Plunging Bulbs

Hello Everyone,

Last weekend I attended an Alpine GS study weekend. It was interesting in a talk on trilliums  of America’s West Coast the speaker noted that many trilliums didn’t appear this year. I must say that as Leitha and I drove up to Fortuna I was disappointed that she did not see the profusion of trilliums I had seen on my last visit.

Stuart Murray gave a talk on an experiment he is doing with plunge beds. He has taken to using bark in his beds. He reckons it is as effective as grit and gives the added bonus of holding moisture in the pots so that if he goes away for a few days he does not have to worry about watering his plants. I wonder if it would be worth those of you who grow bulbs in pots trying this as an experiment. Maybe we can improve on what has been used for many years. It obviously works for other alpine perennials.

Another interesting point came from a talk on fritillarias. The have multitudes of small bulblets under their bulb. He reckoned this was so that ground digging animals carried the bulblets through their burrows to a new growing location. Similar to the ants and seeds.

Dave