Monday, April 07, 2008

Golden Brodiaea


Golden Brodiaea
Triteleia ixioides 'Starlight'
(try-TELL-ay-uh) (iks-ee-OY-deez)
Synonyms: Pretty Face, Brodiaea ixioides, Calliprora ixioides, Ornithogalum ixioides

This West Coast native is often sold as a perennial and it is except to us Zone 5 and 6 gardeners. I have never got it to come back so I treat it as an annual. Other experiences and viewpoints are always welcome here at Digital Flower Pictures.com, so if you have had good luck over wintering it I would like to know. Golden Brodiaea likes to grow with full sun and well drained soil. It likes to be dry in the summer and is nice for rock gardens. You see that this is a plant that has had a lot of name changes. Especially cool is the stripes on the buds and back of the flowers.

I took yesterday off from blogging but not from work. I had to leave early and got home late. Driving to the garden was 1.5 hours each way and that was with the light weekend traffic. I got everything done so that was good. Today I am continuing to uncover the roses at the big rose garden. The roses did well and look poised for a good season. Before this last winter the owners were having their people use an 18 inch diameter Rose Guard with compost and then they put up burlap around the perimeter of the garden. Last winter I suggested we put a foot of leaves over the entire garden and it worked. Losses went from 50 roses last year to about 4 this spring. The roses are all burnt where they were sticking out of the leaves but they are green under them. Removing all the leaves have been a chore but worth it.

3 comments:

zoliky said...

lovely shoots, I like your blog!

i beati said...

so very special on a gray day here. sandy

Ki said...

It looks a bit like Ixia and Ornithogalum. The former owner of our home planted a bunch of the latter and it has colonized a small slope but it flowers very late in spring for us but is hardy in zone 6 so it may be a good replacement. It doesn't grow as tall so that's a consideration.

I always wanted to try the unusual B. Ida-maia. Have you seen these?