Erythronium in 2010

Forums: 
Bulbs

One of my favourite spring bulbs are the Erythronium. I don't have many selections yet but in time hope to add more. The first one opened today...E. dens-canis. I have loads of these, all originated from one bulb which, unfortunately, was a poor bloomer. I literally have hundreds but only one single bloom! Thankfully the foliage is attractive.

Comments

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Mon, 04/12/2010 - 6:35pm

Wow, how long did it take to spread like that?  I planted a couple of bulbs (corms?? -whatever they are) of E. dens-canis 10-12 years ago, and still only have 2 small clumps!  And they only started blooming in 2008!

Rather mysteriously last year, some erythroniums (seedlings of E. dens-canis, seemingly) also showed up about 15' away from the original plants.  Can't remember and don't have any records of planting any others, so I wonder if they are making up for lost time?

Snowing here now, as predicted - oh well, we can use the moisture.  :-\

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Mon, 04/12/2010 - 11:47pm

My experience is they flower well and bulk up for a couple of years then start to deteriorate and divide and get smaller and smaller and then disappear. Except the yellow-flowered, they keep going.
Only flower buds now, no flowers open yet.

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Tue, 04/13/2010 - 4:41am

Lori, E. dens-canis multiplies like crazy for me, at least this form.  I have moved them all over the garden trying to find a spot where they will bloom.  Hasn't happened yet! I even have 4 clumps at the BG, and they won't bloom either.  I think I simply got a bad clone of shy-bloomers.  I did get a white form from Ruksans 2 years ago but I don't see it this year :(

Trond, the yellow one that is most consistent for me is Pagoda.  Mine are only 3-4" tall yet.  I'd love to grow E. glacialis but they are reticent to grow away from their mountain homes.  Lori, why not post some drifts of them you saw in the Rockies.  They are stunning!

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Tue, 04/13/2010 - 12:34pm

A wondering for everyone: for the reluctant blooming Erythroniums, could it be something lacking in the soil that contributes? (K, P, Fe, etc.)  If you've got so many to work with, Todd, it would be an interesting experiment for us all.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Tue, 04/13/2010 - 1:11pm
RickR wrote:

I assume anything in the family LILIACEAE would be bulbous.  Correct?

I think some of the Liliaceae have rhizomes, Clintonia for example.

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Wed, 04/14/2010 - 8:05pm

I sit here corrected and befuddled.  For some reason I had thought that such genera as Clintonia and Uvularia were more distantly related TO Lilium for example, like in the rank of order rather than family.  I am befuddled because of the lack of uniformity among web sites.  Flora of North America has them and so many other genera under one family - Liliaceae.

RHS uses a system that breaks down the myriad of genera in that Liliaceae into many different families - CONVALLARIACEAE, ALIACEAE, AMARYLLIDACEAE, LILIACEAE, ETC.

Oh my

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Thu, 04/15/2010 - 4:48am

With all the recent changes in the family Liliaceae, our one-time 13 members is now reduced to just 1!  The rest have been moved to Alliaceae, Colchicaceae, Convallaririaceae, Melanthiaceae and Tofieldiaceae.

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sat, 04/17/2010 - 12:46pm

Erythronium dens-canis is open today.  This is one of the two little verrrry slow-growing clumps. A couple of buds got knocked off the other plant - a minor tragedy when there were only 6 buds to begin with.  :-\

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Sat, 04/17/2010 - 4:28pm

I would be happy if mine were slow yet flowered!  I noticed today that one isolated clump in my garden actually has 4 buds...that will be the most I've ever had bloom!

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sun, 04/25/2010 - 3:22am

Here's one of mine. Don't know the name, maybe one I have grown from seed. Not flowering yet but soon... meanwhile can I enjoy the leaves!

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sun, 04/25/2010 - 8:53am

That is amazing foliage, Trond!  Does anyone know the species?

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Sun, 04/25/2010 - 3:07pm

based on the lateness of blooming and dark foliage and 2-bifoliate appearance, I'd tend to say its either californicum (white) or revolutum (white or pink).

