squamigera%20iacg.htm

and for a bit of background information:

http://mcwort.blogspot.com/

[johnw]

Jim  - I am absolutely floored by these.  What solace indeed!

I thought they required summer heat and I assume you, as the rest of the east, have had a cool & wet summer as we normally expect here.  So I am a bit puzzled.  Are those flowers the results of 2008's summer heat  and the bulbs are not liable to flower next year? I can tell you that Lycoris are a disaster here. L. squamigera never flowers and peters out or gets winter-killed; L. radiata I got in 1974 and it has never had a single flower in the greenhouse (top shelf) though it has made plenty of offsets.  L. radiata's leaves just died down last week and I thought of putting a plastic dome over the pot and cooking it in the sun - maybe the heat is required earlier in the year..

So what exactly are the requirements for L. squamigera and Amaryllis belladonna? Are you implying the former summer heat and the latter summer cool? Maybe we should try Amaryllis or would it be too tender? I would dearly love to flower one or the other, maybe we are in lycoris-amaryllis purgatory here in a maritime zone 6.

By the way I can just flower Nerine bowdenii against the house. It took many years before it decided to start flowering.

Thanks for the shots.

johnw

[Jim McKenney]

I thought they required summer heat ...I would dearly love to flower one or the other, maybe we are in lycoris-amaryllis purgatory here in a maritime zone 6.
johnw

If the zone 6 you mention is USDA zone 6, then from the standpoint of winter low temperatures Lycoris squamigera should do well for you, as should L. chinensis and L. longituba among others. Even L. radiata has been known to survive and bloom in zone 6.
Lycoris squamigera is, if anything, cold adapted. It does not thrive in the southeastern states and is useless in the Gulf states where L. radiata thrives. 
I suspect that winter lows are not your problem however. Your summers are probably not warn enough long enough for these plants. 

The sad history of Amaryllis belladonna goes back to the late eighteenth century at least here in eastern North America. Thomas Jefferson tried to grow it - unsuccessfully. Evidently it is not easy as a pot plant, and it has no chance outside in our usual winters.

Every once and a while someone here in eastern North America will report the flowering of Amaryllis belladonna; but I know of no instances of plants established in the garden and flowering yearly. It has bloomed here twice.

I have a plant which has been growing in the ground in a cold frame for three years. It has not yet bloomed (note that I optimistically wrote "yet"). In this cold frame the foliage goes through the winter unscathed.

Nerine sarniensis 'Corusca Major' also grows in the same cold frame, also rooted into the ground. It has bloomed yearly for the last three years. Nerine bowdenii on the other hand has never bloomed here from home-grown bulbs.

Why not try some of the Lycoris in a cold frame - the solar heat might be just enough to give them what they need.

Yes, this summer has been relatively cool (he writes as he contemplated the 100 degrees F predicted for tomorrow): in the community where I photographed the Lycoris squamigera, no tomatoes have ripened yet this year. The first tomatoes of the year typically ripen by July 4.

[mark smyth]

I have tried them many times. For some reason they stayed dormant for a year or two and then died

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Jim,
even in frosty central Victoria (regularly -5^o and often as low as -7^o) we can grow Amaryllis belladonna quite well in the open where it will flower if given enough sun. But I have great difficulty flowering Lycoris squamigera - the "Hardy Amaryllis" as I once saw it described in an OGF magazine from the 1960s!
L. incarnata, L. elsae, L. aurea and L. radiata seem to flower regularly here but not L. squamigera and infrequently L. sprengeri.
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

I wonder why it is difficult over here? Does it not get warm enough in the summer or are we too wet? I would be worth finding out if anyone is successful in the UK.

[johnw]

I have tried them many times. For some reason they stayed dormant for a year or two and then died

I had the very same thing happen on at least two occasions.

johnw

[johnw]

I wonder why it is difficult over here? Does it not get warm enough in the summer or are we too wet? I would be worth finding out if anyone is successful in the UK.

Too cool (with the cap as well) and wet I suspect.  Yet it grows in Maine - maybe the interior which may be hotter in the summertime.

johnw

[johnw]

Jim  - I am absolutely floored by these.  What solace indeed!

I thought they required summer heat and I assume you, as the rest of the east, have had a cool & wet summer as we normally expect here.  So I am a bit puzzled.  Are those flowers the results of 2008's summer heat  and the bulbs are not liable to flower next year? I can tell you that Lycoris are a disaster here. L. squamigera never flowers and peters out or gets winter-killed; L. radiata I got in 1974 and it has never had a single flower in the greenhouse (top shelf) though it has made plenty of offsets.  L. radiata's leaves just died down last week and I thought of putting a plastic dome over the pot and cooking it in the sun - maybe the heat is required earlier in the year..

