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| Erythronium tuolumnense |
I've only grown this a few years, and it's already clumping up. Superficially, this closely resembles the glacier lily that grows by the untold million throughout the West. This species, however, is restricted to relatively low altitudes in just one county in California (Tuolumne County as you might guessed). It's rather frustrating to think that it's probably in full bloom there as I type this: perhaps some day I'll have a chance to see it in its native habitat. You can see its precise distribution
at this website.
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Erythronium tuolumnense at dawn
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I always find it astonishing how different a plant can look in different lights: I took this second picture a few hours earlier than the first..
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| Distribution map for Erythronium tuolumnense (BONAP) |
Here's a schematic distribution map showing Tuolumne county, where the trout lily grows in nature--mind you, its range is only a small portion of that county. Compare it with the BONAP map I copied below of
Erythronium grandiflorum, the most common and widespread of North American species in the genus.
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| Erythronium grandiflorum |
I took this picture fifteen years ago--and I could add a dozen other pictures I've taken all over the West of this, one of my favorite native plants. I've transplanted it from the wild on several occasions, and even had it bloom in my garden. Kirk Fieseler has a small colony he grew from seed at Laporte Avenue Nurseries...but I don't know anyone who has a lot of luck with this, although I wouldn't doubt that it would grow well in Scotland or Sweden, where
Erythronium is very popular now and grown superbly. I suspect it would do better in cool climates since it does generally grow at high altitudes in Colorado at least, I've not seen it much lower than 8,000' and I've found it up to 12,000'.
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| Distribution map for Erythronium grandiflorum (BONAP) |
I find it astonishing that a plant with such restricted distribution as
Erythronium tuolumnense can have such vigor and latitude growing in the garden, while the species found throughout the Southern, Middle and Northern Rockies (not to mention large parts of Alberta and British Columbia) is slow and fussy in cultivation.
Go figure!
Are you aware of Ian Young's weekly bulblog on the Scottish RGS webpage? He seems to have mastered germinating and growing virtually all members of Erythronium, and provided a compendium on the genus so the rest of us can benefit. I have not acted on this wisdom, but can report that E. grandiflorum grows at 3300', just a km or so from where I am typing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael: I do check in on Ian's blog but haven't seen that chart. I don't doubt that E. grandiflorum will thrive for him (he can grow anything)--but I still have yet to see it grow vigorously in a private garden anywhere in America. Not to say it doesn't grow (I've bloomed it several years in succession until it petered out). It's just not a vigorous garden plant like E. tuolumnense or the European species (or most of the West Coasters)--as yet. No doubt a garden tolerant race will some day be found.
ReplyDeleteI have at least one (maybe a few) E. grandiflorum seedlings in my garden. Maybe in ten more years I will be able to tell you how robustly they are growing.
ReplyDeleteNever mind, I checked my records and the one seedling Erythronium I have is Erythronium tuolumnense. The -26 degrees F polar vortex weather killed my E. hendersonii, E. elegans, and E. citrinum that were a few years old and in my garden. I may never have gotten the E. grandiflorum seeds to germinate as was the case with at least one other species. I don't remember what happen to them now.
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