Ismene Species, Peruvian Daffodil, Spider Lily

I inherited 2 clumps of Peruvian Daffodil's when we bought a house that had sat vacant for 5 months. I mention that because these things...Read More survived through the heat of Summer without being watered outside of rain showers (which are not frequent in this area). Now I don't think they would take that abuse forever. They like and need water to be their best, but I mention that because they are quite hardy. The next year we had once in a blue moon freezing temperatures and we hit 0 degrees several days in a row. And yes, they survived that as well. I receive many compliments from visitors about them. They like the leaves. The leaves have that tropical flair. I do want to stress though that they can really take over a space if you let them. My two clumps are 3 ft in diameter and then if you count the space where their flowers hang down, that could easily become 5 ft'. Mine are tall - at least 4 1/2 ft if you include the height of the flower stalks. I also want to add that these are growing in an area that only gets part day sun. In summary, they are unique and beautiful and if you are a Lily lover, I would say, you need one of these.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, near the coast. I planted these probably 15 years ago, and in all that time, I've had one flower. I...Read More get lots of foliage, but no flowers. The bulbs have multiplied like crazy, and last year I sent off a bunch of them to a friend in Las Vegas. They grew very well for her, so this year I dug up all the rest of them and mailed them to her. At least this way I get to see pictures of the flowers. :(

I don't know where I got this plant. It was growing in my flower bed. I have had it for a long time. Don't remember How long.
I f...Read Moreirst transplanted it to a large square pot. It grew in the full morning sun. It out grew that pot before end of summer. I separated it . I ended up with 8 plants. I planted it in several pots and different part of the yard in flower beds.. This plant was in morning sun and afternoon sun. it has done well here in Kemp Texas. With lots of water it grows and multiplies and blooms. With little water it just grows foliage.no blooms or few blooms. Last year it did so well I gave about 15 starter plants away free. I have two in the same spot for about 4 years, part shade and part afternoon sun. It is huge looks good with just foliage.. Last year I only had a few blooms, I didn't not water it too much. This year I fertilized it every ten days with bloom booster and gave it plenty of water regularly. it had two stalk with a few white flowers, and a week later I had 8 stalks with blooms some had 6 flowers on each stalk. I live in zone 8a. I don't dig them up, they stay in the ground year round. these two plants started out as one bulb 4 years ago. now it is huge, looks good till the frost kills it, comes back every year bigger than the last. I cover it with leaves for the winter, uncover after danger of frost. All I can say I love this plant. It does well for me and has multiplied and bloomed. With regular fertilizer and plenty of water it will serve you well. I think with plenty of water it would do good also. Just have to see what works for you. also these two plants have not been divided. I like full look don't like it to look sparse. If I could I would post a pic of it.

I bought a pack of three late last spring at the mark down bin at WalMart because the flowers looked very exotic in the picture. All thre...Read Moree came up and bloomed last year. This year the plants are twice as big as last year. Hopefully they will have alot more flowers this year.

I grew mine in a small pot with every intention of selling it as a started bud... I got too busy with other projects so I never got aroun...Read Mored to it and now I have 4 blooming flowers on the daffodil and I love it. I would put it in a larger pot but at this point, I really don't want to disturb the roots.
I'm going to keep this flower and grow it every year for as many years as it can.


Is it true that the blooms last only for a week?

just a wonderful harbinger of spring !! , especially after this unusually frigid winter . it's amazing that such a dainty looking flower ...Read Morehas such a hardy 'soul'. a real stunner in any garden, foliage included.

I also purchased the bulbs from Wal-mart about 3 years ago. Because I live in northern Wisconsin, I lift the bulbs every year and store i...Read Moren my basement. The first two years, there was nothing but about 12 inches of foliage but this year I started the bulb under a grow light in March and the plant is 3 feet tall and outside in a pot right now in full bloom! It was untouched by the cold nights this past week which were around 34 degrees.

Mine just bloomed yesterday (May 17, 2009) and is lovely. I orginally thought it was alot like a swamp spider lily we have around this ar...Read Moreea. I planted the bulb (from Walmart) on Feb. 18 and so it took 3 mos. to bloom. I have it in a pot now but will add it to the garden somewhere.

This plant seems to be more hardy than what it says here. All of the literature I have read has said 8a and higher. I have never dug mine...Read More up and they have returned for about 5 years now. I rarely have much success with them blooming, but this may be due to our drought that has been persistent for about three years now (Especially 2007). They are planted in clay soil and last year produced many leaves. Wonderful flowers if they bloom.

Update: This winter finally killed them. Seems winter moisture is the main problem and not the cold. If you are going to keep them outside in less than zone 8 they will need to be kept dry.

Last summer I planted 2 amarylis bulbs in a flower bed in back of my house. And 2 of these peruvian daffodils just came up and had beauti...Read Moreful blooms...no smell though. I had never seen them before and didn't know until a few days ago when I saw some bulbs for sale at Wal-Mart what they were even called. Anyway I am hoping they come back this summer. I live in zone 7.

