Lilies - Part I ---Early bloomers

                                                                    Anonymous  hybrid

                                                  Anon.  beauty from Big Box   "Maud"

Lily  Delirium. Got totally carried away with lilies this year when a bag of 10 lilies for $9.99 from one of the big box stores turned out to be amazingly easy to grow. Now have been bitten by the lily passion, which is possibly incurable. Fortunatelyy Lilies are a commercial crop in this area which means they are not too demanding .

 It was the  lily with the wine-colored  (Maud) pattern that really hooked me--it smells both spicy and sweet like a poet's dream* of Ideal Woman. It got the sweet scent  from an Trumpet ancestor and the spicy from an Oriental.
Culture was very simple. All 10 are happily growing in a north facing raised bed which gets morning sun and a little weak late afternoon sun. Only thing I really knew about growing lilies was "keep the roots cool, but be sure they have good drainage "

BoBo

Lilies were heavily mulched with rabbit litter from the admirable BoBo San . Ran a soaker hose around the lot. Watered rarely.

Soon punch drunk trying to sort out  lily types --- decided the only way to sort them out was by the blooming season.The species and hybrids are entangled beyond the reach of reason. Sooooo....

Early Bloomers- in So Cal depends a lot on the lily itself as some appear in 90 days, most take a little longer. Mine were planted late (Jan) and began blooming in late June

Asiatic lilies bloom first--generally.Plant them in the fall for earliest flowers.
 They look like this in  in all colors. Upward facing. Often scentless . Undemanding. These are the lilies to grow if you are allergic to scent.There's  a group called LA hybrids that bloom a little later.

Asiatic lilies

LA hybrid, Bright Diamond

Then comes the Turk's Cap lily (L. Martagon)  native to the Balkans, all the way to Russia. There's also a native Turk's Cap indigenous to Connecticut.

                                                                           Lilium Martagon

      Native -. Turk's Cap,  L. superbum
                                                                                  
What's confusing about these lilies is that they so closely resemble the famous Tiger Lily (L. lanciflolium) which comes from the Far East.It however, blooms later.The native lily has a green throat.

Mid- Spring "Easter Lilies", Madonna lilies (L. candidum) is a lily whose artistic history may  outrun its performance in SoCal. . L. candidum is subject to virus.On the other hand, it's tough and drought resistant, but lacks the sumptuous quality of the later hybrids.. It was popular in paintings of the Virgin Mary during the High renaissance.

                                                           L. candidum

Sebastiano Mairardi 16th c.

Next to bloom* are hybrids between Asiatics and L longiflorum ..Asiatic lilies have been successfully hybridized and there are numberless hybrids. Lilies are not difficult to hybridize and can be grown from seed. **

 Trumpet lilies                              Lily longiflorum and it's hybrids

This is the one you see sold at Easter in pots at the grocery store. Bring one home and plant it. it'll do fine if you give it the right  conditions. They multiply easily. This lily is also called Bermuda Lily as it was once a big commercial crop on the island.  Longiflorum actually comes from the mountains of Japan  and was collected by "Chinese "  (E.H. ) Wilson c. 1904 and sent back to Kew. This lily and its hybrids are "florist's lilies" and grown in hothouses in other parts of the world. It can flower in 6 months from seed. Even in SoCal you'd have to start it indoors to accomplish that.It's "forced" for Easter

Trumpet lilies
Lilium regale

                              Wilson's L. regale
Wilson was another of the plant explorers whose determination and daring brought plant materials from China at a time when the Chinese were enraged  (after the Opium Wars) and not allowing foreigners to roam around in  China at all. Both Wilson and the legendary Robert Fortune disguised themselves as Chinese merchants in order to penetrate the country markets where each successfully obtained an astonishing variety of plant materials, lilies among them. What is most remarkable of all in this is neither man looked at all Asian--- both were Scots--- and the Chinese plant collectors they dealt with must have had a pretty good idea that neither man was Han. Perhaps they were taken for opium sellers? 

