Trillium 2013

[Afloden]

Also, in the lab I am part of we are working on a phyllogeny of subgenus Phyllantherum which started as a project to name a new, very local endemic from Tennessee (see above post for image), then a few nomenclatural issues arose with the Ruby Falls Trillium coming out sister to maculatum and lancifolium/lanceolatum. Last weeks work should sort out those issues, but leaves the western NA material up in the air. I noticed that the new Jepson manual lumps kurabayashii and angustipetalum. Sadly, we lack many of the western species with provenance. We do have parviflorum and albidum, but are looking for more still. Someone has said they will send material for us to include.....

[Peppa]

T. rivale is getting to the end of it's flowering in the PNW, USA, but some other trillium are blooming now with still more to come!

Two different forms of T. rivale a couple of weeks ago.


T. pusillum with Pulsatilla vulgaris in the background.


T. ovatum


T. kamtschaticum


I have no idea which Trillium these are... I inherited them from my mother-in-law and they have been growing in my garden for long time.

[Rimmer de Vries]

Probably T. cuneatum

I have no idea which Trillium these are... I inherited them from my mother-in-law and they have been growing in my garden for long time.

[Peppa]

Thanks, Rimmer, for suggesting a possibility! It's hard to find out what it actually is because she didn't even remember where she got it. 

[Rimmer de Vries]

Thanks, Rimmer, for suggesting a possibility! It's hard to find out what it actually is because she didn't even remember where she got it. 

Please post a picture when in full bloom

Rimmer

[Helen Johnstone]

I have trillium germinating, should I leave them be for a year and then prick out next year?  Any advice would be welcome

[Maggi Young]

I would certainly leave them be, for now,  Helen.  If at the end of the season they have grown well and are looking a bit crowded, then I would pot them on, en masse, to a bigger pot.

We almost always lave seedlings of bulb, corms, tubers, rhizomes, in their seed pots for as long as possible. If we have a lot of seed we sow in polystyrene  fish box troughs and leave them there till they get to flowering size. Potting seedlings on, in their seedpot clumps, into  a larger pot, doing ts for a copule of years or so, is easier for us, does less damage to the babies and generally proves very effective for lots of growers we know.
In future years you can give them a little feed of sulphate of potash during the period of maximum growth and they'll be flowering size in no time!

[Helen Johnstone]

Thanks Maggie

I have noticed that this seems to be the practice amongst a lot of alpine growers which makes sense given how small the seedlings are.  However, it seems to go against the horticultural advice that we, as gardeners, have drummed into us - as soon as the first two leaves appear prick them out.  Its a pity that horticultural/media advice is so black and white rather than acknowledging that different practice works for different types of plants. 

I also like this approach as it means I dont have to worry about accommodating vast arrays of seedlings all pricked out into module trays or pots 

[Maggi Young]

I think the constant advice to "prick out as soon as the seedlings have leaves large enough to handle" arises from a couple of points.
If one is a nurseryman, then one wants plants sorted  individually as soon as possible to be able to grow them on more easily to a sale-able size - and this is very much applicable to most vegetables too.  There are plants, often those developing tap roots,which do appreciate early pricking out, to allow them to grow their tap root with as little onward disturbance as possible. And anyone leaving a potful of Tropaeolum seedlings to their own devices for any length of time will end up with a hopeless tangle of growth that may never be undone !
But for most true bulbs it is easier to grow them on as I have described.

Great bulb growers like the late (and sorely missed) Jack Brownless used to go one step further - he did not scatter bulb seed in a pot, he used to advocate poking a finger down  into the potting mix and just dropping all the seed into that hole! He then potted on en masse in future years.
It was a system that worked well for him too. 

[annew]

I've just pricked out some fern sporelings that were sown in a 2" pot in 2006, put in a plastic bag and not touched since then! Very accommodating.

[Roma]

Trillium rivale

[Mike Ireland]

Trillium rivale finally flowers in the garden.

[Roma]

That,s a beauty, Mike.  Mine has a long way to go before it's that size

[Garden Prince]

Beautiful clump of Trillium rivale! How old is it?

[KentGardener]

This Trillium  kurabayashii put a big smile on my face earlier today.