Bulbs

Bulbs as well as perennials can be dug and divided in early spring or fall, when the plants are dormant. The nutrients needed to provide next year's flowers are being stored in the bulbs , do not cut any green foliage off any of your bulbs. Best is to plant new arrivals immediately, dug up plants as well. They will settle in for the next season. If you move bulbs in foliage or bloom, spoil them with a drop of Superthrive and mulch them 3 to 4" with any available natural mulch. Treated this way they may not even show transplant shock. Refrain from using stone- or rubber-mulch as they will cause you only grief in the future, even if they look 'so clean and neat' .The 'little bulbs' may sulk for a moment yet will resume their flowering activity right quick. All in all bulbs need little of your precious time, cost a minute fraction of the maintenance that your various shrubs require, last for decades undisturbed in one location and reward you with drifts of lovely flowers.
Alliums are excellent nectar plants for honeybees. The begonias are also their favorites. Arum and pinellas will be pollinated by small woodland flies. The deep throated amaryllids get pollinated while we are sleeping by big moths, such as MIss Lunar moth and her cousins.
The amaryllids repel moles. On deep, dry, sandy, alluvial soils the Southern gopher, the big brother of the mole, generally tunnels down to 12", but works down to three feet under a dry porch or parking area. The best natural control are Southern rains that flood the tunneling area or your garden-hose inserted into the tunnel flushing them out. Amaryllids are critterproof.
All these bulbs can be used as companion plants or as tropical accents in large decorative containers and hibarnate in a frost free shed, garage or deep pit, well covered with mulch. As they adapt to your area you may wish to divide some of them and plant them at a permanent site in your garden.
Again, we recycle our pots an gallon pot is as rule the 6" trade container, which holds less than a gal in volume. A 4" pot may be square or round. We do not sell by the cubic cm but by the established or ample enough plant.

1., Allium tuberosum
Garlic Chives! Grey-green foliage 6" high sends up a multitude of stalks with many white sweet smelling flowerheads. Can be used in the rosebed to keep our beauties bug free or in the perennial bed. In the herb garden it provides fresh garlic greens all summer long for culinary use. Good drainage and full sun are a must. Dried flowers can be used in arrangements.
Zone 6-9
Clumplet $5.00


2., Arum italicum
Silver veining on dark green, arrow shaped leaves, with big, greenish-yellowish translucent jack-in-the-pulpit flowers in spring followed by the display of the pollinated inflorescence, which means bright red berries summer and into fall to complete the growing cycle. A mediterranean wintergrower arum emerges in September and goes dormant in late May. I will never forget the beautiful book: A shepherd explaining to the little boy how the flies - attracted by the heat - pollinated the vase shaped flower and were trapped below the ring of bristles inside the tube.
Zone 5-9
1 gal $15.00

3,.  Asparagus densiflorus nana
Dwarf Asparagus  Deciduous here, a hardy perennial, this little jewel starts growth before the last frost, gets bitten hard and comes right back! The green of the tiny leaves change according to the surrounding light difficult to describe but always appealing. Foot high tight mounds , daintily textured fit in the woodland, rock- or perennial garden. We have observed neither blossoms nor fruit.
Zone 6
clumplet $8.00

4., Begonia grandis ssp evansiana
Tuberous angelwing type to 2' high displays red veined foliage below large cymes of pink, pendant flowers. Light fragrance. The wilted cymes add texture to dried flower arrangements. "Hardy" begonia thrives in an open woodland setting with all our other favorites such as hostas, astilbes, ferns, chinese sacred lilies and epimediums.
Zone 7
1 gal $15.00

5.,Crinum americanum
Our own native boglily, grows in water or moist soils, sun to deep shade and flowers sporadically from August till frost.
7b
1 bulb $5.00

