Growing bulbs in hot climates

[Michael]

Greetings

My name Michael and i´m 20 y old. I live at Madeira island. At age of 7, i received a book about hardy garden plants. In that book there was a section regarding bulbous plants. Since that time i always wanted to grow some famous ones, but i never ever had seen a tulip in my life! And i also like Crocus, Galanthus, Dicentra, Fritilaria, Eranthis, Narcissus, Heleborus... But i can´t find those, not even at flower shops. I know that on most parts of Europe they are very common...

It is possible to grow any species/hybrids of these plants in a climate with +8ºc as a minimum winter temperature? I am particularly interested in Fritillaria imperialis and meleagris. Do plants die with such mild winter?
Thanks for any help!

Michael

[tonyg]

Welcome Michael
I do not have any definite suggestions for you but perhaps you should look at the native flora on the nearest mainland, especially coastal wild flowers.  This might guide you to plants most likely to succeed.  Many of the autumn flowering crocus come from lowland mediterranean areas, while romulea, sometimes called 'sand crocus' would be possibilities.  Have you considered South African bulbs?  Some of these might be suited and there are some forum members with knowledge of these who could advise.
Good luck in your quest!

[Michael]

In our flora, there is only one bulbous plant that occurs in my island: Scilla maderensis. I grow that one, but it is not as impressive as the others i mentioned.
Tony, can you give me the name of those autumn-flowering crocus? I would like to have a look on Google!
Southafrican plants are also gorgeous, but they are even harder to find here!

[Martin Baxendale]

HEY!!! I like that moving avatar!! I want one too. How do you do that? Can you just upload a short video clip of you , say grinning and winking, or raising a glass to fellow forumers, as your forum photo instead of a still pic? Maggi, tell me how Michael's done that, pleeeeeese!!! It's FUN!!!

[Martin Baxendale]

Or has michael just added an effect to his avatar? Whichever, there are possibilities there! Still be interested to know how it's done and what other possibilities there might be.

[tonyg]

Autumn crocus from the med:  Cc goulimyi, laevigatus, hadriaticus, longiflorus, tournefortii, boryi .... I could go on ... and on.  There are also some from regions with hot dry summers but some of these will also experience cold winters.  Mike try looking through my web-site (address at the bottom of each post), it has some information on every known crocus species.  You can make your own list there and research the ones that interest you further.

Someone needs to put Martin out of his misery .... He'll never get to sleep with this avatar thing buzzing round

[Joakim B]

Mike
Nice to see more people from Portugal here.
I am not Portuguese but I have been here in Portugal on and off and my kids are half Portuguese.
If You are OK with growing hybrids there is actually a great deal in the supermarkets right now.
Lidl had nice tulips and narcissus but I think that the Galanthus are most likely small narcissus.
Continente have Fritalia imperialis both rubra and the orange one. They also have tulips iris and crucus.
I have even bought bulbs at Pingo Doce but did not see any now.

Try to find crocsmia I think they grow very well in Portugal so I think that this South African bulb is cheap and easy to obtain.

Now is the time to buy bulbs since they keep the bulbs untill they are so dry that there is no life left in them and then they keep it for some more time without lowering the price.
In Funchal there is amarylis (south african type) in the upper floor of the fish/fruit/flower/plant market Mercado Municipal) 

Not all of these are "hardy bulbs" but they do fine in Madeira I think.

Hope You find these plants as well as the more tricky to find.

Kind regards
Joakim

[tonyg]

Crocus serotinus grows in Spain and Portugal - might be possible with you too.

[Carlo]

Michael,

Welcome to the forum! It's good to know someone from Madeira is here (I'm working on Geranium madeirense and its alba form)...

You should find lots of wonderful bulbs to fit your climate. Many will be available through the mails and internet. I understand that trade WITHIN the EU is relatively easy to accomplish.

I am visiting Portugal and Spain in a few weeks for Iberflora (Valencia). I've been to Portugal and the Azores before, but never Madeira. Perhaps you can tell us a little about your native flora and the conditions you face trying to garden on the island. There appear to be many wonderful public/private gardens there that deserve to be better known...

Carlo

[Carlo]

Almost forgot...one that you should try is tiny little Narcissus wilkommii, a native of the Algarve. I'm trying it again for the second time this fall.

[Lesley Cox]

And in the meantime - have some Madeira, m'dear.

[mark smyth]

Hello Mike!