So what exactly are the requirements for L. squamigera and Amaryllis belladonna? Are you implying the former summer heat and the latter summer cool? Maybe we should try Amaryllis or would it be too tender? I would dearly love to flower one or the other, maybe we are in lycoris-amaryllis purgatory here in a maritime zone 6.

By the way I can just flower Nerine bowdenii against the house. It took many years before it decided to start flowering.

Thanks for the shots.

johnw

[johnw]

should do well for you - L. chinensis and L. longituba among others.

Jim  - Are these two from the cooler summer areas of China?

I never seem them offered.

I am very surprised Corusca Major does for you even in a cold frame. I thought all these sarniensis types were very frost tender.

BTW we are a very vigorous, cold Zone 6! Cold is protracted but lows conform to Z6.

Tomatoes may ripen here this year by September but early August is about the best we could hope for usually.

johnw

[Jim McKenney]

Hi Jim,
even in frosty central Victoria (regularly -5^o and often as low as -7^o) we can grow Amaryllis belladonna quite well in the open where it will flower if given enough sun. But I have great difficulty flowering Lycoris squamigera - the "Hardy Amaryllis" as I once saw it described in an OGF magazine from the 1960s!
L. incarnata, L. elsae, L. aurea and L. radiata seem to flower regularly here but not L. squamigera and infrequently L. sprengeri.
cheers
fermi

From a horticultural point of view, the genus Lycoris divides neatly into two groups: those which produce their foliage in the autumn and those which produce their foliage in late winter. The ones which produce foliage in the autumn are adapted to relatively winter mild climates. Here in eastern North America, that means USDA zone 8 or milder although there have been sporadic successes in USDA zone 7 in the east. Here in the east it's sometimes said that if you can grow camellias, you can grow at least some of these winter growing species of Lycoris.
The species which produce their foliage in late winter (squamigera, sprengeri, longituba, chinensis, sanguinea and others) are much better adapted to areas with cold winters. I seem to recall that Lycoris squamigera is grown in USDA zone 5, maybe zone 4! So winter cold, pure and simple, is not a limiting factor in its cultivation.
With this in mind, it's no surprise, Fermi, that you have been successful mostly with the species which require relatively mild winter temperatures.
Hot summers are probably required by all species. Summer drought is not necessary and in fact might be detrimental. Several years ago we had an extremely dry summer, and when Lycoris squamigera bloomed the scapes were only about six inches out of the ground!
The names of many of the species are badly mixed in commerce. At least two and maybe more plants seem to be making the rounds as Lycoris aurea.
Lycoris squamigera itself is of hybrid origin (should we be calling it Lycoris x squamigera?), L. radiata exists in at least two forms, one fertile, the other triploid. The triploid form is said to have arisen as a result of the failure of one gamete to undergo reductive division. But here is something to watch out for: if it can be shown that the triploid form (the nomenclatural type for this species) is in fact of hybrid origin, then there will be some name changes for the fertile form.
In horticulture it's very difficult to avoid falling into the habit of "buying the name". I'm sure we've all had the experience of buying some plant and expecting it to fit the description of some known taxon. When it turns out to be different, we're disappointed. But I've tried to train myself to appreciate each plant for what it is; if the names are right, great. If they're not, maybe it makes no difference.    

[Maggi Young]

I see there has been talk of Lycoris squamigera in the PBS lists, also....
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/pbs/2009-August/034602.html    ..... and others... 

[arilnut]

Hello all. This is my first attempt at posting here. Hope it works! I have longituba and radiata blooming now.
My ancient stock of squamigera is still below ground while most around here are done already. Mine are always
behind everyone else here.  May be planted too deep.  I live in southcentral Kansas USA zone 6?? I am
going to try some of the other species , especially the yellow ones.  Lycoris are only a side interest.
My main interest is the Aril iris species.

John

[Maggi Young]

Hello, John , great to have you join us.
As you like bulbs and Iris, I guess you will find many friends here!

[fermi de Sousa]

I see there has been talk of Lycoris squamigera in the PBS lists, also....
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/pbs/2009-August/034602.html    ..... and others... 

Thanks, Maggi, for the link.
Thanks, Jim, for the info.
What did your L.squamigera x L. longituba hybrids look like?
cheers
fermi