Scilla 2011

[Armin]

Paddy,
amazing garden. That is a dream
To me it looks like S. biflora.

[Paddy Tobin]

Armin,

Many thanks for the identification, much appreciated.

Of the garden, I can only say that I have shown just a few views of many, many other such scenes. These blue stretches will be followed by the while of our wild garlic - considered a weed here but a lovely plant and edible.

If you ever come to Ireland and can only visit one garden, then this is the one to see. It is the perfectly quintessential Irish garden, the perfect example of a "Robinsonian" garden - in the style of William Robinson. At all seasons it is a joy to visit. Yes, I adore it and visit often even though it is an hour and a half away.

Paddy

[Armin]

Paddy,
I visited Ireland several times in the past but always business related. It is a wunderful green country. But unfortunately I never had time to stay there long enough to visit the botanical highlights. Maybe one day...

[Brian Ellis]

Great pictures of a superb garden Paddy, thanks for sharing them.  I wish it was nearer

[mark smyth]

Thanks Gabriel

[Janis Ruksans]

Usually we are reporting about nice flowers and success, but sometimes I think it would be good to share information about possible problems in garden. Last spring, when Henrik Zetterlund visited my nursery, he spotted out one pot with beautiful and well looking Muscari, with only some black dust (soot) on leaves. He touched the spike and I saw how very fine powder falls out of flowers. So I for the first time saw the fungal disease which Henrik named as Bellevalia & Muscari "flower-soot" which he first  saw  on B. pycnantha about 25 years ago. It doesn't destroy the plant, but makes it sterile as instead of pollens the anthers produce this soot. The black powder on leaves is the single symptom on Muscari. I immediately destroyed this pot and carefully checked all other Muscari - fortunately no one more showed symptoms.

This spring I was surprised seeing one pot of Scilla bithynica with smaller flowers and black anthers. When I touched this - fell off known before from muscari black powder and then I note deformation of petals, too. So carefull checking of all Scillas followed and I found one pot with S. sibirica caucasica with similar symptoms. They all immediately were mowed to fireplace. Unfortunately I maid picture only from bithynica, was so shocked, that didn't pictured caucasica flowers, but symptoms were similar - deformed petals (although of normal size), fat black anthers issuing very fine black powder.

I immediately sprayed all my plantings with combination of Tilt + Carbendazim - so future pictures can be with some whitish spots on leaves. Tilt is against rust. Henrik suppose that it is some phase of rust (rust fungus has 4 different stages and different spores), but I more think that it could be some of little known fungus from Fumago/Capnodium complex, but my knowledge about those pathogens are 40 years old (when I was student). May be someone of you know something about this disease?

I will post the same on Muscari pages, too.

In attached picture infected Scilla bithynica, may be it came with infection from wild as I saw in wild large populations of Fritillaria, Erythronium, juno Iris with heavy infection of rust.

Janis

[Diane Clement]

Janis this is very interesting.  Here is my Scilla sibirica Penza (picture taken in 2006) with the same thing (Janis, they came from you in 2005).   I didn't realise this was a fungus and thought the plant had black pollen.  The plant is still alive (and I think I still have a pot of them) so presumably it can live with the fungus, but I will give it a anti-fungal spray.  HansJ have you still got yours?    

[Janis Ruksans]

Yes, it looks infected. Problem is that PENZA stock has naturally black pollens, but here you can see black powder on leaves and anthers are "fat". I'm growing Penza only outside and never noted something similar, but it is so ordinary plant, that little attention is given. Will check my plants this spring.
Just destroyed one pot with Scilla rosenii Alba which I got last year from Czech Republic - wanted to cross it with my stock of Alba. So it shows that this infection can be much more widespread, but growers simply didn't give attention. Really I noted it on rosenii Alba only for black color of anthers because healthy rosenii alba has yellow anthers. There were no deformation on flower segments.
It seem that this infection really belongs to Ustilago family. There are several species attacking grain crops and many ornamentals, but they were little explored when I was student and now I didn't find any information about them in my literature. So may be some systemic fungicide used for grain crops can help.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

With great help from Suzan, I found (really Suzan found) article about this fungal disease. From that article I made small extract about the subject. As it is just article relating of systematic topic, I added my opinion how to work with it. Fortunately now we have new systemic fungicides used by farmers on grain crops, which may be will work on bulbs, too.
This patogen belongs to the genus Vankya quite recently seperated from Uromyces, which is quite common disease on various grain crops. I suppose that now Uromyces are regarded as patogen of Dycotylodens and fungus infecting monocots (most of bulbs etc.) now is renamed as Vankya. So I think that systemic fungicides used against Uromyces (by old system) can be useable for bulbs, too. Follows extract from original article (VANKYA VAILLANTII (USTILAGINOMYCETES) ON SCILLA IN CENTRAL EUROPE.) Once more - many thanks to Suzan!

Vankya vaillantii (Tul. & C. Tul.) Ershad (Urocystales,
Ustilaginomycetes) is a parasitic fungus
affecting members of the genera Albuca, Bellevalia,
Chionodoxa, Eucomis, Hyacinthus, Muscari,
Puschkinia, Scilla, Urginea and Ornithogalum
pyrenaicum L. worldwide (Vanky 1994). The
fungus systemically infects anthers of host plants.
The anthers are enlarged, olivaceous-brown, with
sori producing a dark olive brown powdery mass
of spores. Distributed in areas with generally
warm climate in the floodplain woods.

Janis

[Maggi Young]

See  http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7016.msg194984#msg194984 for more about the article Janis cites above.

[Afloden]

 Ustilago maydis, the one that attacks corn, makes a delicious edible mushroom considered a delicacy in Central America...

 
 Aaron

[Janis Ruksans]

Few Scillas for today from last week pictures.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Few more scillas
Scilla gortganica WHIR-093
2 pictures of Scilla khorasanica, both from Iran (WHIR-033 and WHIR-039)
One of two Central Asian scillas - S. puschkinioides
Scilla rosenii Alba - perfectly replaces from seeds - no one seedling are of other color.
Janis

[Hans J]

Hi all ,

here are some pics of a unknown Scilla - I have collect this seeds before some years in Northern Spain ( Picos de Europe ) - here now first flowers
When I found it I was thinking it is Scilla hispanica .....but now I'm struggle 
Has maybe anyone a idea

Thanks
Hans

[bulborum]

Scilla lilio hyacinthus