Fall/Winter Bulbs in California

hmmmmmmm......sounds perfect for one of my empty spots.
Plantfiles says they need to be in full sun, and I didn't think it looked like yours were. I may have to try some of these. I'll add them to my growing list of "wants", and revisit them. Thanks for the info!

You're welcome, they can definitely do very well in light shade!

Whilst out in the garden today, I saw several buds forming in what I think are a different kind of daffie. Will share when they bloom.
My freesia's are up but only the ones in the gh are blooming.
WIB!
SW

This freesia spray was so pretty, I had to share.
WIB,
SW

oh pretty SW, love all the raindrops.

So pretty SW!

really beautiful, nice purple. do they return?

Just got an email that Brent and Becky's Bulbs has opened their Spring/Fall 2009 catalog and ordering site. This is the catalog that contains many of the fall/winter blooming bulbs that I grew last fall and posted in this thread.

This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 1:07 PM

Thanks chris, love Brent and Becky's.

yep, that's where I got my bulbs too!

More tulips...

Madame Lefeber aka Red Emperor these have been coming back every year since 2005

Tulip Purissima aka White Emperor (a Fosteriana type)

This is my first year, but I expect it to be very persistent--Brent and Becky's catalog say they have seen clumps of this that are 20 years old.

Wow i just browsed Brent and Becky's. Now I going to have to buy some, darn it. I realized those fall blooming crocus' were gopher resistant and I really excited. I was wondering how you had them in the ground without them becoming a meal. I have some autumn crocus in pots and I think I'll plant them, they put up leaves every year but no flowers in the fall. Maybe this will produce some blooms. I think they dry out at a time when they're not supposed to. Fun website.

The fall blooming crocus are pretty poisonous which is why they are gopher resistant!

yay, my gophers are pretty vicious. they actually bare their teeth and hiss at me!

Beg, borrow or steal a gopher snake. Put snake down the gopher hole. They will devour the vicious gophers.
WIB,
SW

wow don't know where I'd get one? sounds perfect though : )

My problem is there's an endless supply of gophers in the field behind my house, so unless I could convince the snake to stick around on a permanent basis I think I'd still have problems.

You could probably find a gopher snake in some of the parks in your area...although you might have to go inland a bit, over there by the coast it might not be hot enough for them. Just make sure you look careful at the tail before you grab it to make sure it's not a rattler!

Find a teen aged boy and bribe him to bring you a gopher snakes. Reptile stores/clubs or associations might be able to help too.
Google them. They don't look nothing like rattlers.
WIB,
SW

aha, the pet store. I think we do have them around here but i've seen them only a couple times. I think im being lulled into a false sense of security right now, they;re hibernating of something.

sorry to bring this thread to the dreaded topic of gophers, but bulbs=gophers sort of.

Cornell study on perennialization of fall winter bulbs --suggestions for Calif climates

This is an extension of the previous study done by Cornell . One complaint about the previous one was that the warmest zone they covered was zone 7 in Clemson which has wet/humid summers--not so relevant to our Calif climate. This report that I just found was done in Europe and covered one area in ITALY with winter lows to 23 degrees and hot, DRY summers. (Sounds a lot more like our zone 8/9 to me)

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/faculty/wmiller/combos/Resources/Combo%20Summary%20IFBC.pdf

Go to p 24 for the list of the best performers in Italy. There are some surprising suggestions for Tulips. A nice list of narcissi and hyacinths.
I hope this might give you some new ideas as you do your fall bulb orders.

Chris

Thank you chris!

ditto what wonderearth said. Thanks Chris for taking the time to research that. I've missed seeing your beauties.
Be well,
WIB,
SW