L. regale hybrid 

Another of Wilson's spectacular lily finds was L leucanhum from which a mind boggling number of hybrids have been bred. It can grow to 8 feet.                               

           Black Dragon L.leucanthum v. centifolia  (species, not a hybrid) This is an easy lily to grow in SoCal. Not necessarily "garden persistent" .

                                                        

                                                          Wilson's drawing c. 1904

Copper Crown hybrid

Aurelean  Hybrids another huge category of trumpet  hybrids  crosses from l. henryi .which gives the gold color to its children

This one is African Queen

Flugel Horn Aurelean hybrids

Any of these lilies can be planted in the fall or winter of early spring  in SoCal..The earlier you plant,the sooner the lilies will come up? Maybe. Hybrid lilies have their own schedules..Bulb merchants begin shipping fresh bulbs in October.

Do not be confused between Asiatic and Oriental.In lily breeder speak the words do not mean the same thing. Orientals are covered next. They are the last group to bloom.

Coming up next: Lilies II- Mid season Lilies- Tiger lilies, and their kin and Orientals.

            

NOTES

* Tennyson's Maud maybe?
** See Beverly Nichols wonderful account of growing lilies from seed in Merry Hall.   Re-issued in the 1935 facsimile edition

Bougainvillea- - color galore- the vine with a past

Here are the nearly neon colors we see along the south coast combined which is the best way to handle them. These  vines have been pruned  heavily to keep them close against the iron fence. The close pruning keeps them blooming heavily. ( If you’re growing them in pots in a greenhouse, that’s a whole different story.)

As my well-versed readers probably already know, what we’re seeing is the brilliant bracts of the plant, not the flowers which are small and insignificant. Bouganvellia has been heavily hybridized, there are about 300 different varieties, some of them quite subtle.

                                                      This one is Hugh Evans

                                                 Aussie Gold

Jubilee Pink

Easter Parade

Bougainvillea also come in “carpet” varieties—they have been bred as ground covers. Since the vines are very drought resistant once established, they make a flamboyant slope covering. Pots also  suit them well.

Around here, growing them is extremely easy. The only trick is to realize they are very fussy about having their roots disturbed. Don’t try and take them out of their gallon or 5 gallon can. Cut the sides so the roots can get out easily, and plant the whole business. Water them occasionally to get them established. The paler hybrid  colors seem to need a little more water than the  old standbys, like these.

Barbara Karst

California Gold

Scarlet O'Hara

Bougainvillea is named for a truly gallant French admiral  Louis –Antoine, Comte de Bougainville who was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the world, and carry a professional crew of scientists. This included the botanist Phillibert Commerçon  Royal Botanist and Naturalist,  to collect botanical specimens.

 It was Commerçon  who officially discovered the brilliant vine in Brazil and named it for the admiral.

                                            Louis –Antoine, Comte de Bougainville

 However, there’s more to the story. Commerçon was old and ill, and insisted on his assistant Jean Barré,  accompanying him on the voyage to do the grunt work, keep his files, specimens in order and attend to his bad health. Otherwise Commerçon said, he simply couldn't make the trip. De Bougainville agreed. Barré, was most probably the real discoverer of one of our favorite plants

 As it turned out, Barré was a woman, and Jeanne was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. , She was born an illegitimate peasant, managed to educate herself sufficiently to ably assist Commerçon. In  her old age  she was granted a pension by the French Navy .

                                                             Jeanne  Barré

Our brilliant Bougainvillea  vine is  deeply entwined with  history. 

Notes


De Bougainville went on to discover Tahiti ( to the western world ) and wrote  a book which suggested--- based on his experiences in Tahiti---  idea of “the noble savage” to Rousseau.


There’s more!  De Bougainville , as a French admiral, participated in a successful battle-the Battle of the Virginia Capes--- which helped turn the tide in our favor during in the American Revolution.

