sea daffodils (pancratium maritimum)

Anyone have any experience growing these beauties? I got some seed in greece a couple of years ago, and got one to sprout. I also got some bulbs from Brent and Becky's and they're barely alive, look pretty puny actually. They were growing in sand dunes in their native habitat, and so I planted them in almost pure sand here. Yesterday, emptied out their pot and some of the roots were rotten, the other roots were very fleshy, succulent. I'm wondering what is the best soil and whether to fertilize or not? (They can't get much nitrogen from the sand dunes?)

I grow them--I also started mine from seed. We are hotter than you are and I put them in the shade from Late July thru September. They are dormant now--they like it dryish (but not bone dry) in winter. I have them in pots a third pro-mix, a third vermiculite, a third pea gravel. I don't use sand because the garden centers around here only have fine grain sand which decreases drainage in our heavy rains. They are going into their third season and are doing well--they take a long time (3-5 years) to bloom because they grow slowly. I foliar feed everything with an organic 6-11-5. My experience with bulbs from seeds is they do need nitrogen, esp when seedlings, its the leaves that feed and form the bulb. They really need it in our climate because we have heavy rains. I never use anything non-foliar stronger than 10-10-10 and use a lot of different micro-nutrients. I grow a couple of other Pancratiums too--they grow much faster. Try to keep them from going dormant their first time as long as possible--that helps to make sure they come back. Once bulbs make it thru that first dormancy, they are usually pretty tough.

Bulbs sometimes do quite differently in the garden than in the wild. Look at this, they suggest regular potting soil. I use pea gravel in a lot of my mixes often to keep the pots from blowing over in our frequent thunderstorms, etc.
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Pancratium

Debbie

This message was edited Feb 20, 2008 7:02 PM

Wow! thanks for the info and the tips. Why do you put them in the shade? does it make the flowers last longer?

They are young and our full sun is really intense! Actually they get about 3-4 hours of full sun real early morning and late afternoon. I leave them out in full sun until they start looking stressed. I also have P illyricum and it really stresses out in Aug-Sept. I just keep them together so they all get moved. Easier for me to have related plants together if at all possible.

I am interested in finding, to purchase, a daffodill called Twink from the deGraaff Bros in Holland. Who would you suggest that I contact for this information?