Hi
All,
Greetings from the Algarve, Portugal currently
6pm and 24'C (75'F).
I've been walking in Drimia/Urginea country today
and looking at plants and thinking. The plants were growing on open dry
stony ground which is typical.
Most bulbous species pull themselves down
into the soil with contractile roots as they grow to maintain themselves at
the "correct" depth. But, in stony ground this must be difficult or impossible
especially for a very large Drimia bulb. So my thought today is not
that they need or "want" to be exposed on the surface but rather that they can
survive being exposed if they cant pull themselves down. The fact that they
are poisonous to grazing animals and rodents means that they can survive on
the surface unmolested. The stony ground means that there are few competing
plants to shade out the leaves and compete for water and
nutrients.
Thats my thought for the day.
....by the way they looked lovely...sorry I
didn't have my camera with me - I could have shared a photo or
two.
Best wishes
BrianO
Hi
Brian,
You may well be right about Drima, but there for instance are
many African bulbous plants which regularly grow with their bulbs almost
entirely on the surface even in soft soils, so the reason for being on the
surface is not necessarily the same for all. In contrast I have
found a few African Gladiolus plants in the wild which had followed the other
path of pulling themselves under and usually their corms are _very_ deep,
commonly somewhere near two feet below the surface.
Even though our local climate here
is a bit on the cool side we can grow some of the Middle East bulbous
plants successfully, such as certain bulbous irises, by positioning them in a
very sunny spot as close to the surface as possible to ensure a good summer
baking. In contrast, because our winters are pretty mild with only light
frosts most tulips survive with difficulty unless they are buried very deeply,
as they do not get enough winter cooling. A few years ago when I was
still working, I got to know a garden where, come spring, along the shady
side of the house foundation on the south (cold) side a whole lot of tulips
suddenly erupted and flowered beautifully. This continued every year for the
several years I worked there. they were never disturbed and happily
looked after themselves.
Why bulbs position themselves where
they do would be an interesting study for a Doctorial
dissertation I think.
Best wishes
Moira