                                             The Battle of the Virginia Capes

 The French monarchy bankrupted itself backing our Revolution which led directly to their Revolution. It was not Marie Antoinette’s dress allowance that did it, but giving very expensive   French naval and military support to Washington’s army. They couldn't afford that and the clothes.

                                                           Marie Antoinette c. 1775

But the French could never resist an opportunity to strike a blow at the British.

The Botanical Collages of Mary Delany

Note: all these collages are available at the British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/.

These exact and arresting images were created in the 18^th c. by a little old lady.  (She was 72 when she started the project) out of paper she painted then cut and pasted to make a collage. Not only was she a remarkable artist she was altogether a remarkable human being.  There’s something about botany……

Mary Delaney was born into a noble but impoverished English family  in the 18^th c.--- the family had made the wrong choice in backing the successor to King Charles II.[i] 

The Merry Monarch had left his younger brother as his heir. Mary’s family felt it was safest to back the designated heir, James, who was deposed.. And did so to their financial ruin since all offices and preferments  flowed from the king. Disaster.

 Mary’s father lost his income from offices he had occupied under Charles II. The family lost it’s footing at court, was forced to retire to the country . 

Mary at 6  was sent to live with an aunt in London who provided her with an excellent education, including cut work in paper, embroidery, water color painting, music, etiquette, dancing lessons--- all to make Mary suitable for a position at court. Mary grew up lively, spirited and artistically talented. She designed and embroidered striking and fashionable clothes for court, and went on hoping for a position as a Lady  in Waiting. This never materialized.

As it became clear Mary was not going to be able to obtain a position at court, the next move the family decided on was to marry her off to provide for her, and generally improve the family position. (This was the common practice. In the 18thc marriage for love was not a central concern, Georgette Heyer to the contrary.)

Another  of the family’s more  unfortunate decisions was to marry Mary at 19 to a 60 year old drunkard—he was rich, but his estates were in Cornwall, far from the court where Mary longed to be. However, if his estates passed to Mary, her male relatives would get control of his money.** which apparently  was her older brother’s plan all along. ( The older brother was legal “head of the family” even though he consistently did extremely stupid things ….)

And then the old drunken husband  died---- it didn’t do the family a bit of good as he neglected to redo his will in Mary’s favor. Foiled again!


 This misfortune doubtless rankled the brother, but turned out to be good fortune for Mary. She was left a modest but sufficient competence to return to London and the court. Mary had her own house and an independent life as an attractive and accomplished young widow. She reveled in it. Mary flirted with Lord Baltimore and was rather miffed that he never proposed. Missed being an American by a whisker....

                         Mary and some friends

She did not re-marry until she was in her 40’s and then for love to a man her family though far beneath her.(He was an Irish clergyman.)

She lived an extremely happy life in Ireland with her husband until he died when she was in her late 60’s.

These astonishing collages are how she dealt with her widowhood and grief, drawing on the paper cutting skills  and watercolor techniques  she had learned at her aunt’s behest  and exercised all her life.Though she never made it to the Court she  was part of a circle of Enlightenment intellectuals, musicians (Handel) and scientists, creating her own  “court”.* 

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[i]James of York, the heir to Chas II, was an ardent, fanatical Roman Catholic who reminded the English all too  vividly of the Catholic queen, Bloody Mary and the burning of Protestants at Smithfield during her reign.. So,  Parliament rejected James and chose instead  the Protestant  Mary  and her husband William of Orange to rule.(Mary was a Protestant despite being another Stuart and James’ daughter. Go figure)

 If interested in this period, the BBC mini-series The First Churchills  lays it all out in an entertaining fashion!

2 Actually she lived 6 months of the years with the Duchess of Portsmouth, a great friend, whose magnificent conservatory at Bulstrode provided many of the “models” for the flower mosaics.

3 not until the 1850’s with the passage of the Married Woman’s Property Act did widows retain monetary control.


Books about Mary:
Mrs. Delany Her Life and her Flowers  by Ruth Hayden, British Museum Press


A Paper Garden by Molly Peacock, Penguin Books

And not to be overlooked is Mrs. Delaney and her Circle by Mark Laird  and Alicia Roberts. (Yale Center for British Art). I’m waiting for the paperback!


