California Gardening: Fall/Winter Bulbs in California, 0 by chrisw99

chrisw99 wrote:
Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments.

I only have one tiny group of old freesias and after seeing your message, Singing Wolf, I went out to check them and they have sprouted!! Mine won't bloom until much later--usually with the hyacinths in Feb-March.

Most of my bulbs are in areas of the garden that do not get summer water. It seems like the arrival of the first significant rain storm is what triggers them to sprout. I know with my Algerian iris, Iris unguicularis, that even though they retain some green foliage all summer, they don't bloom until after the first rain. Again, these aren't bulbs. They do bloom all winter and spring with their eye catching blue flowers. The books claim the flowers are fragrant, but to my nose the fragrance is faint. The blooms only last one day if picked, but the big clumps produce new blooms for months.

Here's another fall bulb that has already bloomed--Sternbergia lutea.
They like to be dry all summer. Mine bloomed late Sept this year. It's possible they might have been triggered into growth by the water they got when I planted the Crocus medius in front of them in early Sept--I watered in the new bulbs. Next year will be a better test.

Chris