Trillium 2010

[Diane Whitehead]

In order of height, here is what I have flowering now.

Trillium hibbersonii from cliffs in the Clayoquot Sound area of the west
coast of Vancouver Island.

Trillium rivale from the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon and NW
California.

Trillium ovatum subsp maculosum from Gualala on the California coast
north of San Francisco.  It began flowering white the first week of February,
and then turned dark pink as is normal for ovatum.  It is now shrivelling,
but has been decorative for six weeks.

Trillium albidum, also from the Siskiyou Mountains.  I also have a
plain-leaved plant.

[Carlo]

...and here's my little Trillium nivale...

http://bestc.am/jmfe

[Lesley Cox]

Lovely to see some fresh trilliums in bloom. T. nivale is always super and a favourite though doesn't really thrive for me. The T. hibbersonii seems to like something mossy around it Diane? I've found it reasonably short-lived and would welcome advice on encouraging a bit longer life from it.

[Diane Whitehead]

I put the hibbersonii seedling close to the trunk of an almond tree
and encircled it with white rocks so I wouldn't accidentally dig it.
That was about 40 years ago. It has gradually increased into a clump,
this year with 19 flowers. The clump is small - my hand can hide it
all, except for the two flowers that have moved outside the white rock.

A couple of years ago the almond tree blew over in a storm and the moss
appeared very recently, so I can't say hibbersonii requires moss.

The area where it is native gets enormous amounts of rain - 6 to 9 metres
 (YES, metres - over 6000 mm) - and also summer fog. Victoria gets 1/10
as much.  I water that part of the garden every couple of weeks in the summer.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Diane. I think mine must have been far too dry then. I now have only a small batch of seedlings germinated about 10 months ago. I'd better move to the South Island's west coast. Their rain too, is measured in metres rather than millimetres like mine.

[Diane Whitehead]

I have never been successful at growing Trillium hibbersonii from seed.
I've tried only a couple of times - usually I donate the seed to
those who don't have a plant.  A nurseryman in Oregon has tried
growing my seeds a couple of times, also without success.

I asked advice of Richard Fraser of Thimble Farms who bought his stock
from the Hibberson family, and sells ones he grows from seed.
He said I was likely suffering rodent predation.  He needs to cover
his seedling trays to keep mice out.

So last summer I sowed seeds again, and have kept them covered. They
germinated sometime in November, and here they are (on the left)
to compare with Trilllium rivale which germinated in December.  You
can see how much faster rivale grows.

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, my little hibbersoniis are just like that have have not grown at all since they germinated. I expect a true (tiny) leaf after they've died down for winter and hopefully come through again.

[TheOnionMan]

Always the first to bloom is Trillium nivale.  The first photo showing mature plants and young flowering-size seedlings taken on March 27th, 2009.  The day after that photo, the plant was eaten to the ground by deer.

The second photo shows the same plant, this year flowering a week and a half earlier, but much smaller, probably weakened by having all above-ground parts eaten last year.

There's always a bee.

[Lesley Cox]

A lovely thing Mark. I do have some problems in my garden but not, thank goodness, deer, gophers, moles, voles, squirrels, wildcats, lions, tigers, elephants..... or people who steal my palm trees.

[wolfgang vorig]

My first Trillium nivale 2010

[Michael J Campbell]

A selection of Trillium rivale in flower here today,

[Michael J Campbell]

A few more.

The last two are Ovatum x rivale Trillium rivale 'Del Norte'

[Michael J Campbell]

The last one for today

Trillium flexipes

[Rodger Whitlock]

The last two are Trillium ovatum x rivale

No, they aren't. This is a misnamed plant with which I have been involved for many years.

The plant making the rounds as T. ovatum × rivale is traceable to an item in the seed exchange of the Alpine Garden Club of BC, 20 or so years ago. I grew a few seedlings from this, and they proved to be extremely vigorous plants that were prolific bearers of viable seed, which I then distributed far and wide under the same name.

It's quite clear that this is no hybrid: raise as many offspring as you wish, and you will never see any signs of hybrid origin. There is some variation in flower shape and markings, but nothing out of the ordinary for T. rivale, which varies widely in those details. Richard Fraser at Fraser's Thimble Farms on Saltspring Island concluded that the proper name is T. rivale 'Del Norte', and I now agree with him.

That original donation came from Boyd Kline, in Medford, Oregon. In a letter to me, he said that he'd found the original plant on , with the putative parents growing together at the top of a bank, at the bottom, the supposed hybrid.

Now Boyd Kline knows that country and its flora like the back of his hand, and if he says he found a hybrid trillium on French Hill, it may be taken as granted that he found a hybrid trillium there. But what ended up at the Alpine Garden Club of BC's exchange is clearly no hybrid. I have never been able to determine when and where the mistake in identity occurred.

So change your labels to Trillium rivale 'Del Norte' and all will be well. Sorry to be the thrower of cold water on your pride in this plant; this is not the first time I've had to correct the same misnaming.

It is possible that this is a tetraploid form of T. rivale, given its vigor and rather larger size than normal. However, there is no scientific evidence on this point.

[Lesley Cox]

When you've mopped up the cold water Michael, and dried off your clothes, I'm sure these delightful trilliums will still gladden your heart. The pure pinks are particularly lovely.