Saturday, April 05, 2008

New Puschkinia In Town


Puschkinia scilloides is one of those neglected little spring flowers that's always listed in fine print on the back page of the bulb catalog under "Other Small Bulbs". However, I've always had a soft spot for it; it was I think, the first little bulb that spread all around for me, many years and four gardens ago. The fact that it made a valiant run at a complete takeover of that first garden, and the fact that it has followed me into each successive garden without really being invited, has not diminished my affection for it.
Now however, there's a new puschkinia in town: Puschkinia scilloides "Aragats' Pick". This is a selection of a superior wild clone found growing on Mt. Aragats in Armenia, the highest peak in that small, land-locked country and in the whole Lesser Caucasus Range. Aragats' Pick is superior in terms of being larger and sturdier than the regular commercial selection of puschkinia (perhaps it's a tetraploid). The flowers are 50% larger than those from the regular bulb, there are more of them (the bulb above will have twelve flowers), and the flowers are spaced better on a sturdier stalk (the regular species tends to flop its flower stalk over towards the end). Aragats' Pick also appears to multiply nicely.
I imagine my little tag-along puschkinias are a bit nervous now, but I won't toss them aside; we've been together too many years... of course some of my magnanimity stems from the knowledge that I'd have to nuke the whole garden to ever actually get rid of them.
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Comments:
Hi Don,
I have some electric blue ones of these, they do really well until the slugs find them.

Cheers Mark
 
I love puskinia also and have big colonies of it. I am looking forward to adding this. Up here in western WI were still on snowdrops and the very first crocuses - may two weeks behind.

Don - where do buy most of your bulbs?

Thanks


Ted
 
so beautiful....I saw a pretty little epimedium in the Wayside Garden catalog called epimedium ogisui......a mere 49.95 each! I thought of you.........lol
 
Mark... we're too dry here for slugs to be too bad.

Ted... You guys have REALLY had a long winter. I've bought bulbs everywhere. Since I'm getting to the point where I've got the commoner stuff, I'm into Bulbmeister and Odyssey bulbs, still a few from Arrowhead Alpines.

nancy... That had BETTER be beautiful!

Don
 
Thanks Don - I put together an order for Odyssey last fall but never quite got to them. I haven't heard of Bulbmeister but I check them out.

Ted
 
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