Bulbmeister.COM - Discussions

[joe]

I'm interested in if anyone has had any luck growing
Sternbergias. When I first moved to Little Rock in around 1980 I noticed a beautiful flowering patch of Sternbergias in my landlords back yard. When I mentioned them he looked quite disgusted. "Oh, those old crocus", he huffed. "I dug those up years ago and threw them in the trash. A couple of bulbs
fell out and now they just bloom to beat it!". I was getting ready to move and he gave me a couple of bulbs to plant at my new house. They were planted in the sun and for three years they never bloomed, so I transplanted them to a shady spot. They were planted in the shade for two years and they never bloomed there. I moved to another house and took the bulbs with me. There they were planted in half sun half shade for ten years and although they put up foilage (and probably still do), they never bloomed again. Elizabeth Lawrence in "The Southern Garden" mentions that the bulb she had that bloomed best was one that ended up unplanted on top of her compost heap. Brent and Becky's Bulb Co. recommends ordering in early June so that you can plant the bulbs right after they have been dug but my bulbs were never in storage for any length of time. Thomas Jefferson supposedly had Sternbergias in his garden. They bloom in the fall and look like a yellow crocus. I just wonder if anyone has bloom in any quantity and what the secret is. It looks like they prefer shallow planting and general abuse! I'm thinking about ordering a dozen bulbs, closing my eyes, throwing two bulbs in front of me, two behind me, two to the left, two to the right, planting one in the sun, one in the shade, and giving a dog (I'll have to borrow one) two to carry off as wild cards. Maybe I'll get at least one blossom.

[W009198]

I bartered some of my company's services for a number of these bulbs and the red Lycoris at a site we were working at. What I can tell you is that they were on a property belonging to a very elderly lady who for all practical purposes didn't do squat as far as care goes. They were planted under decidious trees and every year they would bloom beatiful carpets of yellow. The only water they received was what came from the sky and that's not too much during summer in TX. Absolutely no fert of any kind. The ones I received were planted in the irrigated landscape beds and what blooms have been displayed were pitiful at best although the bulbs have multiplied well from year to year.

My plan next spring after the foilage dies back is dig these unappreciative bulbs and throw them all in one big hole under one of my oak trees and forget about them. The surely can not perform any worse than they have been doing. Oh and the red Lycoris were planted under similiar conditions and were blooming for her but not for me.

[dbarron]

My sternbergias have flowered for the last three years in a summer shady area (under birch tree), but of course it's full sun during most of the vegetative period for the bulb. They enjoy having quite good drainage (not nearly as good a result of having ground level beds as raised).