Rare Bulb Varieties and Indigenous Plants

Gardeners who search for rare bulbs and plants, become collector’s perusing magazines, books, websites, and other gardens to find particular varieties and specimens. Bulbs that grow into these rare plants can range from $10 per bulb to $200. The results, however, can be enchanting, alluring, and express the imagination and hard work of the gardeners who have sought out these bulbs and cared for them from season to season.

Indigenous plant gardeners can sometimes be even more passionate about creating their green garden canvases as their pledge to recreate spaces native to the birds, bugs, and animals around them is often a fervent one. Reducing the impact of our carbon footprint on this earth can include reducing the gentrification effects on animals of an area when new subdivisions go in by landscaping with indigenous plants – which often includes bulbs that are often classified as rare and/or woodland.

Rare bulbs are typically not mass produced and therefore not available at shopping center chain stores. Boutique and specialty nurseries or horticulture specialists often carry them, and some of these are hard to find. Those who run these businesses do a great service upon this earth, however, by meticulously recording genus specifics, creating supply and demand of native and rare plants, seeds, and bulbs. Not to mention, it can be a delightful experience for gardeners and non-gardeners alike to walk among these types of plants, noting species from far-off lands or remembering plants from childhood that were once seen growing wild more often or remembered among the gardens of older relations.

Another joy of hunting rare bulbs is finding new and/or exotic specimens through catalogs, websites, and gardens – both public and private. These can be very inspiring finds such as Telos Rare Bulbs, a small sized nursery in Ferndale, California, that does most of their business online. Telos carries not only many wild flower bulbs, both favorites and rare, but also hard to find exotic species. New exotic bulbs are arriving all the time.

Grandmother and even great-grandmother cottage favorites like cat’s ears, fairy lanterns, dog-tooth violets (erythronium), and shooting stars (dodecatheon clevelandii) blossom in inspirational photographs on the pages of Telos Rare Bulbs’ website, reminding gardeners of the fields and gardens of childhood not often seen by children today. Thanks to websites like Telos, however, these rare bulbs are as easy to plant as the tulips and pansies offered at the grocery store. Collector type bulbs of snakehead and checkered fritillaries add drama and distinction to garden beds and flower pots already filled with standard and common variety bulbs.

Telos’ online offers a less nostalgic but definitely memorable bulb, the Arum genus: Dead Horse. It is suggested that this flowering Arum be viewed by a telescope, because it smells like its name implies… a dead horse. Stinky! In fact, it is said to be putrid, even nauseating and not a good choice for weak stomachs. The plant originates from the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearics. Although this plant is a rare find it has its own ‘popularity’ which the Telos website calls ‘fiendish’. Although they do carry these bulbs, they don’t keep many in stock at one time.

Two new rare exotic bulb varieties available now are:

• From Western China – Arisaema Candidissimum – looks like a pink and white candy-striped Calla Lily.
• From Japan – Arisaema sikokianum – an enchanting version of the purple calla lily with curly-headed spires that curl toward the sky from above a leafy bed – very fairy garden looking

Fraser’s Thimblefarms at thimblefarms.com is another rare plant specialty nursery that does most of its business online. Located in beautiful British Columbia they offer a downloadable catalog and post, twice yearly, a Collector’s List to set any rare bulb hunter into fits of giggles. It boasts over four hundred genuses of bulbs from favorites to the exceptionally rare. Available November and April, the Collector’s List is published on the website only.

Thimblefarms encourages gardeners to express themselves with exotics creating worldly passages in their gardens such as a Himalayan bed, an Asian garden, or a Kashmir border. Thimblefarms is also a native plant specialist for those looking for particular plants indigenous to their regions – this is a good hope for finding that rare bulb or favorite plant. Be sure, when ordering, to note the zone and sun exposure requirements and determine a suitable area before planting.

With motivation and a suggestion from thimblefarms.com taken to heart, here is one such worldly passage:

An Oregon Garden Bed Designed with Plants Native to Oregon

Suggested plants to include:

Rare Indigenous bulbs –

Trillium (purple, white – oregon, and double) deep shade, Dog tooth violets (white, yellow and purple), Shooting stars (purple and red), Narcissus (not rare), Daffodils (readily available but indigenous bulbs), Grape hyacinth, Blue bells coreopis, Violets, Wild Crocus, Wild Iris, Hosta, Small tiger lily, Shasta Lily (usually grows at high altitudes), Tiger Lily, Ruby Lily, A tiny pond with water lilies (cream, yellow and pink) and a bit of cascading water over rocks covered with native mosses

Native Shrubs and Ferns –

Maidenhair fern, Sword fern, The wild rose (both pink and white), Rhodedendrons

Trees –

Dogwood trees (pink, white), Tiny fir trees

Native edibles –

Salmonberry, Huckleberry, Wild strawberry, Blueberry, Cherry, plum or pear tree – for blossoms in the spring and fruit in the summer

Wildflowers grown by seed –

Phlox, Bachelor buttons, Wild Columbine

Add a sitting bench to enjoy the sights, colors, and fragrance of these many rare, but hopefully not forgotten, plants.

How about adding an other-worldly border? For information on a fantasty garden inspired by rare bulb plants and exotic gardening, check out the article “How to Grow a Fairy’s Garden: Increasing the Enchantment by Adding Rare Bulbs and Exotic Woodland Plants”.