Bulbous and bulbous plants can be found in almost every garden.Many of them decorate flowerbeds in spring - who doesn't know daffodils, hyacinths and tulips?Lilies, gladioli, ornamental garlic and canna that bloom a little later are equally popular. But most gardeners forget that the choice is much wider. It is also worth planting tubers and bulbs of less known, yet equally beautiful species!
Hymenocallis membranaceae, belonging to the amaryllis family, delights not only with its beauty, but also with its subtle, sweet scent. Its other name is ismena, it is also sometimes called a spider lily.This nickname is due to the unusual trumpet-shaped flowers whose outer whorl resembles spider's legs.Depending on the species and variety, it reaches 20 to 70 cm in height, and its flowers can be white or light yellow.In June and July, they rise on stiff stems growing out of a whorl of long, narrow leaves.
Plant the onions of Hymenoptera into the ground at the turn of April and May to a depth of approx. 10 cm, in light, sheltered from the wind positions. It is not frost-resistant, its bulbs should be dug out and stored at 16-18 ° C before the first frosts come.The plant creates numerous adventitious bulbs with which we can easily multiply it.
The middle of summer is the time of flowering of the peacock tiger Tigridia pavonia. Its mottled flowers, with their original tripartite shape, appear among long sword-shaped leaves.Each of them will stay on the plant for only one day, and in the evening they will wither.But don't worry, more will bloom the next morning!
Interestingly, the tiny onion-like tiger tubers are edible.We plant them in a sunny position at the end of April, quite shallow, to a depth of about 7 cm.Tigrysówka is sensitive to frost, we dig it out in September, separate the nodal tubers and store it covered with sawdust until spring in a cool room (2-5 ° C), moistening it from time to time.
Sun-loving sparaksises
The tricolor Sparaxis tricolor blooms almost simultaneously with the tiger cub. Other species of sparaxis Sparaxis bulbifera, Sparaxis grandiflora are difficult to find in our country.Its three-color flowers with a clearly marked interior grow in pairs in spike inflorescences reaching up to about half a meter.They appear in large numbers between long, narrow leaves. Sparaxis love the sun, so that they bloom profusely, we also need to provide them with adequate humidity.
They only tolerate light frost (down to -5 ° C), so we have to dig them out in autumn and store them in a cool room until spring.In April, we place them again in the ground at a depth of 15 cm. Sparaksis can be multiplied by separating the adventitious tubers or the daughter tubers showing in the leaf axils.We can also sow their seeds, but then we will have to wait several years for the flowers of young plants.
Under what conditions should I store onion sets that do not winter in the ground?
Tubers and bulbs of plants that do not winter in the ground in autumn, and after cleaning from the soil, move them to a warmer, dry and airy room to dry.After several days, clean the underground organs of the remains of shoots, leaves and roots.We also tear off bulbs and tubers, with the help of which we can propagate the plants. We store onions with covering scales without covering, while the fleshy roots of plants and organs without a covering husk, which naturally protects them against drying out, such as for example in nerin, ismen, eukomis, crocosmia or tigers, are covered with peat or sawdust.
Sparaksis tubers and Eukomis bulbs, like most plants, are stored at 5-10 ° C. Tigerska bulbs are stored at a temperature of 2-5 ° C, while the highest storage temperature, i.e. 16-18 ° C, is required by Hymenoptera. storage conditions.
Multicolored eukomisy
Related to the hyacinth Eukomis Eucomis blooms in the summer. It creates a magnificent cluster of inflorescences, at the top ending with a characteristic plume of leaves, which resembles a pineapple inflorescence. The most popular species is the bicolor eukomis eukomis bicolor, but others such as the autumn eukomis autumnale and the soft-leaved eukomis comosa are available.We can find varieties with white, yellow-green, and even pink, single-color flowers or with a darker border.
These plants like semi-shaded, well-drained, but moist positions, because even a slight water deficiency reacts with wilting of the leaves.Plant the bulbs at the end of April, depending on their size, to a depth of 10-15 cm. In autumn we have to dig them out and move them to a cool room (5-8 ° C).
Eukomisy form a few adventitious bulbs, but we can also successfully propagate them from leaf cuttings, especially in the case of hybrid varieties.The seeds of the species can be sown, but we must bear in mind that the plants obtained in this way will, unfortunately, only bloom after a few years.
