Crinum moorei CrinumBulb with pink...
Crinum moorei Crinum
Bulb with pink or white blooms
After I moved to Echo Park several years ago, I noticed the next spring that several bulbs had sprouted all over the yard--in shade and in sun. I didn’t know what they were, so I left them alone. “I’ll pull them later,” I thought, “and put in something more suitable.”
I never pulled one, because the bulbs, all crinums, were the most suitable of all. I neglected them year after year, giving no more water than what came from the sky or the hose as I dragged it past to water something more demanding. Crinums seemed to thrive in dry, sandy soil without any added nutrients, ever.
Some of the crinums lived in deep shade; others received full sun or partial shade. The latter ultimately reached heights of 5 and 6 feet, with the large, light-green, strap-like leaves spreading a good 4 feet all around. Every June and July--about the same time as the pink Naked Lady amaryllis scattered around the yard--there are beautiful 4- to 6-inch pale pink, intensely fragrant flowers on long, sturdy stems. They are cup-shaped, sort of, with the lily-like flower tube protruding beyond the cup. There is also a bulb called Crinum powellii, descended from Crinum moorei, which has a white and a rose-pink variety, but I have never seen one outside of “Sunset New Western Garden Book.”
The only drawback to Crinum moorei comes after its bloom: The leaves droop in the fall and discolor, and the plant steadily wilts and looks terrible until it disappears in late winter, only to spring back about two or three months later. But such a temporary blight seems a small price to pay for beautiful, fragrant flowers and truly remarkable drought tolerance.
It is a mystery to me why this wonderful plant is so unknown and ungrown in Southern California. In these water-short times, it could add delicate flowers and strong foliage without adding to the water bill. Yet I could find only one Southern California nursery that carried it and only two that had even heard of it. Apparently, most crinums are grown in Florida, where two or three white varieties are also available.
If you don’t know a crinum gardener willing to share some bulbs and are not planning a trip to Florida in the near future, call your local nursery and ask if they can locate some bulbs for planting next fall or spring (crinum can be planted in either season). Or check with Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar; they say they will carry the bulbs this fall. Several species of Crinum can be seen at the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia: asiatica, bulbispermum, mauritanum, procerum, moorei and powellii.
