Bulb Log April 4th

[fleurbleue]

 Wonderful Trillium rivale collection Ian  So many patterns, forms and colors !

[mark smyth]

OMG those dark Trilliums are stunning! Well done Ian and Maggi.

[Anthony Darby]

An amazing Bulb Log entry. I need to clone myself to fulfil all my ambitions!

[annew]

I'm a devotee of T. rivale as well, so it is great t see your collection, Ian. I lost most of my seedlings in the winter of 2010-11, so I'm very happy to now have some pots newly germinated to look forward to.
Do you feed your seedlings as you do your bulbs, and how long so they take to flower from seed, on average?

[Ian Y]

Thank you all for your comments Trillium rivale is such a wee beauty that I cannot imagine anyone not liking it.

Anne - I do not always remember to feed the Trillium seedlings and they often stay in the original seed pot until they start to flower. The first flowers can appear the third year after germination.
Regular feeding with a dilute, half recommended strength, potassium rich liquid feed, the type used for tomatoes,  would help as would  re-potting and spacing out the young rhizomes.
When I first started growing from seed all my seed pots were fed and pricked out to shorten the time I had to wait to see flowers now I am more patient or lazy.

I have attached a few more pictures for you all to enjoy.

[Darren]

A splendid bulb log about one of my favourite plants!  The dark forms are lovely.

Given that so many of us in North West England lost plants of this in the winter of 2010/2011 I was a little surprised it seems so hardy for you in Aberdeen. I had large clumps in fishbox troughs and in a covered plunge bed which were almost wiped out, as were all the volunteer seedlings in the plunge. I know of other growers nearby who had the same experience. Thankfully I rescued enough small pieces to start again.

[Ian Y]

Darren

I have always found them perfectly cold hardy - they even survive the worst winter sitting un-plunged in seed pots.

I think as with so many plants it is the moisture levels at the time of the cold that is critical. If they are relatively dry they come through but sitting wet the suffer.

I have lost a fish box full of plants in the past during a wet period but then they succumbed to wet rot.

I was very active in cross pollinating them during the warm weather of last week but the 20degreeC fall in temperature that we have is not exactly conducive to fertilisation.

[Claire Cockcroft]

What a great treat to see the splendid forms of Trillium rivale.  I've grown them from seed for many years and now plant them around the garden just to get them out of pots.  Here in the Pacific Northwest they tolerate our rain and cold without complaint.  They produce copious amounts of seed every year, often coming up in the sand bed on which their pots stand.

I was very happy to learn about your success in dividing them while in bloom. I, too, have tried marking stems and failed to separate different color forms.  As mine in pots are in full flower, I guess I'll go out and tear them apart!

[KenC]

Wonderful Bulb Log!  Always informative and entertaining.  Thank you Ian, for your continued willingness to share your experience with the rest of us.

[Darren]

Darren

I have always found them perfectly cold hardy - they even survive the worst winter sitting un-plunged in seed pots.

I think as with so many plants it is the moisture levels at the time of the cold that is critical. If they are relatively dry they come through but sitting wet the suffer.

I have lost a fish box full of plants in the past during a wet period but then they succumbed to wet rot.

I was very active in cross pollinating them during the warm weather of last week but the 20degreeC fall in temperature that we have is not exactly conducive to fertilisation.

I'd wondered if this might be the case Ian. We often get weeks of torrential rain in late autumn. Encouraging to know that allowing them to dry out a little bit more would help. I'll be more diligent about covering them in future. I remember a forumist expressing surprise at my losing Rhododendron keiskei 'Yaku Fairy' to the cold last year, but another forumist nearby backed me up - it seems the cause was a freeze following an extremely wet period.

[johnw]

I remember a forumist expressing surprise at my losing Rhododendron keiskei 'Yaku Fairy' to the cold last year, but another forumist nearby backed me up - it seems the cause was a freeze following an extremely wet period.

Darren - re: keiskei 'Yaku Fairy'.  The only explanation would be that the drainage was off or it was in too much shade.  Here in Nova Scotia - at least along the coast - people grow it in full sun and as long as the drainage is good it is indestructible.  That goes for the other dwarf and semi-dwarf forms what ever there names be.  The plants have seen every horror imagineable - torrential rains every month of the year, sudden sharp extreme swings, bare soil winter long, buried deep in snow for 4 months one year, droughts and hurricanes.  YF is not so successful in the eastern USA where summers can be hot and humid especially at night for extended periods - that we mercifully don't experience.  It's well worth trying again as it's a gem as you well know.

The cantankerous keiskei is the very tall growing one - to about a metre - also known as the epiphytic form.  Too tender  - drainage must be extreme and +5F is about as low as it can tolerate - for here but just okay in the very much milder extreme south of NS. I have no idea where in Japan it hails from and if it is indeed epiphytic.  Let me dig out Davidian.  Hmm he makes no mention of its locus classicus but does say of the taller one "to be able to grow the taller forms successfully, particularly along the east coast (Scotland I'd assume) and in gardens inland, a well-sheltered position should be provided." Of the very dwarf forms v. cordifolia he says only "very hardy, much hardier than the taller forms".  Now I'll dig out Cox; aha "Yakushima north to Central Japan". The dwarf ones are in Yakushima so the epis must be in the central steam bath.  "On rocks, occasionally as an epiphyte".   "YF is the most dwarf form (aside from Lesley's)  ...the leaves occasionally turn black in cold wet winters."   I don't know what he means by cold there but suspect it's not the kind of cold we are used to, somehow they fare better here - perhaps because our soil freezes for a good part of the winter protecting them from water overload.

Sorry to be so long-winded but I'm trying to avoid repotting 5 Vireyas that are hopelessly pot bound.    

johnw

[Darren]

John,

After the earlier discussion on this I made the decision to replace the soil in that raised bed and it did show some signs of being tired and compacted so this probably tipped the balance. The same may apply to the troughs housing the Trillium - that will be a job for the next few weeks.

[Mavers]

Just caught up again with your bulb log Ian. Each one is so informative together with beautiful photographs.

Mike

[Ian Y]

Thank you Mike - I have just loaded this weeks bulb log.