I would LOVE to get some more crinums. I thought I'd be getting some from the UT gardens this spring -- but when I tried to divide their clump, the danged bulbs were so far down there that I couldn't get them out!! LOL! I just kept digging, and digging, and digging.....but I never did get to the bulbs. I was afraid I'd end up destroying the whole clump, so I gave up. Dangit!

My mother did the same thing Doc, she dug one up for me and said if I ever needed another one I'd have to do it. She broke her shovel doing it. Her's is a macowanii crinum. It's extremely hardy and absolutely HUGE. I have some I'm going to plant this year from recent swaps. I've had them in pots and keep bringing them in during the winter, but I think I'll give it a go and put them in the ground. There is a guy up here on Chapman highway who grows and sells a beautiful red crinum. You just drive up to his house and he'll dig some fresh for you right out of his own yard .
Now i have a question. I do have a beautiful Crinum 'Ellen Bonsanquet', pretty large plant too, but it's in a large pot. Does anyone know if this would be hardy here in zone 6 or 6 b?

Cheryl

Plant Delights nursery says Ellen Bosanquet is hardy to 6b --

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/02193.html

No, Cheryl it will not be hardy at your house. You need to bring it to me where it is warmer :).

Yipeeee !!!! I'm so glad it's hardy here, because it has a gorgeous bloom. Rebecca, just to be safe, when I plant it I'll get one of the babies for you so you can grow it there. If I kill it, you won't I'm sure and you can give me some back LOL.

Cheryl

Yeah, that's it! A backup plan!

About 10 years ago I dug up Milk & Wine Lily (Crinum x herbertii) from my great-grandmother's house in Louisiana and planted them here. The bulbs are about the size of a grapefruit. Now I have 7 large clumps that I'm going to divide to share with my Mom and sister. These crinums LOVE it in Lincoln County, TN. They are in full sun and bloom profusely all summer. New bloomstalks come up whenever there's a good rain or I water deeply. Here's a photo I made late yesterday afternoon of one bloomstalk.

This stalk is producing 20 someodd flowers so far, and this clump of lilies has five bloomstalks. I am 5'6" and they are about waist high to me.

Here is a link that might be useful: Milk & Wine Lily information

Forgot to say that I originally dug up the Milk & Wine Lilies in the early summer and planted them two days later. They bloomed by the end of summer. After about four years I moved them to their current location and they have bloomed every year. These plants have been pretty much worry free. If they miss blooming for a week or two, I give them a good watering, but otherwise I pretty much leave them alone.

Beautiful! Beautiful! And you say they bloom all summer. When you divide, if you have any extras, I would love to have one. You are so lucky that they have been in your family for so long. What a treasure! Thanks for the picture. I have heard that if often takes 2-3 years after planting before they bloom.

Farmerbell, decolady points out what I was driving at when I said they may take a year or two to bloom. She moved a mature clump and it bloomed the first year.

I bought a new one recently in a small 4" pot and I am pretty sure it will not bloom the first year. I think growers tell people that since what they sell is often a small start.

If we were so fortunate as to get a large, established clump, they might bloom the first year.

I seem to recall that many of them bloom once or twice a season, but not continually. Yours must be really happy decolady.

I love hearing that other people are cherishing their family treasure plants....especially since Louisiana is a very different zone. Maybe a little special love is helping it bloom so well.

I am so glad to hear that crinums grow here in TN. I brought a pot of "seedlings" from TX with me this spring and hadn't decided where I was going to put them. Now, I think I will put them in my Tropical Garden, up close to the house where they will be a "little" protected. And I think I will put my amaryllus beside them. The area gets about three hours of mid day sun, with morning and afternoon light shade, so they should do okay, (I hope). I love my new home and I'm so excited about getting my gardens planted!

About how long they take to bloom - my Mom was astonished that these did not go dormant when I moved them. She is 75 years old and remembers them in that spot in LA all her life. The ground was sandy loam, but I still had to dig down about 18" to get them up. And it was VERY difficult. I left most of the clump in place and brought the seven bulbs to TN. I can tell that each of my clumps is producing some new bulbs, so I will try digging them in the fall. If I am successful I will plan to bring some to the swap.

Does the sentimental value and special love make them bloom more? I wouldn't be at all surprised. Just to clarify though, these do put up bloomstalks during summer with rests in between. They are not blooming constantly. And the clumps don't all necessarily put up bloomstalks at the same time.

Becky

I went with a friend to pick tomatoes at her friends house---in their beautiful yard were two very well established crinums covered with bright red blooms in my zone 6.

They weren't at home, so I don't know what kind they were, but they were in very happy 4 foot clumps with 6 stalks of blooms.

I don't think there is any doubt many will grow happily in middle Tn. and probably here in east Tn. as well.

