Trillium 2010

[Lesley Cox]

The Trilium Group is indeed very vibrant and provides a lot of information which we would otherwise not have seen. Some members have amazing collections and gardens while some, like me, worship from afar, with many fewer plants but we all seem to grow them well. They just like the NZ climate apparently, especially the South Island. We're not complaining.

[bulborum]

Hello Dave

I don't know if it is allowed but if you see
interesting articles maybe you can copy
them here so they don't get lost
as so much good information is already lost

especially from old nursery man
they know it but don't write it down
if they stop or die all the information is lost

Roland

[t00lie]

I'll do my best Roland  

Even better may i suggest to you and any others who are interested ,that the NZ Trillium Group is always on the look out for new members local and overseas--at $20 NZ for overseas folk the subscriptions are a bargain and besides receiving the regular newsletters you will have access to the extensive seed list.

There is also an annual get together in the South Island .

The current contact is Joy Leonard and her email details are------ pejoleonard@hotmail.com

Cheers dave.

[gote]

I have all respect for the NZ growers of Trillium but I question the statement that Trilium grandiflorum likes lime a lot.
One has to take all information about things like lime preferences cum grano salis.
I grow very sucessfully:
Trilliums grandiflorum, luteum, sessile They clump up and sow themselves. (see previous postings)
I grow with success = can keep them alive:
recurvatum and stamineum.
My pH is low. My Rhododendrons grow well and I can even grow Trillium undulatum which is presumed to be killed by high pH..
What is the explanation? I do not know but there are some possibilities:
#1: I do not lack the element Calcium since I use bonemeal as fertilizer. This is to a great extent Calcium Phosphate. There are areas in the world where there is a deficiency in calcium in the soil.
#2: Many plants grow in narrow niches in the wild – not because they need (or even prefer) the circumstances in that niche. They may have an edge over the competition there. Example: Hepatica nobilis which grows wild in very shady places and will be swamped by grasses if there is more light will grow much better in a lighter position in a garden situation where competition is kept at bay.
Observations from the wild are thus not necessarily true for gardening circumstances.
#3: Limestone areas seem to have a more congenial habitat to some woodlanders for other reasons such as soil structure.
Cheers
Göte

[Lesley Cox]

You are so right Roland, about information and best of all, experience, being lost forever, when the older gardeners die away, as we all must, in time. Unless those same people have taken to book writing in their old age, so many of the invaluable lessons they've learned over a lifetime have to be learned all over again by the younger generation who are not always anxious to walk the long paths to knowledge and experience and frequently want it all handed to them on a plate. (You can see I'm rapidly reaching that declining time myself. )

[PeterT]

I have all respect for the NZ growers of Trillium but I question the statement that Trilium grandiflorum likes lime a lot.
One has to take all information about things like lime preferences cum grano salis.
I grow very sucessfully:
Trilliums grandiflorum, luteum, sessile They clump up and sow themselves. (see previous postings)
I grow with success = can keep them alive:
recurvatum and stamineum.
My pH is low. My Rhododendrons grow well and I can even grow Trillium undulatum which is presumed to be killed by high pH..
What is the explanation? I do not know but there are some possibilities:
#1: I do not lack the element Calcium since I use bonemeal as fertilizer. This is to a great extent Calcium Phosphate. There are areas in the world where there is a deficiency in calcium in the soil.
#2: Many plants grow in narrow niches in the wild – not because they need (or even prefer) the circumstances in that niche. They may have an edge over the competition there. Example: Hepatica nobilis which grows wild in very shady places and will be swamped by grasses if there is more light will grow much better in a lighter position in a garden situation where competition is kept at bay.
Observations from the wild are thus not necessarily true for gardening circumstances.
#3: Limestone areas seem to have a more congenial habitat to some woodlanders for other reasons such as soil structure.
Cheers
Göte

I understand there is a big difference between calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate where the magnesium is the "acid" plants are supposed to grow. My sister is growing Trillium grandiflorum on calcium carbonate where she dug leafmould into part of her limestone gravel driveway - perhaps T grandiflorum is not so fussy about PH ?

[t00lie]

Down here spring is advancing --a number of the early Trilliums are well above the ground and in the loose whorl stage where you can see down the stem through the leaves to gain an idea of whether individual plants have a flowering bud ---however 'one' plant is very much further on .

First couple of pics are of 'the' plant ----top --followed by side view.

Thinking i had 2 plants close together i scraped away the soil with a view to maybe moving one of them.
However pic 3 shows both stems are coming from the one rhizome.  

Pics 4 & 5 ---Individual shots of the respective stems.

A different colour on each stem from the one Trillium plant is something i've never come across before.............

(I've posted this on the NARGS Forum for comment as well).

Cheers Dave.

[gote]

Down here spring is advancing --a number of the early Trilliums are well above the ground and in the loose whorl stage where you can see down the stem through the leaves to gain an idea of whether individual plants have a flowering bud ---however 'one' plant is very much further on .

First couple of pics are of 'the' plant ----top --followed by side view.

Thinking i had 2 plants close together i scraped away the soil with a view to maybe moving one of them.
However pic 3 shows both stems are coming from the one rhizome.  

Pics 4 & 5 ---Individual shots of the respective stems.

A different colour on each stem from the one Trillium plant is something i've never come across before.............

(I've posted this on the NARGS Forum for comment as well).

Cheers Dave.

Thatis an interesting phenomenon. I have never seen anything like it. If I may speculate: The colour develops relatively late in the development of the flower. Perhaps something was disturbing the light one during that process?  Or it could be a mutation in that particular bud. In that case some of the seedlings would carry over the trait. I hope you get seeds - and that they germinate - and that we remenber this when the first flowers develop. 
Cheers
Göte
 

[kiwi]

Outstanding Dave, beautiful photo and plant.
Please can I have one in Yellow and Black? 

[t00lie]

Outstanding Dave, beautiful photo and plant.
Please can I have one in Yellow and Black?  

Hello Doug
Thanks for your comments --Your name is at the top of the list bud !
 

[/quote]
Thatis an interesting phenomenon. I have never seen anything like it. If I may speculate: The colour develops relatively late in the development of the flower. Perhaps something was disturbing the light one during that process?  Or it could be a mutation in that particular bud. In that case some of the seedlings would carry over the trait. I hope you get seeds - and that they germinate - and that we remenber this when the first flowers develop.  
Cheers
Göte
  
[/quote]

Gote
 I wonder if the possible mutation you mention has some connection to this 'sick albino budgie' that was growing in close proximity (within a metre),last year .


Cheers Dave

[t00lie]

Close up.

[Lesley Cox]

That's quite disgusting Dave but I bet someone would pay a fortune for it.

[TheOnionMan]

That's quite disgusting Dave but I bet someone would pay a fortune for it.

Disgusting?

[Lesley Cox]

Oh dear, here we go again but Dave knows me very well and will reply in kind if he thinks I'm out of order.

[t00lie]

That's quite disgusting Dave but I bet someone would pay a fortune for it.

I have to agree with you Lesley --not the most attractive T. i've ever grown.
    
Mark are you really lusting after it ? if that is the case then i'm open to all offers above a minimum of six figures of course--i'll start the ball rolling $000,001