Love this plant for the tall lush foliage with or without the incredible flowers. Planted 4 small bulbs three years ago, dug them up 2/0...Read More8 to declump and amazingly I now have 40 bulbs - 12 were the size of a small grapefruit, many more about tennis ball size and smaller. Haven't had any insect problems with these.

Easy to grow, thrives in full afternoon hot Texas sun, foliage reached 2-3 feet, freeze knocks them out, but they seem to come back even stronger. Is not a real profuse flower producer, averages usually 1 flower stalks per bulb, typical of the daffodil family. Offsets grow quickly and are plentiful if left in one spot undisturbed over several years.

This plant with its exquisite bloom is a bulb, and like most bulbs it hates pots. It will bloom in a pot if the bulb is large enough, bu...Read Moret the bulbs will shrink in pots like most bulbs do, even when planted in huge pots. It also has contractile roots and will pull itself down into the soil to 18 inches deep, since it doesn't grow until the soil warms up it may not emerge until August the following year, and here where it rains nonstop Fall thru Spring, a very wet year can rot the bulbs. It is best grown in a very well drained, hot location or lifted every fall and replanted when the soil warms up. It can also be grown in large pots, the leaves are attractive also. The blooms only last about 1 week, but hold in a cooler for cut flowers very well, opening quickly after warming.

Well, not totally negative but i have some complaints on this bulb!
I grow it in a large pot. It dies down in the winter but in s...Read Moreheltered areas it may keep it's foliage (in my climate zone).
Pros:
-Beautiful and fragrant flowers.
-Tropical foliage.

Cons:
- Needs large (in fact huge) space - won' t flower in small pots.
- Flowering lasts very short, for about a week.
- Foliage is huge and flowers are few.
- When overcrowded it won' t flower.
-When divided it won' t flower until the following year.
- Uprooted bulbs won' t flower until the following year.
I personally prefer Pancratium maritimum ( Sea daffodil) which is much smaller but produces similar look very fragrant flowers and needs no special care except adding some salt in the compost.

I actually ran across these in Walmart, and picked up a package just because I thought they were so beatiful. I planted them in the beds...Read More under a couple large shady trees, and they did great! Mine never did have any fragrance, but I looking forward to finding some more for my new home. Very very easy no mess plant.

I planted these for the fist time last year and they bloomed wonderfully. So far this year, I have not even seen a leaf. I didn't dig t...Read Morehem in the winter as I am in zone 8 and thought they would be fine. Very disappointing that they are gone.

I have this plant and if yours is not blooming but growing, it may be planted to deep.

I plant what started out as ten bulbs every spring. I of course have to dig them each fall after a killing frost. In three years in ric...Read Moreh soil and if well feed my orginal ten has turned into 15 blooming size and 8 or 9 smaller bulbs that will need to grow a year to be blooming size. Put lots of compost in the planting area and add some bonemeal. The bulbs need to be the size of small baseballs to bloom freely. Dig carefully!!!!!

I have these planted for atleast 4 years ago. They are growing and multiplying like crazy but not blooming. There is someone down the s...Read Moretreet from me and theirs bloom. I love the pictures I see but don't know what to do to make them bloom. :o( Can anyone tell me what to try?

This is my first year growing these. I bought these plants ONLY because they were reputed to be so very fragrant. I have 3 blooms opened ...Read Moreand there is absolutely no fragrance whatsoever!! In fact, I have checked them at several diff times of the day today to see if maybe they were evening fragrant- LOL! I do like them anyway, as they are very beautiful, but I am very disappointed that there is no nice smell.

This plant is a dependable spring bloomer for me. Fairly easy care.

Dramatic blooms.

Does well in large containers outside in summer; overwinters in basement, usually left in pot till repotted in spring.

Recieved as a mystery bonus with an order of perennials. Has been growing in my garden for three years. No need to dig up in fall as it...Read More survives the winters in the ground just fine.

I grabbed a few of these bulbs out of the discount/late season bin at Lowe's just on a whim. Normally I like really colorful flowers, but...Read More the shape of this one looked interesting. Well, turns out to be one of my favorite plants in my garden this year! I have it planted with some agapanthus and dwarf agapanthus, so the leaves are pretty similar but the white blooms are really striking against all the lush green foliage. Really beautiful profuse bloomer, with sort of a daylily grace to it. I will definitely get more of these for next year and I can't recommend them enough, particularly in the Houston area. I'm just going to leave them in the ground and assume they will naturalize like a regular daffodil.