Had to change the template of the blog and give up the old background---alas!
Progress, whether we like it or not!

Hydrangea, Astromeria - June bloom So Cal

                                  Hydrangea macrophylla
                                    (mophead)
Hydrangea (Hortensia) is not generally considered a water-saver. However in the cloud forest along the So Cal coast, hydrangeas---hydrangea macrophylla---in old gardens (along with Belle of Portugal roses) have survived for 50 years or better, planted as foundation plantings with an eastern (morning sun) exposure without extra water. In this garden 6 hydrangeas grown from cuttings from an old garden in the neighborhood, survive handily, bloom copiously, and manage on a soaker hose every 3 weeks  to keep them blooming  in summer. Hortensia survive with rainwater once the roots are well-established (thanks to the cloud cover),  losing only leaves if drought stricken. The plants  survive.

Our mop heads  came to the Americas via the Azores  but originate in Asia. There about 110 different kinds--- mopheads and lace caps being the most familiar around here.

                          Hydrangea macrophylla
                                 (lacecap)
The small potted plants from the grocery store will grow along the coast. A lot of websites airily aver you can turn your pink hydrangea to blue or purple by adding aluminum sulphate to the soil. This will work on the East Coast (or anywhere the soil is naturally acid.) It won't work around here if you plant your hydrangea in the ground, because our alkaline soil prevents the aluminum sulphate from working.

 If you must have blue--and it is lovely--put the plant in a pot of acid soil, then add the aluminum sulphate in the fall. However, you no longer have a drought resistant plant--- you have to water all the time---to be green, better to enjoy your hydrangeas pink.

                                           Astromeria aurea Golden Lily of the Incas


Astromeria, also called Peruvian Lily is another tough plant, drought resistant, blooming naturally after the winter rains, blooming much longer with an occasional soaking. Why Peruvian when actually our plants are hybrids of a plant from the mountains of Chile and another from the highlands  of Brazil ? To Europeans of the 18th c. all of  Spanish S. America was called "Peru". 


Though looking somewhat like a lily, it isn't. It's a rhizomous plant with water storing tubers, not unlike a dahlia. Our hybrids, developed mostly in England and Holland, are a cross between the winter blooming plant from Chile and the summer blooming plant from Brazil. It now comes in about 10 colors  and new colors are being hybridized. It's a long lasting cut flower--one of the best.

                                            

Atromeria bloom spring through summer. The trick to keep the flowers coming is to pull the flower off, not cut it. It then hastens to produce another flower stalk.

The seeds of astromeria were brought back to Linneus by a student of his, Claus von Astroemer who went on one of the earliest voyages of botanizing in S. America in 1753.* Linneus, no slouch at "branding" named the pretty Golden Lily of the Incas for the very wealthy father of Claus Astroemer. ("Keep those cards and letters coming...") 

                                                      Linneus dressed as a Laplander

Note:


*  Claus actually described the Humboldt current 50 years before Humboldt. He was quite an adventurous fellow though you might not think so to look at him. Became a Baron, started a botanical garden at Gotheburg and has a perfect right to look pleased with himself.

Claus von Astroemer

Jacaranda, Poinciana, Golden Trumpet Tree--Blooming for Summer Solstice

These trees, tropical --and sub-tropical are the Cirque de Soleil of the summer solstice.

This tree is mysteriously absent from our Central Coast. This is peculiar as Poinciana tolerates temperatures to 20° and could, in theory be grown in suitable micro climates along the coast from San Diego to Point Conception.

                                                                   Golden Trumpet Tree

The Brazilian Golden Trumpet tree grows without problems along our coast as far north as Santa Barbara. It’s doesn’t develop into a luxurious golden canopy for a number of years unless it is planted in a sheltered hot spot , but even as a smaller tree it is worth growing.

