We just moved into our new house in Portland in July of 2004, so
everything that happens in our yard is new to us. You guys were
helpful in identifying our autumn-flowering cherry tree last fall
(which is STILL blooming, by the way), so I've returned with another
mystery...

All around the front of our house -- under the arbor vitae, the
rhododendrons, the Japanese maple, the hydrangea, and elsewhere --
there are plants coming up. They look like they're some kind of bulbs,
because of the shape of the leaves, the depth underground from which
they come (I dug down 8 inches with a trowel and couldn't find the
roots), and the fact that there was no trace of them late last summer,
and some of them are growing in places that will be 100% shaded once
the Japanese maple's leaves come in.

Having come from Zone 4 (MN), I don't know what to make of stuff
vigorously popping out of the ground in January! Hell, maybe they're
just weeds (but if that were the case, I'd think they'd be more
widespread than just around the front yard).

I took some pictures and posted them he
http://adamschneider.net/misc/mysterybulb.html

Can someone who knows about bulbs and the West Coast take a look and
tell me what we're dealing with here?


Thanks!

Adam

Just take a chill pill and let them be.

Wait until they flower and then you will know what they are.


"Adam Schneider" wrote in message
ox.com...

We just moved into our new house in Portland in July of 2004, so
everything that happens in our yard is new to us. You guys were
helpful in identifying our autumn-flowering cherry tree last fall
(which is STILL blooming, by the way), so I've returned with another
mystery...

All around the front of our house -- under the arbor vitae, the
rhododendrons, the Japanese maple, the hydrangea, and elsewhere --
there are plants coming up. They look like they're some kind of bulbs,
because of the shape of the leaves, the depth underground from which
they come (I dug down 8 inches with a trowel and couldn't find the
roots), and the fact that there was no trace of them late last summer,
and some of them are growing in places that will be 100% shaded once
the Japanese maple's leaves come in.

Having come from Zone 4 (MN), I don't know what to make of stuff
vigorously popping out of the ground in January! Hell, maybe they're
just weeds (but if that were the case, I'd think they'd be more
widespread than just around the front yard).

I took some pictures and posted them he
http://adamschneider.net/misc/mysterybulb.html

Can someone who knows about bulbs and the West Coast take a look and
tell me what we're dealing with here?


Thanks!

Adam

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:00:38 -0800, Adam Schneider
wrote:


We just moved into our new house in Portland in July of 2004, so
everything that happens in our yard is new to us. You guys were
helpful in identifying our autumn-flowering cherry tree last fall
(which is STILL blooming, by the way), so I've returned with another
mystery...

All around the front of our house -- under the arbor vitae, the
rhododendrons, the Japanese maple, the hydrangea, and elsewhere --
there are plants coming up. They look like they're some kind of bulbs,
because of the shape of the leaves, the depth underground from which
they come (I dug down 8 inches with a trowel and couldn't find the
roots), and the fact that there was no trace of them late last summer,
and some of them are growing in places that will be 100% shaded once
the Japanese maple's leaves come in.

Having come from Zone 4 (MN), I don't know what to make of stuff
vigorously popping out of the ground in January! Hell, maybe they're
just weeds (but if that were the case, I'd think they'd be more
widespread than just around the front yard).

I took some pictures and posted them he
http://adamschneider.net/misc/mysterybulb.html

Can someone who knows about bulbs and the West Coast take a look and
tell me what we're dealing with here?


Thanks!

Adam

Looks like something in the Amaryllidaceae; without seeing it bloom,
all we can do is make guesses from things that would be commonly
planted, would tend to naturalize in your area, and would be up this
early.

Just a wild guess, it could be Galanthus (Snowdrop). It naturalizes
and spreads like crazy in moist gardens in the West. Once it blooms,
you can make a better ID.

--
Chris Green

In article om, Adam
Schneider wrote:

We just moved into our new house in Portland in July of 2004, so
everything that happens in our yard is new to us. You guys were
helpful in identifying our autumn-flowering cherry tree last fall
(which is STILL blooming, by the way), so I've returned with another
mystery...