Peruvian (or Italian) daffodil is a lovely plant.... it has long strappy leaves (similar to clivia) and a large spidery blossom.... lar...Read Morege like an ammaryllis but similar to a daffodil in that it has a cup surroundedd by petals.... but these are not regular daffodil like petals.... long and twisty.... feather almost..... the SCENT IS WONDERFUL.... fairly powerful on a warm evening..... Great for pots on a veranda etc. where you can sit and enjoy the scent.... takes fairly well to pot culture where it cannot be grown outdoors.... let bulbs dry out and store for the winter.... I find this bulb to be one of the easiest summer bulbs to overwinter and bloom the next year.... alsways does well.... highly recommended... plant a few for blossoms as each bulbs only gets a few blooms.... :)

I rec'd this as a free bulb when I purchased a plumeria cutting at our local fair. I planted the bulb in the middle of May and yesterday...Read More the first bud bloomed and today another; 3 more buds are yet to open. I am enjoying this!

I planted two groups of six (6) bulbs in the middle of April (Atlanta Area) and the first bloom arrived May 10th.
A second bulb is...Read More now open (May 14th) and has four blooms open a the same time and 5 others set to open.
These are the white variety. I am expecting 10 bulbs of the yellow variety in a few days and expect the same results. The first blooming was cut and put in water, it has continued to open new blooms.

Hortus Third lists this species as a hybrid of H. longipetela and H. narcissiflora.

Gorgeous flowers - beautiful curved, long foliage create an amazing look! For those in colder climates, gorw in containers that can be p...Read Morelaced in a frost-free spot, such as a basement for the winter.

I've grown Peruvian Daffodil for three or four years now, first near Atlanta, Georgia, zone 7b, and now in Northcentral Florida, zone 8b....Read More I had heavy clay soil in Georgia, and quite cold winters, and lost one of the two bulbs I had planted, but the other bulb survived transfer to Florida, and almost a year in a pot. The plant now resides in a raised bed where it grew to a huge size this Summer, as here in Florida I have sandy soil with a lot of humus. Unfortunately heavy rain during bloom time ruined the fabulous flower within two days.

I'm glad to learn it likes wet conditions and will transfer it to a wetter location this fall where hopefully it will spread. It is a beautiful plant with a spectacular flower.

December 11, 2003: I finally transplanted my bulb a few weeks ago to both a wetter and sunnier new flower bed, and I was amazed at the size of my bulb. I don't have any offsets yet, but then this is this poor bulb's fourth home in as many years. When I moved it I promised this would be its final home, so hopefully it will multiply in its new setting.

My son had a row of these jade green fleshy plants on the south side of his house about 18" tall. They received very little water. When h...Read Moree was selling the house, we installed an irrigation system. Within a few days they bloomed. I took one bulb and planted it in a wet area of the yard, The next year I had three flower stalks. Now 3 years later I have picked 21 stalks and, there are at least 3 more coming!
The plants are in a very wet area all year and, they love it. The soil is a clay loam with a slightly basic ph. The longest leaves are 31" long, 2 to two and one half inches long, one eighth to one quarter inch thick. They are a beautiful dark jade green color all year long.
The flowers when cut last 1 to 2 days each and, then one or two more open until the stem is exhausted. One stem in the house lasted two weeks and, produced seventeen flowers! The flowers have a delightful gentle perfume like scent. Unpicked they last two to three days each and usually have two to three flowers open at a time.
Culturally I've done nothing. I plan on deviding the bulbs this fall. The European Brown Snails love to eat them and, must be controlled. Twenty eight degrees is about the lowest temp they will stand without burning. 108 degrees this year has not affected them.

2003 was the first year I planted the peruvian daffodil. I planted four and all thrived, but only 3 bloomed. I think this is now my favor...Read Moreite flower - it's flower is delicate, yet the plant itself is very strong.

As with a lot of plants that I see in the nurseries and buld/garden catalogs, I decided to grow the Peruvian Daffodil for myself. I'm gl...Read Moread I did! Of course I was amazed by the beauty and frangrance of this flower, but I was also amazed by how fast it grew once I planted the bulb. In a few days, the new growth broke the surface of the soil. In less than two weeks, the bulb produced plenty of healthy leaves and started to send up it's flower stalk.

In less than a month, the first flower bud was in full bloom! I pinch off the pollen sacks in an effort to prolong the life of the flower. The flower stalk produced four flowers that year.

As the weather cooled (Zone 6 in Cleveland ... less than a mile from Lake Erie), I stopped watering the Peruvian daffodil in preparation for it's dormant period. When I pulled the bulbs out of the soil, I was surprised by how many new bulbs that were produced by the original bulb. And the original bulb was larger than when first planted. The largest of the newly formed bulbs was as big as the original bulb when first planted. It produced a flowering stalk the following year.

I'm in zone 4 so I must dig the bulbs up for winter - but I tried these the first time this year and had success in 3 of 5 bulbs. The fo...Read Moreliage is great even without the flower - though the flowers are great and fragrant!

Tried these for the first time this year. Planted the bulbs in pots in full sun on June 28 and they bloomed in thirty days. Mine reache...Read Mored about 28" in height and have beautiful blooms. They add a great splash of white to any floral arrangement.