April
2005
Well,
the first set of these that I have in my yard came up SUPER
early this year. (This is what
happens to plants in Southern CA. There are no rules.) I
think they were in full bloom by the end of March, first
week of April at the latest. Well, except for the one those
stupid slugs and/or snails ate! I was floored. Just as I
noticed the one big stalk coming up I also saw that the entire
flower head was completely chomped off! So if you grow these,
be aware that they are favorite snail food! But once I put
down the Escar-go, the second one made it up unscathed, with
four beautiful flower heads on a single stalk. The other
set should bloom in a couple of weeks, as they are in a part
of the yard that is just starting to get more sun now that
the days are growing longer. BELIEVE me I will keep an eye
on them, and now that more weeds are pulled after our big
rains made the weeds go nuts, what I call "slug breeding
ground" has been sharply reduced, so hopefully that will
help this problem...
June
2004
When
I saw Peruvian Daffodil (also called Ismene or Spider Lily)
pictured in a catalog, I was tripped out by its appearance.
So I ordered some in yellow, some in white. Come to think
of it, the yellow ones never came up. But the white ones
have made an appearance for the last two years now, with
this year's blooms exceeding the number from last year I
think. The spidery blooms of this plant have a light fragrance
and are white, with a faint green stripe in its throat. It
may put up two to five clusters of flowers. The blooms do
not last that long, but they are very cool to look at while
they do.
Again,
because I live in So. CA I don't have to dig this bulb up
for the winter or anything like that, which make sme happy.
I probably wouldn't grop stuff like this if I couldn't be
lazy about it. But as it, I just leave the bulbs in there
and at the right time, the leaves just start to explode,
then the flowers literally seem to appear overnight. It's
bizarre. Some flowers you can track the buds forming as they
are about to bloom but with this one, it's always like you
see the stalk and then the next time you look--poof! Full-on
flower!
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