All around the front of our house -- under the arbor vitae, the
rhododendrons, the Japanese maple, the hydrangea, and elsewhere --
there are plants coming up. They look like they're some kind of bulbs,
because of the shape of the leaves, the depth underground from which
they come (I dug down 8 inches with a trowel and couldn't find the
roots), and the fact that there was no trace of them late last summer,
and some of them are growing in places that will be 100% shaded once
the Japanese maple's leaves come in.

Having come from Zone 4 (MN), I don't know what to make of stuff
vigorously popping out of the ground in January! Hell, maybe they're
just weeds (but if that were the case, I'd think they'd be more
widespread than just around the front yard).

I took some pictures and posted them he
http://adamschneider.net/misc/mysterybulb.html

Can someone who knows about bulbs and the West Coast take a look and
tell me what we're dealing with here?


Thanks!

Adam

My insta-impression is that it looks like it'll be Hyacinthoides
non-scripta but there are other possibilities such as some species of
grape hyacinth or something else altogether. You'll know for sure in
February or March when they'll have judgeable buds.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

Look very much like Hyacinth. Nice to have a surprise garden in a new
house!

paghat wrote:
In article om, Adam
Schneider wrote:


We just moved into our new house in Portland in July of 2004, so
everything that happens in our yard is new to us. You guys were
helpful in identifying our autumn-flowering cherry tree last fall
(which is STILL blooming, by the way), so I've returned with another
mystery...

All around the front of our house -- under the arbor vitae, the
rhododendrons, the Japanese maple, the hydrangea, and elsewhere --
there are plants coming up. They look like they're some kind of bulbs,
because of the shape of the leaves, the depth underground from which
they come (I dug down 8 inches with a trowel and couldn't find the
roots), and the fact that there was no trace of them late last summer,
and some of them are growing in places that will be 100% shaded once
the Japanese maple's leaves come in.

Having come from Zone 4 (MN), I don't know what to make of stuff
vigorously popping out of the ground in January! Hell, maybe they're
just weeds (but if that were the case, I'd think they'd be more
widespread than just around the front yard).

I took some pictures and posted them he
http://adamschneider.net/misc/mysterybulb.html

Can someone who knows about bulbs and the West Coast take a look and
tell me what we're dealing with here?


Thanks!

Adam


My insta-impression is that it looks like it'll be Hyacinthoides
non-scripta but there are other possibilities such as some species of
grape hyacinth or something else altogether. You'll know for sure in
February or March when they'll have judgeable buds.

-paghat the ratgirl

Robert Chambers wrote:
Look very much like Hyacinth. Nice to have a surprise garden in a new
house!

Not always.

The house I bought a few years back had a mature landscape. Lots of
really great stuff.

But when things started sprouting, I never knew if I was looking at
weeds, or something that was supposed to be there. I ended up leaving
some weeds take over a couple of spots before I knew what they were.
Likewise, I'm sure, but will never know, that I weeded-out some stuff
that should have stayed.

Even so, I'm still glad for my mature landscape. Had I started from
scratch with a new house, I'm sure that I wouldn't have come up with
such a fascinating, and varied landscape.

Anyway, I'm thinking they look like hyacinths. The warm weather of the
past two weeks has got mine sprouting, too.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Compare the newest tax preparation software apps:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/taxes/index.html

Warren wrote:

Robert Chambers wrote:

Nice to have a surprise garden in a new house!

Not always.

The house I bought a few years back had a mature landscape. Lots of
really great stuff.

But when things started sprouting, I never knew if I was looking at
weeds, or something that was supposed to be there. I ended up leaving
some weeds take over a couple of spots before I knew what they were.

That was my experience last summer with the mallow: I didn't realize it
was a weed until it had colonized a good chunk of my wildflower garden.
(Back in Minneapolis, I had some nice-looking mallow with striped
purple flowers, but the stuff here takes up a lot of space and isn't
very pretty.) As for the mint, I knew that it was technically a weed,
but it didn't bother me; there are weeds and then there are WEEDS.

Moving to a completely different climate (Zone 4 to Zone 8) has been a
challenge. Dandelions and sorrel I know, but there are a lot of other
things that I've never seen before. But today, Jan. 27, I put pansies
in a window box and had the screens open, so I'm not complaining.

Adam

Adam Schneider wrote:

Moving to a completely different climate (Zone 4 to Zone 8) has been a
challenge. Dandelions and sorrel I know, but there are a lot of other
things that I've never seen before. But today, Jan. 27, I put pansies
in a window box and had the screens open, so I'm not complaining.

