About a week ago two of the crinums I just got (which are still in pots because I didn't want to disturb them during blooming season) sent up a couple of bloom stalks. Totally freaked me out...I wasn't really expectign anything this year..just hoping. And, since this is my first year with crinums, I was really surprised taht they put up the bloom stalks from the side of the bulb. Well, today they opened. Yeah!
Here is the other bloom...
For those of you who have never seen a crinum bloom, here is what the bloom stalk looks like as it just starts coming up...
Bama, those are pretty. I think I'm gonna have to try some Crinums also. I've read where they will do well in pots.
They do well in beds around here, as well. I have a couple that were my grandmother's, but they do not like to be disturbed so they won't bloom till next year at the earliest. I'm pretty sure they will be the same color as these. Anyway, they reproduce quite prolificly... Of the two pots that are blooming, one of them is full of pups, the other has two pups in it. I have a thrid pot with no pups and no blooms, so I'm not sure if the two are realted.....or maybe the third pot was disturbed.... I've seen huge beds in people's front yards around here that are just FULL of crinums.
How tall do those get. I've seen where some will get about 6 feet tall.
this was an education for me. I had never heard of these. I'll watch for them, but they may not br hardy here.
Can you bring the pots in and let them go dormant?
I've seen where some are hardy from 7a-10. Haven't looked to see if any of them would go any lower.
Crinums are nice. But be aware of the fact they grow in huge clumps and are really hard to separate. Also, their foliage is nice but it can grow to 4 or 5 feet long and more than 3 inches wide. Straps they call it.
When I planted mine, I found out the hard way, they are toxic... not only by ingestion. With the long foliage it was impossible for me to plant them properly... so I cut back the foliage in order to make sure they were well planted. Well, in doing so, the sap from the foliage I cut got onto my skin (my arms and legs)... I was on fire! Left whelps and burned and hurt like wasp stings. Just a suggestion, don't do what I did. Wear long sleaves and pants if you have to.
I have some lovely white ones with a cup shape base on the bloom. And I have some vibrant pink ones. They are fragrant as well. They really are lovely plants foliage and all. But they can be a pain in the a**.
Take care,
Donna
Donna, thats good to know. Since I would be growing mine in a pot I will need to find a dwarf variety. I'm thinking of Hanibal's dwarf. Very pretty orchid pink flowers.
Thank you, Bama. I have been going nuts here
trying to identify the "daylilies" behind the screen room.
I've got Criniums !!!
I tried to dig some up for my daughter a few years ago
and finally gave up. The bulbs are huge and far down
and almost impossible to dig up.
Didn't know about the foliage being so dangerous
because I was digging in March and there wasn't much.
This was my
daughter's house at the time, and she didn't like the
messy foliage with all the burnt leaves, so she wanted
them all dug up.
Criniums - who'd a thunk it . Never even heard of them.
This message was edited Jul 17, 2006 10:51 AM
I thought Donna's post about the sap was interesting, so I did some investigating....seems the sap can cause problems in some people (in the attached article they even say it can cause 'skin eruptions'... whatever that might mean). Still, I thought the article was iteresting. The crinums I have blooming are the ones discussed in this article. But the ones I have from my grandmother's are Ellen Bosanquet, which is a more purple variety. Here is the article:
http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/crin_xpo.cfm
And here is a picture of the Ellen Bosanquet:
http://plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/02193.html
Bama, hello it is Frank again. Do not stop putting up your pictures!
Lilly people do no know what Crinums are. This is very educational for all of us and to experience your first time thing with Crinums is just
wonderful. Typically the genus likes a water table that is close to the surface. Some species are actually aquatic, which is how I found out about them. I bought some crinums for my aquarium, and they looked like onions, that you would shove into the aquarium gravel and I did.
They got leaves and inch wide and three feet long. I decided to clean out the aquarium, so I took out the crinums and floated them in the fish pond in October. Two days later, an arctic blast came and the fish pond froze over killing my irreplacceasble crinums. I have not seen any available of the same kind since.. They were aquatic and their leaves were floating and 3' long. Enough tonite Frank
Keep us posted with fresh fotos, we are watching this, and it should be a thread about crinums, right??????????????? Frank
Absolutely! I'll post more pics tomorrow...they are really blooming nicely. I have another crinum that hasn't bloomed for me yet that I got in a trade. I'll have to go back and look it up, but I think it makes a cluster of small white flowers.
Do you have a photo of your crinum that you lost? Maybe someone can help you replace it.....
Frank,
Here is what my other crinum looks like.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/554056/
I took some more pics of my crinums today and thought I'd share them. Here is oen of the crinums showing the blooms.....they are really starting to get showy with three or four blooms open at the time.