6., Crinum asiaticum
An attention getter! A giant in it's family it forms a huge "rosette". 4" or more wide by 4' long stiffly arced leaves, a bit undulated to add some textural interest, embrace scapes of salver-form white blossoms with red anthers. Like a rainlily it will produce new scapes with more than 20 florets after a warm shower. Large bulbs produce narrow leaves and thick flower stalks that present us with exquisite pure white blossoms.
Sooo fragrant in the evening garden!.
It thrives in deep shade to full sun. Well draining rich soil with plenty of water during the growing season is a must. We, the weather challenged people have to grow this lily in a greenhouse with our orchids and move it to the porch during the heat of the summer.
Zone 9
3 year old plants $9.00

7., Crinum erubescens
Also fragrant with "spiderlily" blossoms it grows in average to moist, even aquatic conditions and blooms on and off throughout the summer into mid October for us. The scapes and buds are tinged red. Plant it under a swamp-cypress and "let it do it's thing", i.e. naturalize and you will have flowers to cut and to enjoy. Like all the large bulbs it may take a year to settle in.
Zone 8
3 year old bulbs $8.00

8., Crinum powellii 'Pink'.
A sturdy spring and fall blooming crinum that develops rapidly into a large clump, surprising you with twenty or more scapes per season. It seems to thrive best in well draining moist soil but will also grow in clay as long as drainage is provided and the roots can reach to the moisture below. I read once an article in a plant journal describing successful blooming of this cultivar in northern Germany, a climate similar to our zone 5b. The author assured the reader that the bulb was growing for the third year in the ground in his garden.
Zone 7
Blooming size bulbs $15.00

9., Crinum x 'Ellen Bosanquet'
A very vigorous breeding with lush, bright green foliage and an abundance of red campanulate flowers to celebrate the 4th of July, filling the evening air with a pleasant fragrance. The deeply saturated color of the flowers may vary from site to site, the size of the plant as well. Yet, if grown side by side with the same amount of water and fertilizer the plants will be identical. There are many new and interesting hybrids on the market, but 'Ellen Bosanquet' will not lack in any collection.
Zone 7
Blooming size bulbs $20.00

10., Crinum x 'Menehune'
Red strap-leaved boglily! Sports fragrant pink salverform blossoms. It is small plant for us, clumping up rather rapidly to display a bouquet of glossy burgundy foliage. Loves a sunny exposition. When Herb Kelly first mentioned it to me I expected to see a red giant!
Zone 8a?
clumplet $15.00

11., Cypella aquatica
 Elizabeth Lawrence would have loved to use this one. Golden, triangular flower-faces smile at you. Pleated orchidlike grey-green leaves produced in a tight clump adorned in late spring and summer with bright yellow golden blossoms. This small irid likes well draining moist soil. It will also thrive in a chemical free fishpond if planted in gravel in very shallow water. It wintered here under this condition with heavy wind and temperatures down to 18 degree Fahrenheit, The surrounding icesheet did not unthaw for two days. Like on many perennials the leaves were frost burned.
Zone 8
Blooming size clumplet $9.00

12. Drimiopsis maculatum
Let's call her African Hosta A little bulb produces spotted matte-green leaves and racemes of tiny white flowers and increases to a12" spread. Suited for the woodland garden where hostas would shrink in the drought although it performs very well in average garden conditions.
1 bulb $5.00

13., Habranthus brachyandrus
Rosy-pink goblets with a Rembrandt-red throat on 10" plants with narrow-channeled bluish green leaves recur for at least 10 weeks during summer. Thundershowers seem to pull the blossoms up to open 24 to 48 hours later. Well draining soil, top dressed in spring with organic fertilizer will reward you with a plethora of blossoms.
Zone 7
1 bulb $5.00

14., Habranthus robustus
The habranthus group, not a stock market broker, has mostly jade green channeled foliage and larger trumpets than the zephyranthes. This species has lovely pink blossoms with a white center from June to late August in our area.  Moist sandy soils to regular garden soil and clay with a topdressing of organic fertilizer suits them just fine.
Zone 7
3 bulbs for $5.00