It is beautiful today, isn't it? I saw the andromeda about ready to
bloom yesterday at work. The bulbs are starting to show--spring's about
here! One of the things I really love about Portland is that spring goes
for *months*!

Kathryn Burlingham wrote:
It is beautiful today, isn't it? I saw the andromeda about ready to
bloom yesterday at work. The bulbs are starting to show--spring's
about here! One of the things I really love about Portland is that
spring goes for *months*!

Don't be fooled. It's only January. Usually this false spring comes in
February, but it's early this year. We still have six or eight weeks
during which the nighttime low can be below 32 for multiple days in a
row, and the daytime high won't get over 50. A February -- or even
March -- ice storm is not an unlikely event.

We've got some nice days to go out and clean-up some of the stuff we
couldn't get to in fall, but it's far too early to get into spring-mode.
Rose pruning time is still about three weeks away. Now would be a good
time to prune grapevines, and if you must get an early start on spring,
dormant spraying of fruit trees.

But spring does *not* come in January in Portland. Not even February!

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Compare the newest tax preparation software apps:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/taxes/index.html

Warren wrote:
Robert Chambers wrote:

Look very much like Hyacinth. Nice to have a surprise garden in a new
house!

Anyway, I'm thinking they look like hyacinths. The warm weather of the
past two weeks has got mine sprouting, too.

Grape hyacinth is a weed in many parts of Portland. Unless you like it,
then whee!

A couple of things to keep a close eye out for are bindweed and
blackberries. Either of those will take over if you let them. Check with
your new neighbors if there's something you're not sure of--if it's a
weed, they should know it.

Warren wrote:

But spring does *not* come in January in Portland. Not even February!

Hon, I grew up in the snowbelt of Upstate New York, where you grab the
first signs of hope pushing their way through the snow. This is spring,
trust me. There are many flavors of spring here, and it goes for months
and months, with new things unfolding all the time.

Don't worry, I'm not thinking of going out and planting peas yet.

Kathryn Burlingham wrote:

Warren wrote:

Anyway, I'm thinking they look like hyacinths. The warm weather of the
past two weeks has got mine sprouting, too.

Grape hyacinth is a weed in many parts of Portland. Unless you like it,
then whee!

If it's muscari, that's fine with me. It's not getting in the way of
anything, just coming up under evergreens and rhododendrons. And it
goes away on its own later in the year.

A couple of things to keep a close eye out for are bindweed and
blackberries. Either of those will take over if you let them.

I haven't seen bindweed in our yard, but there's a blackberry bramble
along the driveway (between our house and the neighbors). I keep it
trimmed back for safety's sake but I'm not about to sacrifice the free
desserts we get from it in August.

Check with
your new neighbors if there's something you're not sure of--if it's a
weed, they should know it.

My neighbors are even more clueless than I am about our local weeds,
and some have lived in Portland all their lives! I was talking to
someone on my block who'd never heard of sorrel and didn't realize
there are multiple kinds of dandelions.

Our worst weed here so far has been the bittercress -- this is
something they don't have in Minnesota, as far as I can remember, and
there's loads of it all around our house here. It flowers/seeds when
it's VERY small, and it loves winter.

Adam

Kathryn Burlingham writes:

Don't worry, I'm not thinking of going out and planting peas yet.

is your mother?

Ann Burlingham wrote:
Kathryn Burlingham writes:

Don't worry, I'm not thinking of going out and planting peas yet.

is your mother?

Not yet. She does have some sort of cabbage about half grown out there,
and the chard is coming along fine. The rosemary has decided to bloom a
bit too. It's raining now! That's the best sort of day, some sunny blue,
some gentle rain.

Kathryn Burlingham wrote:
Warren wrote:
Anyway, I'm thinking they look like hyacinths. The warm weather of
the past two weeks has got mine sprouting, too.

Grape hyacinth is a weed in many parts of Portland. Unless you like
it, then whee!

Grape hyacinth isn't hyacinth. It's muscari.

Muscari started sprouting in October/November. What's in the picture
isn't muscari.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Compare the newest tax preparation software apps:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/taxes/index.html