Here is a photo showing how the leaves grow in a concentric circle rather than on opposite sitdes like most members of the amaryllis family. It also kind of gives you an idea as to the size of the plants. The blooms are a little smaller than an amaryllis.....the leaves are very loose and flexible, not stiff like the amaryllis and Peruvian Daffodil.
Here is a photo showing how long the leaves are. Of course, they vary from plant to plant...I have some plants that are smaller....but this cultivar and the Ellen Bosenquit both have fairly long leaves.
Finally, this photo shows how much space they take up. I have two Ellen Bosenquit, two of the pink 'cape lily' adults, one smaller cape lily and quite about eight pups. They are rapidly turning this daylily bed into a crinum bed...which is OK with me...I was planning to move the daylilies to a new bed this fall anyway. But I am going to have to move either the crinums or the cannas as well. I'm thinking I'll make this the crinum bed and move the cannas and glads.
BamaBelle,
Yeah, I know about the "skin eruptions". They hurt. Like bad bee stings.
A friend of mind has clumps of thes things that are amazing. I know one clump covers about 10 square feet. She helped dig up some for me, she couldn't do it... so I had to get in there with the shovel... they were the hardest thing to dig up and separate that I've ever seen.
They are beautiful plants, and I am glad I now have some. Next year, once they have settled in... (as we dug them up and I planted them right in the middle of their blooming and growing season... they aren't real happy at the moment, but making due) I'll try to pollinate some of these beauties and maybe even cross pollinate from my vibrant pink to my white.
I still have yet to really identify the varieties I have. Not really concerned at this point, will ID when they bloom next, probably next year.
Take care,
Donna
The variety that I got from my grandmother was easy to ID. I just posted on the forum that they were purple and that the intesity of color varied from year to year and I had several people come back and tell me that they were Ellen Bosenquit. The newer ones I have tentatively ID'ed as Cape Lilly based on what I have read...The white, which I just planted this spring and has not bloomed is Americanum.
You are right...they do not like to be disturbed...the ones I got from my grandmother's house didn't not look good for the first few weeks. The leaves almost looked like theyhad somethign like daylily rust...but it was just shock frombeing dug up and stuck in water for a couple of weeks...then being taken out of the water and stuck in clay. They have since recovered, but have not bloomed this year. Anyway, their tempramental nature concerning being distrubed is why my latest three are still in pots. (I also still have my newer Peruvian Daffodils in pots...just in case they are tempramental too!) I don't plan to put them in the ground till Fall when they have done their blooming. Maybe by planting them in the Fall, they will be sufficently recovered by next year to bloom again for me. One of the pots has two pups in it (it only had one pup a week ago!) The other pot has at least six pups in it...and one of the pups is already almost as big as my smaller potted crinum.
My grandmother had several in a clump in her front bed, but never seemed to have problems with them taking over the bed. Of course, she may have just pulled the pups as they popped up, too. I've seen lots of homes in the area, though, where the crinum beds are HUGE.
This is my first experience with them and I really like the way the foliage looks. There is just something so graceful about the way the leaves drape...it reminds me of the hoop skirts of the Southern Belles....I'm thinking if I can get a good photo of the blooms, it would make a really nice painting. Not only do the leaves have a sort of graceful flair to them, they also have a sort of wavy, almost ruffled edge.
Of course, I'll have to remember to wear gloves when I seperate the pups from the parents...LOL! Thanks to you sharing your own learning experience.
Mine bloomed in late June.
Are these the same ones you brought me? They are a lot darker. Mine are a pale pink...not even lavender. Yours look more like MaMa's (Ellen Bosenquit).
Also, have you had any reactions to the sap like Donna had? I'm thinking it sounds like it might be similar to poison ivy, oak or sumac...some people are sensitive and some are not. I didn't react at all to the ones I got from Cuz and planted....but I didn't really do anything to get sap on me, either. Just in case, when I go to sepearate the pups, I'll make sure towear gloves. I've still got a whole box of blue latex gloves left from my trach nurse duties. LOL! Gave you all the purple ones, but kept the blue ones for myself.
Um, these are in a clump where I had planted a bunch together. I had dug you up some from there, but they could be more than one color in there. I have worked around them for a while, cutting back leaves and such without any kind of reaction. So, I guess I am not sensitive to it.
Interesting...can't be the soil cause they are still in the pots you brought them in. Either you have two colors, or the slight variation in climate (hotter here and less humid) is causing the color to be bleached out.
Woo hoo! It is thundering! Come on rain! Except that I just found a bunch of little toadstools around my nanners...Guess I'm gonna have to put something down to kill them that won't hurt the nanners...Hmmm....Maybe I'll wait till they get done blooming or just pull the 'shrooms up.
rylaff,
I have the same pink ones that you have. I don't know the variant, do you? I'd appreciate knowing exactly what kind of Crinum they are so I'll know if I can cross pollinate.