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 4:53am

I don't regard the timing as being particularly late, since Trond is in Norway.... I'd incline towards E. revolutum .... that bud promises "pink" to me! :D

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 1:37pm
IMYoung wrote:

I don't regard the timing as being particularly late, since Trond is in Norway.... I'd incline towards E. revolutum .... that bud promises "pink" to me! :D

Pink to me too! I'll show you when the flowers open but things go extremely slowly here now. Think the spring will last to fall.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sun, 05/09/2010 - 1:32pm

My slugs devouring all the nicest plants let the Erythroniums alone. I have some plants but try to increase the stock every year. This one is started from seed - should be E. sibiricum. Maybe it is correct - a white flowered selection?

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Fri, 05/14/2010 - 5:35am

I have never seen a white sibericum but I guess they must exist.  The foliage should be plain green and somewhat glaucous on a real sibericum...I seem to recall the markings on the inside of the flower were also diagnostic, according to images I saw from Finn Haugli...Finn gave me seeds of sibericum but while they get larger each year, they have yet to reach flowering size.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Fri, 05/14/2010 - 1:03pm
Todd wrote:

I have never seen a white sibericum but I guess they must exist.  The foliage should be plain green and somewhat glaucous on a real sibericum...I seem to recall the markings on the inside of the flower were also diagnostic, according to images I saw from Finn Haugli...Finn gave me seeds of sibericum but while they get larger each year, they have yet to reach flowering size.

Yes, I think the flower has those marking but I'll check when back home.

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Thu, 05/20/2010 - 4:57pm

The flower is really small!  I have White Beauty just opened today....it is a californicum hybrid I believe...looks like yours but my flowers are at least 3 times larger.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Fri, 05/21/2010 - 12:30am

When you mention White Beauty I remember that I have planted some of that cultivar but this species has always been small flowered. Maybe it is competition from the peony.

Reed's picture

Reed (not verified)

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 11:57am

Your unknown Erythronium looks a lot like a young Erythronium oregonum even with how long the stamens are and with the markings inside the flower. I don't pay attention to the size of the flower for a few years as my Erythronium seedlings generally have smaller flowers for the first and sometimes second year they flower from seed. E. oregonum and californicum cross in the wild easy so there are variants and they become very hard to distinguish another problem I find is suppliers of the bulbs interchange the name on the two plants depending on the nursery.

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 3:08am
Hoy wrote:

The color of the unknown species is not red! Take a look: Californicum?

Can't believe I missed this all those months ago!

It's a californicum, it was just kidding us with that pink bud!

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 3:11am
Hoy wrote:

My slugs devouring all the nicest plants let the Erythroniums alone. I have some plants but try to increase the stock every year. This one is started from seed - should be E. sibiricum. Maybe it is correct - a white flowered selection?

White sibericum do exist, they are very lovely. See Ian Young's Bulb Logs for pix. http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=bulb

That plant is not a sibericum... I'd think it's an E. oregonum.

Maggi Y.

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 4:55am
IMYoung wrote:

This one is started from seed - should be E. sibiricum. Maybe it is correct - a white flowered selection?

White sibericum do exist, they are very lovely. See Ian Young's Bulb Logs for pix. http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=bulb

That plant is not a sibericum... I'd think it's an E. oregonum.

Maggi Y.
[/quote]

Edit: as it happens, Ian has just loaded this week's Bulb Log Diary to the SRGC site and it  contains quite a lot of Erythronium photos, particularly E. sibericum... and the white form, known as E. sibericum subsp. altaicum....

http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2011Apr061302090756BULB_LOG__1411.pdf

MY.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 11:35am

Thank you all for contributing to name my Erythroniums :) (Now I know where to look if I loose the names later ;D)
Maggi, do all those Erythroniums flower now concurrently in your garden? What a sight it must be!

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Thu, 04/07/2011 - 7:35am

They are pretty much all coming out right now, Trond... in a week or so it'll be their full season peak. 8)

We love them. Well, I love them... Ian is OBSESSED ;D ;D :D

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Thu, 04/07/2011 - 12:45pm

Seems that both of you make good jobs anyway ;D
I plant my plants and wish them good luck, but you tend them, I am sure!