Has anyone seen any for sale in local nurseries?

There's an interesting article in August edition of Southern Living magazine on crinums. I had no idea how large the bulbs get.

What is this lily? Is it an Asiatic?
BTW, I'm so excited, this is my first posting of a pic. I did it!!! I'm not quite as stupid as I thought... maybe.
Ok, I did have help walking me through it. Thank you Cheryl!

Fantastic photo, Jeff!

Crinum lilies will do just fine in Tennessee. I live in East Tennessee over near North Carolina, and they thrive here. I have a neighbor down the street who has wine and roses crinum plus another red one. They grow like gang busters!

There are lots of pure white ones around, too. My understanding is that crinums are an old plant that was popular "back in the day" and are gaining renewed popularity today.

I can't wait to add some to my garden. I've really just started noticing them in the past couple of years.

Michael

That's a lovely Asiatic lily!

I've been growing C. "Ellen Bosanquet" here in Kingsport for over fifteen years and it does great. They've been blooming for about three weeks or so and looks like they'll be a few more coming on. I've also got a fantastic variation of the "Milk & Wine" that I got from a lady just over in VA about five years ago. These things are massive and just finished a two month bloom cycle. They usually bloom before "Ellen B." and then rebloom in Sept. I rarely mulch either variety and they've only gotten bigger and better each year.

The only thing I dislike about Crinum's is that if you ever want to divide them, you'll need a backhoe to lift out the large clumps! When I separated my original clump of "Ellen B." about ten years ago, the five year old clump wouldn't hardly fit into a large mason's wheelbarrow and the bulbs and root ball hung over the sides. I seem to recall getting over forty bulbs out of that clump. Now I've got about a dozen clumps that size.

If you ever want to get rid of a few bulbs, just let me know! :-)

I guess I'm going to take the big plunge and plant my Ellen Bonsanquet crinum in the garden. The main part of the plant is about as big around as a basketball lol. Here are some pics..

{{gwi:1284622}}




{{gwi:1284623}}

I would like to swap out part of mine for a hardy red or white.

Cheryl

It sort of bothers me, that some will, "hook you up"..
I can assure you that most all of the Crinium Lilies will survive in TN. I searched for many, many years before I found the plant from my childhood that I loved so well. It was the simple white pass along Crinium, that I so treasure to this day.
They are ever so hardy in our zone. I mulch them each year as a precaution, such a difference in the Carolina Coast and here, but they are wonderful. Bloom depends on bulb size..some bulbs are huge, up to 12 or more inches, which gives them the reputation as having to dig to the "ends of the earth" to get a start..I think they are well worth the effort.
Good luck and keep sharing good info so that we can all share as a group!

Remember Cheryl...you need a backup! They are beautiful! I'm sure I could find something or two for you in return ;) I'll be at your swap in a few weeks, OR you could swing on by the house. Oh yeah, do you have frogs that need a home? Coty and I are setting up a plaudarium.

Rebecca

Jeff, that lily is awesome, but so sorry that it will not survive in Nashville. You must promptly send them to me :)

Rebecca

Bec this is the third year for it so I must be doing something right. Do you split Asiatics? You know that I'd gladly give you guys one! Tell Doug and the kids we send our best.

We have some of the pink Crinums but after hearing about the trouble they are to dig up I may pass on trying to split those.

BOV, just kidding on the survival :). That's how I get Cheryl convinced that she needs to share to insure survival of her plants, LOL! But, you must know that if you show a photo of a beautiful flower, you must prepare to share, LOL! I don't know which one you have but I have not seen one like that before.

The bulbs can be dug up and split. I have some Lilium 'Shocking' that I could share with you and a certain canna that you might be interested in.

Rebecca

Forgot to add...As others have posted here, the crinums are quite a task to get out of the ground. We had some huge white blooming ones that had outgrown its spot and we dug them out (after breaking one shovel) and the bulbs were a good 18" long with huge thick roots anchoring them in the ground. I believe we sent them to a few folks on this forum but I don't remember who.

On the other hand, we had the milk and wine crinums like decolady pictured above and they were relatively easy to dig because they were smaller in size.

Rebecca

We got our Criniums from Lavonne's Aunt and Uncle in Greenhill, Ala. Those bulbs were bigger than a cannonball three years ago so I can only imagine how large they are now.

Mrs. Holder we would be more than happy to share those Asiatics with you guys. That Shocking thing is the yellow with red stripes right? I'd love to have some doubles! I just found out that Asiatics come that way too. I'm big on doubles in any kind of Lilly. I also didn't realize that there is a difference between Asiatics and Orientals. Everyday I learn how much more ignorant I am than the day before. How depressing!
I can't get an orange Canna of any kind to grow and we've tried three different ones!!!