15., Leucojum aestivalis
The snowflakes start flowering here in late February and continue into early April most of the winters. Although "aestivalis" refers to Summer, they are totally oblivious of late frosts, cold-snaps and the worst, which I call the Ides of March, the killing late frosts after a warm spring rain.
Small, white bells with green tips, three to five to the stalk, a profusion of them in a clump of bulbs, over the background of the spinach green, glistening foliage could not be imitated better in a floral arrangement. These bulbs grow for decades undisturbed in all types of garden conditions provided they get plenty of moisture during their growing cycle. Like lycoris, rhodophiala and all the other amaryllids, they are truy heirloom plants.
Zone 6
10 bulbs $16.00

16., Lilium formosanum
Pretty lily, which is the translation of formosa, hermosa pretty and referring to its origin, the island of Formosa. I do not know of a common name. A true lily, grows 4-6" tall for us with 10" white trumpet shaped flowers in August . Content in many different soils it does not usurp the growing space of other perennials. It is the exclamation mark in the late summer-garden. A blessed person may observe a lunamoth visit the deliciously fragrant blossoms. If it really likes your garden, it will form tight clumps. Or it may seed out and surprise you in a crevice of the walk. I have seen it as a "survivor" plant in a woodland area spreading very slowly over a period of 20 years. A friend in the cut-flower business in N.J. used to buy these from us. The seed pods are quite useful in dried flower arrangements. It gravitates to neutral or more alkaline soils.
 Zone 6
1 gal $8.00

17., Lilium lancifolium
The real, well known tigerlily with bright orange flowers sporting black dots that used to grow at grandma's. Actually tigers have stripes and leopards spots. This favorite of gardens all over likes partial shade and fits well as backdrop for shade perennials in a woodland setting.
Zone 5
1 gal $8.00

18., Lycoris radiata var. radiata
The most common of our "resurrection" lilies is triggered into sending up her scapes by the barometric teeter-toter and warm rains of the hurricane season. it's other commonly used name " spiderlily" desribes the sphere of spidery florets with narrow, curly, crinkled red petals radiating on short pedicels from the mainstem. The "mystery" lilies add color and excitement to the perennial or woodland garden at a time when many of the other flowers are exhausted from the sweltering heat of the summer. The straplike narrow dull green leaves have a near white keel giving the clump an overall greyish-green appearance. Their needs are few, just a topdressing of organic fertilizer whenever the workload permits.
Zone 5
1 bulb $4.00

3 gal full of bulbs $25.00

19., Oxalis crassipes
'Partnering' with campernelles, snowflakes, Narcissus x intermedius and some forgotten bearded Iris cultivar, naturalized around an old homestead is a sight one will never forget. Sandy dry soils to normal garden condition. Sun to filtered bright light. mainly during the winter months. It may go dormant during a prolonged 90 degree weather period.
Zone 7-9
3 corms $9.00

20., Oxalis regnellii var. triangularis
Red Shamrock forms tight mounds of burgundy red foliage, offset by pink flowers spring and fall. It goes dormant when the temperatures remain in the nineties or drop below 25 degree F. Similar to the stock-market it recovers readily. We recommend very well filtering sandy soil . For us it performs best in a lightly shaded spot. We do not cheat: the cormels are very tiny on this selection.
Zone 7
10 cormels $6.00

21., Pinellia pedatisecta
 Bird'sfoot Dragon with whorled  leaves are dissected into narrow segments. Green spaths with whiplike spadices extend some six inches or more over the foliage. An interesting partner to hostas, ferns and epimediums. This and the other pinellas were given to us by Jim Waddick and have slowly but surely increased by offsets and seed to permit us to offer them now.
Zone 5
 tuber $6.00  

22., Pinellia ternata
 Red Dragon, actually I like the common Chinese name 'crow-dipper' better. Tri-partite leaves, smooth and glossy, positioned just a little under the garnet-red spaths. The cream colored spadices greet you - or the tiny flies that have to pollinate the plants - happily. Propagates quite slowly although it does set seed.
 Excellent in a sylvan scape
Zone 5-9
 tuber $8.00  

