Erythronium 2009

[Anthony Darby]

Here is Erythronium grandiflorum with brown anthers just starting to flower here. I certainly think it is worthy of a place in the garden.
Susan

I would certainly agree Susan. Very striking.

I have Erythronium sibericum 'Olja' just coming out, but the flower opened before it had cleared the leaves and the lovely pale pink flowers are not looking good.

[Calvin Becker]

These Erythronium are amazing! I wish they were available in South Africa! Anybody willing to part with some seed when the time is right?

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Susan,
this Erythronium grandiflorum is very nice, i have no luck with this species.
Here some Erythronium from my garden:
Ery. dens-canis 'Lilac Wonder'
 ''         ''          Mix several seedlings
 ''         ''          bed with some forms

Very impressive line-up Dirk !   
Almost like a commercial operation !

[Otto Fauser]

Maggi and Ian -I had the same or similar hybrid appearing in my garden ,and as
you mention ,it clumps up nicely.
     ciao Otto.

[mark smyth]

Here's a strange Erythronium in Harold McBrides garden.

Ian Y you must come back next April at this time to see Bob's, Harold's and Margaret G's Erythroniums.

[Gerry Webster]

Mark - that looks like a confused E. revolutum which thinks it is a tulip. There are a few tulips which think they are erythroniums - all being well I'll post one in a few days time.

[Ed Alverson]

Erythronium hybrid

This is a vigorous form which increases vegetatively quite fast. I would hazard a guess that  the parents are E. revolutum & E. californicum ‘White Beauty’, the flower colour & the divided style coming from the former & the vigour & the fairly slender filaments (compared with E. revolutum) from the latter. The fairly unexciting leaves are also reminiscent of ‘White Beauty’.

I will concur with the parentage.  And, while theoretically the white flowered parent could be E. multiscapoideum or E. citrinum, "White Beauty" would seem a more likely to have been growing in a garden near E. revolutum.

On a related topic - a photo of Erythronium revolutum was on the front page of our local newspaper today - see
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/11326580-41/story.csp (you may need to click on the tab that says "photo" to actually see the photograph).

Ed


Ed

[Gerry Webster]

Ed - thanks for the comment.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Here's my Erythronium multiscapoideum cliftonii + a close up enjoying yesterday's sunshine. 

Second is E. sibericum - last year it flowered underground... - this year the cold Winter seems to have encouraged it to do just a little bit better... but still far away from perfect... 

[Gerry Webster]

Luc - that Erythronium multiscapoideum cliftonii is very nice, a really handsome plant. I've never tried E. sibericum mainly because I've read that it needs very cold winters to perform properly.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Luc - that Erythronium multiscapoideum cliftonii is very nice, a really handsome plant. I've never tried E. sibericum mainly because I've read that it needs very cold winters to perform properly.

Thanks Gerry - I love it too.
I read the same story about the E. sibericum... but I had to find out the hard way.... 

[Ed Alverson]

We have had warm dry weather for the past few days, which is really helps the erythroniums to look their best.  On Monday I visited the Hendricks Park Rhododendron Garden in Eugene, where Erythronium revolutum has been planted extensively, because it is more tolerant than other species of the summer irrigation that the rhododendrons are given.

Imagine walking down a garden path on a warm spring day.  Along the path is a bench that provides a resting spot, and provides a glimpse of what lies beyond...




click the pix to enlarge

[Ed Alverson]

I had mentioned earlier in this thread my speculation that the plants in this garden originated from some named cultivar, possibly Carl Purdy's "Pink Beauty".  One piece of evidence that would suggest this is the fact that plants of E. revolutum in my garden that I have grown from wild collected seed from the nearest part of E. revolutum's natural range (near the coast, about 50 miles west of Eugene), have not yet started blooming.  This suggests to me that the Hendricks park plants originated from a more southerly latitude and thus are genetically programmed to flower earlier.

But these plants have reproduced prolifically over the years, so whatever is now there is many generations removed from any original cultivar.  In the first photo, you can see how a patch is spreading downhill toward the camera - if you look closely you can see dozens of grass-like first year seedlings.  Yet, there are many clumps of E. revolutum here that appear to me to be increasing from offsets.  Here is one such form with especially dark leaf mottling.

click the pix to enlarge

[Ed Alverson]

Yesterday (Tuesday) I went for a hike to a local natural area, Mt. Pisgah.  Erythronium oregonum grows naturally here, and I found them in full bloom.  They seem to be blooming especially prolifically this year. 

Some of the flowers have especially colorful markings at the inner base of the tepals.  Most of the plants fit the description of E. oregonum ssp. oregonum, but this site is in a transition zone between subspecies, and plants on the right side of the last photo have the cream to sulphur colored tepals that is typical of ssp. leucandrum.  The anthers and pollen are yellow rather than white or cream however.  But I would think this degree of "intergradation" would be considered appropriate for subspecies at a zone of transition.

click the pix to enlarge

[Tony Willis]

Ed those are just wonderful.Fantastic pictures of them