Another List

Seed started this year:

Allium haematochiton NN

Aquilegia eximia G

Aquilegia formosa G

Calochortus argillosus BW

Calochortus plummerae BW

Calochortus superbus G

Calochortus umbellatus G

Calochortus vestae BW

Calochortus weedii var. weedii BW

Coming up (PBX 294 via NN; I've pasted in Ron's original descriptions from old NNS lists):

Calochortus bruneaunis [NNS 05-122] Sweetwater Mtns., Mono Co., CA. 8350' (Y) This, like many populations at higher elevations, has pale purple and tan shadings on the outer surface of the pertals. Coarse granitic soils. Mountain mahogany/pinyon pine/antelope brush community.

Calochortus striatus [NNS 05-157] Antelope Valley, Los Angeles Co., CA. 2300' (N) Mojave Desert, Los Angeles Co., CA. 2300'. 40 seeds $4.00. 75 seeds $7.00. A mariposa lily closely related to CC. palmeri and splendens. Here the conditions may be moist in late winter/early spring, but by flowering the alkaline clay flats have become dried and impenetrable. The 1&1/2", broadly bowl-shaped, bright rose-violet perianths have fine, red-violet striations, extending almost to the petals edge, and white, wispy hairs, that appear to hover over the inner surface. The large, fat anthers are a bright red-purple. Growing under the protection of small, spiny saltbush shrubs that provide some relief from dessication and grazing.

Calochortus venustus [NNS 04-82] Central Sierra Nevada, Fresno Co., CA. 5640' (Y)

Calochortus venustus [NNS 05-171] San Emigdio Mtns., Kern Co., CA. 6000' (Y) Flowers here are a stunning dark red to dark reddish purple with a velvety plush texture to the petals. Several have yellow streaking around the gland and at the edges. The outside is pearly white with red-violet markings/striations varying in degree from flower to flower. So far this is the only site where I have found this red-colored form. Edges of Jeffrey pine woodland with sparse grasses and sagebrush. Fine gritty granitic soil.

Fritillaria affinis - wild collected, Ukiah, CA - (W)

Another List

Bulbs from seed sown 2007-2008 that survived long enough to get repotted this year.

*=already rooting out before first rain on 9/23

Allium amplectens*

Babiana ringens AA

Babiana villosa

Calochortus catalinae

Calochortus dunnii*

Calochortus kennedyi

Calochortus umbellatus

3 mystery Calochortus spp.

Freesia refracta

Freesia laxa

Freesia hybrid

Fritillaria eastwoodiae (1)

Fritillaria recurva (1)

Geissorhiza radians AA

Geissorhiza splendidissima

Lachenalia orchioides var. orchioides*

Romulea monadelpha

Romulea sabulosa

Romulea unifolia

Triteleia hyacinthina*

Whoa

Wow, I have actually forgotten how to use blogger. I can't believe they still don't have a table tool! Anyway, I got way too many bulbs this year:

JUNE

Boophone disticha KB

xBoopharyllis (!) KB

Brunsvigia litoralis KB

Cyrtanthus falcatus KB

C. falcatus x (elatus x montanus) KB

JULY

Boophone haemanthoides T

Brunsvigia marginata T

Erythronium oregonum T

Tropaeolum tricolor T

SEPTEMBER

Brunsvigia Gregaria UCBG

NOVEMBER

Ammocharis coranica PBS(JS)

Calochortus venustus BB

Cyclamen peloponnesiacum RH

Cyrtanthus obliquus PBS (JS)

Erythronium 'white beauty' BB

Tecophilaea cyanocrocus BB

Trillium kuryabayashii RH

Maybe someday I'll motivate to list the seeds I started too.

Satiety

All of a sudden, the garden seems full. My strategy all along has just been to buy interesting plants, stick them in somewhere, and see how they did -- and how I liked them. "Design" was something that would work itself out eventually (much to my long-suffering wife's chagrin).

Well, the first of the fall bulbs arrived today, and they (mostly) have to go into the bulb bed -- which you may be able to discern under the California fucshia to the right -- and I'm pretty much out of room.

Sure, I can stick a few more things in a few more borders, particularly if I ever tackle that thuggish pelargonium, but the die is cast. Now I have to start moving things around.

The bulbs:

• Calochortus simulans*
• Calochortus umbellatus
• Corydalis solida 'G. P. Baker'*
• Colchicum cilicicum 'Glory of Heemstede'*
• Crocus cartwrightianus
• Crocus gargaricus
• Crocus pulchellus 'Zephyr'
• Crocus sativus 'Cashmerianus'
• Cyrtanthus elatus x montanus
• Fritillaria affinis 'Wayne Roderick'
• Fritillaria purdyi striata*
• Gladiolus debilis
• Lachenalia aloides var. quadricolor
• Lachenalia liliflora
• Nerine sarniensis var. corusca major
• Tulipa clusiana

* D'oh! Just because you order 'em, doesn't mean you get 'em.

Links

I've never followed Ian Young's SGRC Bulb Log because of its annoying lack of an RSS feed, but Daniel Mosquin reminded me to check it today, and it's worth the effort to remember to check it every week. This time of year it's a little heavy on the Narcissus for my taste, but the Crocus more than make up for it.

Also see Ian's article on Bulbs from seed, which seems, thankfully, very similar to what I'm doing this year.

Daniel's other link, to Paul Spracklin's Adventures in Mexico, is also interesting if you're into Agavaceae.

Update: Paul sent me the links to his first two Mexican excursions, which I was incapable of finding myself. And if you're a serious Agave nut, you're no doubt already aware of the crazy swiss/austrian agavaceae people already.

Now lie in it

The bed is made. Although planting things in it made me happy, I mostly found myself consumed with the kind of self-doubt that plagues the gardener -- or at least this gardener. Too much organic matter for the Calochortus? Gan the Agave attentuata and Leucospermum live together? And why did I buy that agave anyway? It would probably look better in a pot. Why do I so stubbornly refuse to chill the Tulipa linifolia? Ad naus.

Bulbs by their nature inspire these doubts, a leap of faith buried 6 inches under ground (of possibly incorrect composition), although I should probably worry more about seeds. I'll deal with that problem some other day.

[Not to burden with too much information, but the bed is divided into an acidic/sandy half, for the Proteaceae, and a neutral clayey half, for bulbs.

I also was able to remove the last patch of grass, grade out the lawn area, and -- against everyone's better judgment -- reseed it with fescue. It's probably too late to germinate, and even if it does the fear is that it will be overrun with bermuda, but I just didn't have the energy to deal with sod. Especially after an Orwellian trip to the stone yard, where I was informed that it was impossible to buy the pavers that I already bought for the path, and that therefore I can't buy any more of them to finish it.

*

I don't know what it says about me, but I was almost more excited to realize, when reading a book, that the agavaceous plant below, which I have long admired, is probably a Furcraea roezlii (= F. bedinghausii?). The internets make me less sure, though, so if there are any Agavaceae experts out there I'd appreciate confirmation/conjectures. The leaves are distinctly ensiform and minutely toothed, and this one is maybe 12' tall. It gets almost no direct sun.