Lycoris. Progress Report.

Lycoris radiata

 The lycoris radiata leaves are greener.  The lycoris squamigera looks unchanged.  As I would expect.

We've had the first and second frosts.  These leaves look unaffected.

Not much else to do.  Which is just as well.  Feeling sick.

Lycoris squamigera

Lycoris squamigera and Lycoris radiata

Lycoris squamigera (Wikimedia commons)

Lycoris squamigera bulbs

 I think this is the 4th time I've tried to start Lycoris plants.  Prior attempts were not successful.  In some cases, there were leaves for the first one or 2 years, then nothing.  Never a flower.

Old House Gardens had them on close out sale, so I ordered a few of the traditional "Surprise Lily" Lycoris squamigera, and a few of the red Lycoris radiata.

I don't know why I couldn't get them to grow.  Prior instructions may have been incorrect.  In the past, instructions stated bury the bulbs like daffodil bulbs.  These instructions, and some I've seen on the web, state plant them up to their shoulders.

I would like to grow these.  Especially the L. squamigera, which grew easily in my home town, when I was a boy.  My great aunts gave us starts of them, my grandfather had them, and my dad had them.  They multiplied, and they just dug them up, divided them, and planted them in their lawns.

According to the instructions, both varieties resent being moved and may require at least 2 years to bloom.  That's OK with me, if I can just get them to grow.

This time I will try containers.  Sometimes I have luck in containers for plants that don't do well for me in the ground.  Plus, this being so late in the year, they might benefit from being moved inside if a hard freeze is expected.  That should not be a problem for L. squamigera, which grew fine in Illinois, but they have not had time to establish yet.

Lycoris radiata (Wikimedia commons)

Lycoris radiata bulbs

 The flower pictures are edited from WIkimedia commons.

The L. radiata have already out out significant growth.  Planting up to the shoulders, the leaves are above soil surface.  There is no bright sunshine now, so I don't think they will sunburn. 

Planted in containers, Nov 1 2013

Lycoris squamigera istructions

Lycoris radiata instructions

I added mycorhizal inoculant to both sets of bulbs.  I don't know if it will help.  Maybe.

What's growing? What's blooming?

Lycoris radiata leaves remain alive. I thought the freeze might kill them. So far, so good. A small amount of slug damage - need to get out some slug bait.



Hazelnut trees are blooming - I think. The catkins on one are long and green, and the others are shorter and grey. They are supposed to pollenate each other . One is Ennis and other is Butler - I'll have to go out and check the tags next weekend.

Garden Log, Dec. 25 2009

Now we are past the solstice, so the days will start to lengthen. Even so, the coldest days are ahead of us. Today is bright and sunny, frost on the ground, so a new banner is added showing the frost on the candytuft.


View of my home office, from outside. It's great having a green place, with flowers blooming, and where I can look out to the birds in the feeder.

The Rhode Island Reds ('Rhodies') are laying an egg each day. So are the Australorps, which are too shy to photograph, and the Leghorn. We've been giving away a lot of eggs. They are one of the few things from the garden now, so it's great to have a reminder that the yard can still be productive in the Winter.

The Leghorn, having a "private moment" laying her daily egg.

A "Street chicken" during the trip to China in October. I don't know why, I just thought it was fun to take a photo.




The frosted Candytuft. Low, low maintenance- haven't done a thing with it in 6 years.

Helleborus starting to push up flower buds. It's the small things that tell me life continues, and give hope for Spring.

I didn't know if the Lycoris radiata would even survive. Here are the small, striped strap-like leaves. The hard freeze didn't seem to hurt them at all. This is the first time growing this bulb, so I still don't know what to expect. They look rugged, there, still green and standing up in the frozen leaf mulch.

The pond pump is broken, so the top froze over. You can see the koi and comets swimming around under the ice.

October. Bulbs, new plant room, late harvests

As noted earlier, it's been difficult doing gardening, keeping up with the house, working working working, and looking after others. So here we are.

Currently, figs are ripening. During September, Hardy Chicago was very productive, with a few dozen figs. Now it's Petite Negri. Vancouver has a few, but they are getting moldy before they ripen. That did not happen before. Lattarula has a few - the first year ever! They are sweet, also seem to mold slightly on the outside when ripe, but not enough to matter.

I dried some figs, as well as some grapes. They taste so much better when grown at home and dried in a food dehydrator! I had no idea.

Many grapes remain, after eating many pounds of grapes. This has been a productive year for grapes as well.

Lots of apples now. They are pretty much all ripening.

A bedroom (actually junk-room) on the southwest corner of the house will become my home office and plant room. And guest bedroom. It will have a futon/sofa, a desk, and some plant stands in the windows. I added a western window; there is already a large south facing window. I took some photos but the current computer room is too cluttered for me work with them, so they'll have to be added later. I tore out the carpet last year. The floor was badly damaged and had a large plywood patch. I replaced the patch with oak flooring taken from a closet (that is being cannabilized for a bathroom), so it is authentic to the house. I sanded off the remaining finish from the floor, and now have given it 2 coats of polyurethane. It may need a third coat. Then new baseboard, paint the walls. It has a new light fixture already.

Then I can have the cacti and other plants in the south window. I'm trying some orchids, they can go in the shaded west window.

I planted about 100 daffodils and about 100 tulips. They'll help cheer up the winter, when they start poking through the ground in Feb and March.

Most of the tulips were an unspecified tulip mix, but one package, planted under an old cherry tree, looks like this.

Daffodils included:
Bella Estrella (Biltmore collection)

Vanilla Peach (Dutchbulbs.com)

Sunnyside Up (Dutchbulbs.com)

Replete (Dutchbulbs.com) - How did I end up with this one? I don't like "pink" daffodils!

Ice Follies (Dutchbulbs.com)

Ice King (Biltmore Estates)



I also decided to try, once again, to grow some Lycoris.
Lycoris squamigera, photo from wikipedia. In the past, I've made several tries to grow Lycoris squamigera. These were traditional in my family, passed down through generations in the midwest. There, they were called "surprise lilies", and since I've heard them called "naked ladies" and "resurrection lilies". The leaaves grow in the Spring, then die off. In late Summer, the flower stems grow and bloom within a few days. I would love to have some. I've tried growing them here in the Northwest, without success. Internet research suggests that I'm planting them too deep. Most instructions state they should be 6 inches deep, but those seem to be based on the 'generic' bulb size. I found other instructions stating that they should only be covered up to their shoulders. So I'll give it a try. I also added a red variety, not the traditional family variety, Lycoris radiata, and a yellow one, Lycoris aurea.

Lycoris aurea, photo from wikipedia.

These have a different growth pattern, I think but the labels are contradictory.
Lycoris Radiata, photo from wikipedia. The L. radiata already has small leaves. We'll see what they do this fall and winter.

That's about all for now. I hope to get this blog going better once the home office is completed.