I am at that!
Thanks everyone. It's so exciting. L. cernuum album has been one of those dream-of plants; "if I ever find it and bloom it, my life will be complete". It happened so soon! Now I'm thinking... "if I can just bloom seedlings from L. cernuum album my life will be complete"!
You can bet I'm going to busy with these 'unique color genes' this summer!
Lorn, I was so fussy with this bulb. It took off quickly, but a few weeks after I potted it there was a surprising big (for us) freeze just as the growing tip was at the surface. It continued to grow. I was so anxious it would turn to brown mush... but then I started to fret that the potting mix was holding too much water (needs super fast drainage), so I unpotted and repotted it in 50:50 original mix and sharp sand when the shoot was just a couple of inches high. It was then I noticed the second shoot - still white and some way from the surface. I'd planted a single-nosed bulb (same one as posted in the species bulbs thread), so I was really surprised. I wondered if my interfering would set it back...
The first stem grew happily on as though nothing had happened until it suddenly stopped short and blind. Guess the freeze had killed the buds. But then the second stem that had been just hanging around like a puppy at the feet of the first, took off, zoomed past it and produced these wonderful flowers.
Is it possible this mountain lily is adapted to losing an early stem's flowering capability and responds to cold damage by producing a second, later stem? Such an intriguing species!!
