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Sternbergia lutea:

© Gary Buckley

Sternbergia lutea is arguably the best Fall flowering bulb for the garden. With its flowers 4-5cm long and often as wide, their bright clear yellow lights up the garden. The flowers are carried on sturdy stems up to 14-16cm in height. I can't show you a photograph of these as mine flower before the leaves are present; the leaves appear after the flowers open.

Though I do have a small colony where the leaves are present at flowering time, these tend to flower after the ones you are looking at.

In Sternbergia lutea it is normal for them to flower with and without the leaves depending on your parent stocks, the location from which they originally came. The leaves are linear, often dark green to a bright lustrous green, depending on your source, but always they show a slightly channelled appearance on top.

Whilst Sternbergia lutea is Fall flowering, depending on your Country and growing aspect these will flower at different times within the season.

So, in the Northern Hemisphere they flower during September to October and in the Southern Hemisphere they flower from March and into April.

It is good to look at where these bulbs come from so we have a better understanding of how they evolved.

Sternbergia lutea grew wild in the Mediterranean regions from Spain and Turkey. To the east, they are in Iran and into Russia. This bulb has a long history in cultivation, being first introduced around 1596 I believe. I can well believe the biblical scholars who feel that Sternbergia lutea is the fabled The Lilies of the Field.

I have read on the web that these don't mind been damp to wet; might I respectfully suggest this is far from the truth. In their native habitat these are generally found growing on well drained limestone hills and scree slopes. The material here does not allow for water retention. Both in cultivation and in habitat Sternbergia lutea thrives in countries which have fairly warm to hot summers, during which the bulbs can lie dryly dormant. Although the leaves are present into early winter when temperatures can plummet, this at least in countries such as the United Kingdom seems not to damage the foliage, which of course in turn, allows flower production for the coming season.

I do not know how cold is safe for their minimum range, as I have only lived in Zone 7, and Sternbergia lutea were fine when living there. Friends tell me they are fully hardy in the British Isles.

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