Martin it's not real rain but I'm sure you know that anyway

[Michael]

Hi All

HEY!!! I like that moving avatar!! I want one too. How do you do that? Can you just upload a short video clip of you , say grinning and winking, or raising a glass to fellow forumers, as your forum photo instead of a still pic? Maggi, tell me how Michael's done that, pleeeeeese!!! It's FUN!!!

Martin, if you want i can make an avatar of those for you. Can you give me some photos? I´ll make a slideshow . You just need to tell me the velocity and that's all! Then I´ll send the file for you

Autumn crocus from the med:  Cc goulimyi, laevigatus, hadriaticus, longiflorus, tournefortii, boryi .... I could go on ...

Tony, i had googled the names and I like them all. Very nice contrasting pistils they have ! I will have a look on your website very soon, and then i´ll say something

Mike
Nice to see more people from Portugal here.
I am not Portuguese but I have been here in Portugal on and off and my kids are half Portuguese.
If You are OK with growing hybrids there is actually a great deal in the supermarkets right now.
Lidl had nice tulips and narcissus but I think that the Galanthus are most likely small narcissus.
Continente have Fritalia imperialis both rubra and the orange one. They also have tulips iris and crucus.
I have even bought bulbs at Pingo Doce but did not see any now.

Hello Joakim!
I'ts good to know you! Here in Madeira, we don't have Lidl and Continente. But i will have a look at Pingo Doce And hope that i can find some goodies! Regarding the Amarylis and Crocosmia, i grow some, i forgot to mention that earlier, sorry for that. I also have Scadoxus puniceus and Freesia, that's all. I always look for new types of plants at flower shops, but without luck. And what kind of pçants do you like and grow Joakim?

I'm working on Geranium madeirense and its alba form...

You should find lots of wonderful bulbs to fit your climate. Many will be available through the mails and internet. I understand that trade WITHIN the EU is relatively easy to accomplish.

Hello Carlo.
Wow that's very cool! I never saw a G. maderense albino! Do you have any pictures of one?
The reason why i discovered this wonderfull forum, is because i was making a search about Fritillaria species and found a post regarding their cultural problems on the the other ancient forum. And i am going to receive next week 5 little bulbs of F. meleagris (it is my first plant swap, so i hope everything goes fine. If it works, i hope i can swap more, even with people from here!). I barely can't wait untill i receive them! If anyone grows it, i would like to hear from your experience!

I've been to Portugal and the Azores before, but never Madeira. Perhaps you can tell us a little about your native flora and the conditions you face trying to garden on the island. There appear to be many wonderful public/private gardens there that deserve to be better known...

Well Madeira gardens are nice, with loads of plants and many people that come from other countries (especially the northen ones) like our gardens and climate a lot. But of my personal opinion, i find our gardens very monotonous... They are in flower most of the year, and that is the main reason why i say they are monotonous. I prefer the european gardens, where in spring you have loads and loads of flowers, covering the ground and fill everything, then on autumn you have the colours of the leaves (here some deciduous plants also shed theirs, but they dont get as red or yellow and the leaves don´t fall together, which means you have a blend of colours, instead of having a nice homogenic colour.) And on winter you have a silver coat of snow! I love snow! I think we always like and want what we can't have... And i prefer a garden that is constantly changing with the weather than one that is always the same. You get tired of it fast. I hope you understand my opinion...

Almost forgot...one that you should try is tiny little Narcissus wilkommii, a native of the Algarve. I'm trying it again for the second time this fall.

I will ask a friend of mine who lives there, to see if he knows and has that beauty! Thanks!

And in the meantime - have some Madeira, m'dear.

Yes i also agree! 

Hello Mike!

Martin it's not real rain but I'm sure you know that anyway

Lol 

Thanks for the replies and regards to all
M

[Martin Baxendale]

Martin it's not real rain but I'm sure you know that anyway

Yes Mark, after my initial excitement I guessed it was just a rain 'effect'. Of course, technically there's no reason why a forum couldn't be designed to have moving avatars, and it'd be way cool! But quite possibly would require a lot of computing and memory resources. For anyone who's seen the Harry Potter films (i.e. anyone who has small kids) it brought to mind those (magical) moving pictures in the newspapers and photo-frames that they have in the films.

[Martin Baxendale]

Maggi should add that rain effect to her avatar pic of her in the cagool with her hood up!