Thanks,
Donna
BamaBelle,
The skin problem seems to occur only if you cut the foliage, as I did. I mean, I cut off 3 feet of it and there was a lot. I had to in order to plant the darn things. It was brutal. So sap was flying every where... but only affected my arms.
It's also worthy of noting that I have skin sensitivities to things... like the sun even... I'll break out in blisters. So, most folks may not experience it.
But for those of you who are going to take precautions against this, you would be better off wearing a long sleaved shirt, otherwise you'd need gloves up to your elbows.
Take care,
Donna
I have sun sensitivity from lupus, but am not sensitive to poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac. Odd how every person's immune system reacts differently. I used to love to freak my mom out by bringing her a handful of 'wildflowers' which were poison sumac and poison oak...hee hee hee hee hee......
BamaBelle,
I was tested for lupus once upon a time, but I don't have it. My sun sensitivity started in my mid 20's. Before then, I could lay out in the sun and get tans ... now... I just get blisters.
Take care,
Donna
Some people are just allergic to the sun. Sounds like you get sun poisoning. Sometimes a single severe sun burn can be enough to cause sun poisoning and subsequent sun allergy. I can get small amounts of sun...but if I get any pink at all on my forehead, I get vasculitis which causes the blood vessels to swell up so no blood gets through...and the skin on my forehead dies and sloughs off leaving big open sores and a LOT of inflammation.
I have friends with lupus who can't get ANY sun at all. They are like you...they break out in blisters and some of them run temps as high as 104 just from being in the sun. 24 hour shopping centers are their best friends. They do all their shopping at night...preferably around midnight so they also don't have to deal with crowds either.
They wear big floppy hats and long sleeved shirts and pants with special UV blocking fabric if they have to go outside in the day. I'd die. Can you see me doing all my gardening at night? Daylilies, except for extended bloomers, would be out of the question.
BamaBelle,
That's exactly what happened to me... I got a really severe sunburn once. Stupid me... we were living in Okinawa, Japan at the time... I dip myself in melted butter and go lay out on the roof. In 20 minutes I realized I was a roasted turkey... I had blisters... for the very first time in my life. And ever since then, I've had this reaction. I call them blisters, but they start out like blisters, like with poison ivy and bigger... then they rupture and cause these big ozzing sores. However, I have found a relief... Noxema. It works wonders. If I hit it with Noxema before the blisters burst... they go away. Otherwise, they are so severe they leave scars on my arms.
Take care,
Donna
Whoa...it almost sounds like discoid lupus...but I've seen sun poisoning that did that, too. I used to work as a candy striper in a hospital in Florida. We would have tourists come in with such severe sunburns their skin just slid off. Some of them would slather on sun block all over their body and then fall asleep on their stomachs....not realizing that the soles of their feet were just as susceptible to sunburn as any other part of their body. They would wake up and not be able to walk.
BamaBelle,
Well, it doesn't just happen in FL and it doesn't just happen in the summer to me. But the thing is, the blisters itch... like poison ivy. Some blisters are bigger than others. It happens mostly on my arms, as they are the most exposed, however, it happens on my ears too. I have long hair so I pull it back a lot while I'm working in the yard... and that exposes my ears. I thought the upper rims of my ears were going to break off not too long ago they got like... crispy. It was from the blister things oozing and drying. Was a mess.
I have some good sun block, but I don't like to use it as it is greasey and working in the yard... well... everything sticks to it. Just like I don't like to use bug spray on myself unless I am getting ate up. But it never fails, I'm out there, not paying attention to how much sun I'm getting... and BAM! It bites me in the buttocks.
I've had erruptions on my legs before too. But that doesn't happen often even though I wear shorts all the time. The sun just doesn't hit my legs as much. But even just driving in the car, the sun coming through the window will cause the eruptions.
I have a very fair complection. Which makes it worse I know. But the thing is... until that single incident in Okinawa Japan... I never had a problem. I lived at the swimming pool when I was young... and I had a tan just from that. I had laid on beaches for hours with no problems. But now, I can't even work in the yard on a sunny day without loads of sunscreen.
I've never heard of discoid lupus, what is that like. When they tested me for lupus, back in the early 90's, I had like all of the symptoms of it, from clumps of hair lose, the photosensitivity, and blood in my urine, among other things that I can't remember now. But they did an anti-nuclear antibody test that said I didn't have it. They never found the cause of any of my symptoms. Some of them just kinda went away. Others I still have.
I recently asked my General Practioner to repeat the test and he wouldn't do it. He said it shouldn't have changed.
