Sternbergia 2010

[Herminarik]

Hallo Gerry, your Sternbergias are really wonderful, we have only two plants of Sternbergia candida (we received only a few years ago). One of them should to flower in a few next days (we are very wondering). Together with S. candida we grow St. fischeriana and I attache the pictures from today morning. Igor & Pavlina

[TheOnionMan]

Hallo Gerry, your Sternbergias are really wonderful, we have only two plants of Sternbergia candida (we received only a few years ago). One of them should to flower in a few next days (we are very wondering). Together with S. candida we grow St. fischeriana and I attache the pictures from today morning. Igor & Pavlina

Hello Igor,  some very promising buds there.    I'm posting here, because I received Sternbergia fischeriana back in 2000, and for the first 3-4 years it flowered well.  Then it stopped flowering, only putting up leaves.  I read in your contribution to the International Rock Gardener Feb. 2010 that you have to plant the bulbs very deep.  Maybe mine aren't planted deeply enough.  If they come up again this year, I will replant them much deeper.  I have uploaded a photo taken in April 2001.

[Herminarik]

Hi Mark, that`s my experience. I received (12 years ago) a single bulb form Potterton & Martin Nursery. At the beginning I did the same fault you write -I planted the bulb quite shallow. But if you have a book form Brian Mathew "The smaller bulb", you can read that St. fischeriana "need planting deeply (at least 15 cm)". I did it and I have no problem with flowering (see the picture here below - also from today morning). Igor

[Gerry Webster]

Hi Igor- Your S. fischeriana is very impressive. I don't grow it. There seems to be disagreement about how deeply Sternbergias should be planted. Like Pauli, all mine are planted fairly shallowly. My impression, based on the species I grow, is that heavy feeding when in growth & high temperatures when dormant are important in promoting flowering. This works well with S. sicula, S. lutea & S. greuteriana. However, I have not yet persuaded S. clusiana to flower. Under my conditions I suspect that deep planting would not encourage summer ripening.

[Herminarik]

You are right Gerry, the summer ripening is very important for this species too. That’s quite difficult (but not impossible) to find a compromise between the optimal depth of planting and the summer ripening. We have two ways for that: first one – we cover the bed at the beginning of summer with the old windows (we avoid also of the excessive moister in summer), or we take the bulbs out of bed and we keep them in the room all the summer. And there is any other reason, why we have to plant our Sternbergia deeply – every year in winter we have at least one week with great frost here. And the deeply planting is one of the way how to avoid the lost of Sternbergia species in winter. Cheers Igor

[Gerry Webster]

That's a very fine display of S. lutea Igor. Congratulations!.

I don't get severe frosts here, so no losses in winter. However I'll try planting some bulbs deeper & see what happens.

[fermi de Sousa]

The autumn Sternbergias have started here in Central Victoria!
Sternbergia sicula




And S. lutea




cheers
fermi

[Otto Fauser]

Fermi ,
    this is the S. sicula col. by Alan Edwards in Selia Gorge ,Crete , in flower now in my garden ,

        Otto.

[art600]

Fermi ,
    this is the S. sicula col. by Alan Edwards in Selia Gorge ,Crete , in flower now in my garden ,

        Otto.

Alan has a very good eye for a very good plant.  I think this is one of the best forms of sicula around.

[Maggi Young]

Fermi ,
    this is the S. sicula col. by Alan Edwards in Selia Gorge ,Crete , in flower now in my garden ,

        Otto.

Alan has a very good eye for a very good plant.  I think this is one of the best forms of sicula around.

I was just thinking the very same thing, Art!



Otto, some of your Narcissus are flowering here! Ferdi is soooooo cute! Thankyou!

[fermi de Sousa]

Fermi ,
    this is the S. sicula col. by Alan Edwards in Selia Gorge ,Crete , in flower now in my garden ,

        Otto.

Hi Otto,
if that is the one you gave me a few years ago it is half way in size between the S. sicula (from Rannveig Wallis) and the S. lutea; it will be in flower soon.
cheers
fermi

[Herminarik]

Hi, we were looking for quite a long time an appropriate commentary for this picture. Finally we founded this pathetic words “Hail, oh life giving sun we love so much”. Or has anybody the other idea how to comment this spring blooming beauty? Igor and Pavla

[TheOnionMan]

Igor, exquisite photo!

[cycnich]

Hi, we were looking for quite a long time an appropriate commentary for this picture. Finally we founded this pathetic words “Hail, oh life giving sun we love so much”. Or has anybody the other idea how to comment this spring blooming beauty? Igor and Pavla

What about ' why won't it flower for me' ?. I have grown it for several years but not a flower as yet. No trouble with any others, must be me not the plant.

[Stone Rider]

Sternbergia candida

Never very free flowering with me, there are 4 more flower buds waiting to open. Better than usual.

I admired marvelous clump of this Turkishe odalisque in the garden of Kelaidis family in Denver (back yard). But Panayoti divorced with Gwen and in this way he divorced with Sternbergia candida. I would like to try it in my hot garden in Bohemia one day. Sternbergia lutea is Qeen of Autumn there.