Mr. Toothman, you haven't seen my orange canna! I grew it from seed so I am the only one that has it. It is a dwarf too, about 2 ft high if that much. Heck I will even name it in your honor :).

I even have an orange orchid blooming just in time for the season to start!

You go girl! Those looks great. I would be ever so honored to have something named after me that looks that good. I would expect maybe something like a toadstool or a disease to be named after me instead.

Merriss I'm kind of at a loss as to why you would be bothered by me "hooking up" Marty and her husband, or anyone else for that matter, with a Crinium at the Swap. That's pretty much the whole idea of having the Swap. Am I missing something here? I'd be happy to swap you one too if you would like! BTW, that was a wonderful gesture you made to the folks in La & Ms on their Forum. My hat's off to you!!!

Jeff

Well...the canna is only 2ft tall. :) :0

Behave!

ROFL, 2 feet tall LOL
ahem.....Rebecca those are absolutely stunning !!!!

Well I'm about two-foot tall when I'm on my back. I didn't realize that this was going to be a discussion of height.

Ms. Morgan, why would you be ROFL? You and Dr. Renee may be the only people at the Swap that are shorter than I am. ;-)

Sorry BOV, couldn't help myself *grin*.

Cheryl, get your sorry self over here and help me thin out some stuff! :)

Is Sunday open for you Rebecca ? Jeff, I'll have you know I'm all of 5'6" tall, in bare feet even ! LOL

Jeff, I'm 5'2" tall (and I don't want to think how wide), so I'm pretty sure you're taller than I am. I'm strong enough to carry one of those mega-crinum bulbs, though...

Marty

Looks like I'll stand out in the crowd. I'm six feet! LOL.

It takes more than height to stand out in this crowd :o)

Cheryl

Well, I may be at a disadvantage there. I've lost 105 pounds over the last two years, so I'm a mere shadow of my former self. ;-)

Oh my...surely you aren't making a crack about folks being overweight ? I was talking about strength of character, laughter, genuine kindness and such as that. I was not talking about physical virtues, which can be changed at the drop of a hat. I would hate to think you were saying that because you have lost weight you are somehow better than others ? It's what's inside that counts, is that not correct ?

p.s. Congratulations on losing all that weight ! That is fantastic !! :o)

LOL.

And here I thought I was your "special friend". For a "special friend", you seem awfully determined to imagine nefarious intent lurking beneath my light-hearted postings. ;-)

Cheryl, you obviously don't like me -- and that's okay, I can live with it. But this sort of ongoing sniping is both annoying and childish. How about just ignoring my existence instead? I'm sure everyone here would send you their heartfelt thanks!

Oh my goodness..I didn't mean a thing by what I said. I was asking a serious question. Why must you take everything I say with some kind of malicious content when there is none there ? I'm getting tired of your pettiness. You seem like a woman who has lots of LOL's in her sentences , but much heaviness in her heart. I'm sorry that we can't start over and really get to know each other, but apparently that's how you want it. For example, you will always have to have the last word...go ahead...and you know, God bless you, and may your gardens grow like crazy and you be a very happy woman. I'm just sick and tired of the crap from you, when I keep trying and trying to do nothing but be your friend. It's bitterness that eats at the soul. No fake LOL's here...I think it's very sad, and I mean that from my heart. Now I'm going back to packing up clothes for the Hurricane victims...why don't you go look at every post I've made and see what else you can add to it ? I'm through with it....I give up. I've tried to become friends with you so many times, but your sarcasm and emails, I'll admit, got the best of my temper. So you know...fine, we wont' be friends, it's not like I don't have MANY of them here. God Bless...let's just part ways...

I am ready to divide my crinum...do you think if I bring it down there you can help me , thus getting a big ole chunk of it for yourself ?

Cheryl

Tomorrow's good, come on over! Just don't write in the dust or mind the weeds. :)

Rebecca

Hey Marty that's right,I forgot about you there for a second. ;-) I'm feeling taller already!

Since we're having a Crinum discussion, I thought I'd ask:

{{gwi:1284627}}

I dug this bulb from my front yard about 8 years ago, under that maple. I then moved it to a place it really hated, and it never bloomed there. Late last year I moved it to its current location. It put up some straps but then died back with the cold. This year it started its straps in July, I think.

Do you think this is Crinum, Agapanthus, or neither? It's about 2.5 feet tall (which seems small for Crinum?)

It reminds me of my mom's Macrowannii crinum leaves when they are young, but not sure.

Cheryl

Rizzir, we have the same thing and it has never bloomed. Bought it at Lowes in the bulb section labeled as Hymenocallis. Then I was given what was supposed to be an amarylis and it turned out to bloom just like the hymenocallis! The foliage is completely different. I'm so confused! LOL!

Rebecca