Sorry for being so long winded about this...
Take care,
Donna
Not all lupus shows positive in lab tests. There is one form that is called Negative titre lupus. You might want to look up a book called The Lupus Book by Dr. Daniel Wallace. Most doctors have trouble dealing with a disease that can't be quantified by lab tests. With lupus there are a number of cirteria....postive labs are just one of them. If you meet four of the eleven or so criteria, you are diagnosed with lupus. At times my lupus goes negative in labs, but that doesn't mean it goes away. In fact, my neurologist a while back told me that even when all your labs come back negative, you still have active lupus.
Discoid lupus is a type of lupus that is mostly skin invovlement. The discoid lesions look sort of like someone put a cigarette out on you. However, milder forms of discoid lesions can just look like you spilled super glue on your skin. Most people with the more severe form of discoid lupus, though get blisters and open sores like you describe. Some of them are also sensitive to flourescent lights.
I can't stand sun blocks that are greasy either. I use Bullfrog. They used to make a gel that smelled like watermelon. I haven't been able to find it recently. But I was able to find a Bullfrog spray that dries without being sticky and also containes a mosquito repellant (DEET free) that lasts up to 8 hours. Works great for me...when I remember to use it.
BamaBelle,
I'll have to keep any eye out for that spray.
You speak of neurologists. I've seen my share. They are baffled as to why I have migranes most everyday. Sometimes they aren't so bad. Sometimes I can go for a few months without any at all. But then it comes back around, I have them from the time I get up until the time I go to bed. Everyday ... for months. Nothing they give me short of percocete seems to help. And they won't let me take pain killers all the time. So, I gave up on trying to find a solution. The one thing that does seem to ease the pain is GARDENING! Of all things. I don't know why.
Also, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder back in 2000. One has to wonder if in some way all the things are connected. The really bad thing about it was my first psychiatrist thought he could cure me. He had me on all kinds of drugs at all kinds of dosages, changing weekly at times. I was totally lethargic for like 2 years from the drugs. And it took like a year to come out of it. I feel like I'm missing like 3 years of my life.... and I am.
Fortunately, I have a good husband who stood by me through everything, and still does. It was only about 6 months after we got married that I was diagnosed. I can imagine how he felt. A lot of our life was stolen. But that all is a totally different subject and I am just babbling now...
Take care,
Donna
Well, if you do have ANA negative lupus, it would explain a LOT. Most lupus patients ahve a lot of neurological aspects.....ame have neurophsychiatric manifestations...like your bipolar disorder...
BamaBelle,
Well, I don't wanna even go trying to diagnose myself. I have enough problems without adding another to the pile. By problems, I mean physical and such. But how would one go about finding out for sure?
Donna
Here is a lupus self test from the Lupus Foundation of America. If you answer yes to three of the questions, you need to find a rheumatologist in your area and take the test, with your answers and medical history to the appointment. It is really hard to find a good rheumy. I recommend asking a nurse that works in a local hospital where the nurses in that hospital go for treatment. Since hospital nurses know all the docs, they know who is good and who is a jerk (not to emntion who is just one misstep from having their license pulled!) Here is the self test and info from the LFA:
Test Yourself for Lupus
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Because many lupus symptoms mimic other illnesses, are sometimes vague, and may come and go, lupus can be difficult to diagnose. Diagnosis is usually made by a careful review of a person's entire medical history, physical examination, coupled with an analysis of the results obtained in routine laboratory tests and some specialized tests related to immune status. Currently there is no single laboratory test that can determine whether a person has lupus or not.
If you have been experiencing symptoms of lupus over time with no explanation, the following set of questions may help you to decide if you should consult with a medical professional about obtaining additional tests for lupus.
Have you ever had achy, painful and/or swollen joints for more than three months?
Have you ever had an unexplained fever of over 100 degrees for more than a few days?
Have you ever experienced persistent, extreme fatigue/exhaustion and weakness for days or even weeks at a time, even after 6-8 hours of restful nighttime sleep?
Have you ever had sensitivity to the sun where your skin "breaks out" after being in the sun, but it's not sunburn?
Have you ever been told that you have a low blood count(s) - anemia, low white cell count or a low platelet count?
Have you ever been told that you have protein in your urine?
Have you ever had chest pain with deep breathing for more than a few days (pleurisy)?
Have you ever had a prominent redness or color change on your face in the shape of a butterfly across the bridge of your nose and cheeks? (BTW, although I dio get this on my face occasionally, it is more common for me to get it on my chest-Bama)
Have you ever had a seizure or convulsion?
Have you had any sores in your mouth that lasted for more than two weeks?
If you answer "yes" to at least three of these questions, the Lupus Foundation of America suggests that you consult with your doctor.
