PUSHING THE BORDERS

Charlie,

Does Scilla [Autonoe] madeirensis take any frost?

I have a pan of seedlings in the poly tunnel and was wondering if they should 'come in'.

Chad

Chad wrote:Charlie,

Does Scilla [Autonoe] madeirensis take any frost?

I have a pan of seedlings in the poly tunnel and was wondering if they should 'come in'.

Chad

Given its upside down growing season I would say keep in for winter (I have never tested ours!)

May I ask where the seed came from? rather disappointingly ours has never set seed

Seed came from rareplants.es.

It is still listed, but I think this is still the same batch that I bought mine from when they fresh in the spring.

Chad

I was just curious if it was someone in the UK that had been successful, I dont actually want any (not exactly true but I dont need any!) :)

Paul S wrote:Thalia dealbata

I tried growing it in my pond, unsuccessfully (probably lack of attention with too many projects going on) after being very taken with it in Beth Chatto's Garden back in 2008

I am starting to wonder if these very large tall clumps I see in photos are actually plants that have been summer plunged and winter protected because it behaved nothing like that here

hadn't considered that, but I'm up for giving that a try.

Pretty certain they are in the margin year round. Established plants with a free root run feeding in all that sludge will indeed get massive.

Paul S wrote:Pretty certain they are in the margin year round. Established plants with a free root run feeding in all that sludge will indeed get massive.

I suppose its possible I never had the right Thalia in the first place! I know some species are definitely tender

I'd say possible but unlikely - Thalia dealbata is overwhelmingly more common in cultivation. The others are hard to come by so I imagine even harder to get by mistake.