23., Pinellia tripartita
Green Dragon perceived by some people as invasive!. It took us more than ten years to be able to share it. Lush green aroid, leaves in three sections, edges attractively frilled, with long yellow spadices waving from short slender spaths. It will produce seed. If you want only the "mama"-plant, cut the wilted flowers. She, the "mama", will increase very slowly to form an attractive woodland ornament.
It offers summer foliage where the sanguinarias or podophyllums go dormant. It emerges very early, even during nightlong temperatures below 32 degree F.
Zone 5
1 tuber $6.00  

24., Rhodophiala bifida
Called Oxblood Lily, Schoolhouse lily in the western South. A welcome immigrant from middle-America it settled around old homesteads under oaktrees and near buildings, showing narrow, glistening, flexible green foliage all winter to go dormant in May. In late summer when the tropical disturbances bless us with warm rains the flowers emerge a la naked lady, favoring us with 2 - 5 tubular, sideways positioned, deep red blossoms per scape. The soil has to be well draining or the clay should bake dry during the summer to guarantee lots of flowers.
Zone 8
1 bulb $5.00

25, Scadoxus multiflorus
St. Kathrina's Lily may be hidden in deep shade or thrive with morning or afternoon sun, it will not be overlooked. The glossy broad foliage on purplish red speckled stems alone is worth cultivating this African bulb. The inflorescens deserves the name multiflorus. A myriad, well maybe only 50 to 60 tiny starlets form a ball of fire. Cool, it does not actually burn.
Zone 8
1 bulb $5.00

26., Sprekelia formossissima
St. Jaobs Lily or Aztec Lily, a friend that travelled northerly to enhance the Southwestern gardens and remained to spread throughout the South. Bright red sparkling 5" flowers appear sometime in midsummer, depending on the winter we had , sooner or later.
Zone 8
1 bulb $5.00

27. Zephyranthes atamasca
Atamasco lily or Easter lily locally, a winter-growing 'rain-lily', blooming after thunderstorms, or drastic barometric changes, which may occur here year-round, with 4-6" tufts of dark-green glossy, grassy foliage displaying large crocus-like white blossoms, tinged pink in bud and after anthesis. Sometimes they bloom as early as mid- November continuing to mid-May. This was one of Thomas Jefferson's garden jewels. Rare and sparse as all natural stands are being destroyed and seed does not always set.
Zone 7
1 bulb $ 5.00

28. Zephyranthes candida
Rio de la Plata Lily flowers for us from late July till frost. Likes sandy moist yet well draining soil to aquatic conditions, provided the roots are not stuffed into an anaerobic hole.
Zone 7
4" pot $5.00

29. Zephyranthes citrina
Golden Yellow Rainlily 
Similar to the Rio de la Plata Lily but yellow, Similar growing conditions
Flowers mid to late summer for us
4" pot $ 6.00

30. Zephyranthes grandiflora
Big Pink Rainlily blooms sporadically from April into October for us. It's foliage is glossy and broad like that of LaBuffa rosea adorned by deep pink, large goblets.
 Average garden conditions with long soakings or heavy rain showers promotes abundant flower production. Many of the Zephyranthes like their roots crowded. Place a few round pebbles into the soil at planting to simulate a natural condition.
Zone 7
4" pot $6.00

31. Zephyranthes 'Grandjax"
Pink rainlily, blooms together with candida and requires similar growing conditions.
Zone 8
4" pot $14.00

32. Zephyranthes 'LaBuffa rosea'
thrives in drier conditions, sun to part shade, blooms white to pink. Different strains have been selected, but ours are mixed. Good foliage, nice for borders or massing. Nice companion for roses.
Zone 7
4" pot $10.00

33. Zephyranthes Sunset Strain
Goblets hued in the pastel shades of the setting sun
Zone 8
4" pot $8.00