All these trees are related, all members of the Bignonia  family  which was established early ( 17^th c.) in the history of western botany to honor a great patron of botanists- Jean-Paul Bignon

          

 Bignon, through his influence with the king (Louis XIV) was able to get the necessary royal financing--- without which nothing got done in the France of Louis le Grande
.As plants,, many of the Bignonias are attention getters and  few of them are unassuming  (c.f  Scarlet Trumpet vine, also flourishing along the So Cal coast)

Unkind people might find the Bignonias a touch gaudy as his enemies found Jean-Paul. But for us,  Bignon gets added to the  list  of splendid patrons who had the  foresight  to support plant explorations. Even if these patrons,(like present day ethno-biologists combing the Amazon forests)  were after commercial results---hoping for something spectacular*

 Bignon’s protégé, De Tournefort was a serious scientist  (you can see by looking at him) who first sorted out the concept of genus. A physician as well as a botanist,  De Tournefort . was nearly  forced into the priesthood. Freed from this fate by his father’s death, De Tournefort to was  able to pursue his true passion--- botany.  (My perceptive readers have already figured out , that botany was the glamour science of the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries.)

                                         

De Tournefort’s efforts were rewarded with a professorship at the Jardin des Plantes. A plant explorer himself he encouraged others also  and wrote Elements de botanique (1694). Eventually, even  got  a 

street in Paris named for him.

                                                                             Rue Tourneforte

 Bignonias are a guy’s best friend….they won’t lose their shape.. Jacarandas are tough trees and often self-sow in So Cal. Their flower fall of purple rain  is exasperating to some, poetic to others. They are ,obviously, easy to grow. Jacaranda grows in well drained soil and tolerates drought. Water saver!

The  red canopied Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) is equally thrifty  where it’s warm enough for it. (Zones 9-10).  

Mystified by the absence of Poincianas along the Central Coast, decided to grow my own. Perhaps the mystery is solved. When seeds arrived the package announced “ seeds may take several months to sprout at 75°-85°.(!)

 In the tropics those temperatures occur naturally; Poinciana grows like a weed. The Poinciana tree has nitrogen-fixating and soil-improving properties  Surprisingly, it is a legume. Native  to Madagascar, an entrepôt for the slave trade; Poinciana  travelled the Middle Passage to the West Indies .

In So Cal, the seeds need help to propagate quickly. See http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Fabaceae/Delonix_regia.html for good directions  Basically, you soak seeds in very hot water 48 hours  before planting. Hopefully,  shouldn't take months to sprout them—stay tuned….

Update August 27, 2012- Poinciana seeds from Rare seeds arrived within a few days and were subjected to the very hot water treatment, soaked in 1/4 of an inch of water until they spouted on 8/26/12/. Basically it took 2 months. Suspect it could be done in less time if the process were begun in August, as tropicals tend to sprout most quickly in late summer/early fall, getting ready for the rainy season.

                                                 photo from Trade Winds Fruit

 The Golden Trumpet tree Tabebuia chrysotrichaThis tree is a favorite of the University of Florida dept. of botany at http://hort.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/tabchra.pdf  .   UFL can’t understand why more Golden Trumpets aren’t planted as  it’s a proved to be  happy urban tree that isn’t a water hog. 

 Grows to 25 feet.  Flowers appear as do the jacaranda flowers  while trees are leafless.. Tolerates temperatures into mid 20's F and looks best with occasional to regular watering in warm months plants flower best when not overwatered. [i]

Three colorful  canopies  of flowers with romantic pasts……… and water savers every one.

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[i] Information from San Marcos Growers

  Blooger is knee-deep in technical difficulties having changed  browsers! Arghhh.....

Notes:

*All hoped to find another  golden egg such as  the Spanish found in the cochineal trade based on 1,000 years of Aztec cactus farming .See A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield

For those who like their details up to date—Jacaranda is now a genus of its own. A lot of fine tuning goes on in the world of botany.  Bignonia is now a “family”.  Golden trumpet has also been assigned into 2 catergories. 

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