Buried Treasures: Finding and Growing the World's Choicest Bulbs

421 Pages·2007·8.94 MB·English

by  Janis Rukscaron

Jānis
US$39.95
Rukšāns
T
ake a few chapters from a John
le Carré spy thriller, add a hefty dose
of exotic travelogue, blend with one of
the best books on bulb growing ever written,
and you’ve got Buried Treasures. Since launch-
ing his first international mail-order catalog
in 1991, Latvian nurseryman Jānis Rukšāns
has rapidly gained a reputation as one of the
world’s foremost experts on rare and unusual
bulbs: Juno irises striped like exotic birds; gem-
Buried
Jānis Rukšāns has been growing bulbs since Buried Treasures is written in an informative and often amusing like corydalis; dusky, brooding fritillaries. For
B
decades, Rukšāns has been scouring remote
age twelve and since 1991 has operated his own
narrative style that exudes the author’s excitement when dis-
and dangerous regions of Europe and Asia to
bulb nursery in his native Latvia, specializing
in rare and unusual bulbs. He has taken part covering both new and well-known plants in the wild. It is a vast u Treasures bring back the botanical treasures that he
offers through his nursery, often contending
in several expeditions searching for new bulbs mine of information, describing not only the characteristics of
r with corrupt government agents, armed rebels,
throughout Europe and Central Asia. Along
the plants but also various ways to cultivate and propagate
drunken drivers, and even (before the fall of
the way he has discovered new species and has i
raised many internationally registered daffodil them successfully in spite of climatic and other setbacks, such e the Soviet Union) the KGB.
Once you read Rukšāns’s accounts of his
and tulip cultivars as well as many small bulb as those the author himself has endured.
d extensive travels, you’ll never look at a flower-
varieties. He worked at the Latvian National
Chris Brickell, from the foreword
ing bulb in the same way again. A crocus will
Botanical Garden and was the editor-in-chief

take you to the shores of Lake Abant in north-
of a horticultural magazine for nearly twenty
T
western Turkey, a tulip to the mountains of
years. He is the author of five books about
Chimgan in Uzbekistan. The flowers meld
growing bulbs.
r
with the wild and rugged landscapes that nur-
e ture them.
Finding and Growing the
Although adventure abounds in Buried
a
Jacket front, clockwise from top left: Corydalis Treasures, there’s a great deal more for the gar-
maracandica,Tulipa greigii,Anemone blanda, s World’s Choicest Bulbs dener seeking trustworthy information. As
Fritillaria eduardii,Iris kolpakowskiana,Crocus well as being a renowned collector, Rukšāns
u
heuffelianus ‘Carpathian Wonder’.
is a grower and propagator of bulbs second to
Jacket back, clockwise from top left: Gladiolus
none, and he generously shares his professional
atroviolaceus,Corydalis schanginii subsp. ainae, r
knowledge about the care and cultivation of
Trillium kurabayashii,Iris iberica subsp. lycotis,
e
Delphinium semibarbatum. every major and minor genus of bulb-forming
Spine, Crocus chrysanthus. plant. If you’ve tried and failed with a choice
s
Author photo by A. Smits. specimen, Rukšāns will arm you with the
knowledge to try again and succeed.
As richly diverse as the plants it describes,
Buried Treasures will open your eyes to the
ISBN-13: 978-0-88192-818-1
For details on other Timber Press books or to Jānis Rukšāns beauty and fascination of the world of bulbs.
receive our catalog, please visit our Web site,
www.timberpress.com. E
A
In the United States and Canada you may also N
reach us at 800-327-5680, and in the United
£30.00
Kingdom at [email protected].
PLATE 1. Theshadedsectionofmyfieldsinautumn
PLATE 2. ThesamefieldinspringwhenCorydalis solidaisinfullbloom
PLATE 3. Thesoiland
youngbulbsaresepa-
ratedthroughsievesof
differentsizes
PLATE 4. Boxesofseedlingsarewateredusingdripirrigation
PLATE 5. Theseedlingsarecoveredwithsheetsofrockwooltoprotectthemfromwinterfrost
PLATE 6. Dumontinia tuberosa,theplagueof
anemones
PLATE 7. Atulipstigmacanbeisolatedfrom
undesirablepollenusingacylindermadeof
aluminumfoil
PLATE 9. Eventhesmallestbulbsareeasyto
PLATE 8. Bulbsareplantedina“sandbed” findwhenplantedinwhitesand
PLATE 10. Bulbbedsarepreparedforwinterwithacoveringofpeatmoss.Theoutdoorbeds
alsoreceivedripirrigation
PLATE 11. Corydalis solida‘Snowstorm’ PLATE 12. Corydalis solida‘BlushingGirl’
PLATE 14. Corydalis solida‘FallsofNimrodel’
PLATE 13. Corydalis solida‘PenzaStrain’ PLATE 15. Corydalis solida‘Frodo’
PLATE 17. Corydalis solida‘Louise-
PLATE 16. Corydalis solida‘Gunite’ Elizabeth’
PLATE 18. VariousformsofAnemone ranunculoidesfromtheEstonian
islands. PhotobyTaaviTuulik
PLATE 20. ‘CarpathianWonder’isamongthemostunusuallycolored PLATE 19. Gladiolus imbricatusis
formsofCrocus heuffelianus extremelyhardy,growingwildeven
nearthepolarcircle
PLATE 21. DeeppurpleandwhiteformsofCrocus heuffelia- PLATE 22. Crocus‘NationalPark’,anaturalcross
nusgrowingsidebysideontheLizjamountainpass betweenC. heuffelianusandC.×cultorum
PLATE 23. Leucojum vernumvar.carpathicumcoversthefieldsnearthevillageofPodpolozje
PLATE 25. Crocus banaticus‘Snowdrift’bloomssolate
inLatviathatitisbestgrowninagreenhouse
PLATE 24. Leucojum vernumvar.carpathicum
‘Podpolozje’
PLATE 26. ThebestformsofCrocus reticulatussubsp. PLATE 27. ThefilamentsofOrnithogalum ortho-
reticulatusgrowinBessarabia phyllumresembleasecondrowofsmallpetals
PLATE 28. AhybridbetweenCrocus cvijiciivar. PLATE 29. Crocus versicolorisamongthemost
albaandC. veluchensis variablespeciesinthewild
PLATE 31. Crocus tauricusfromtheyailaofthe
PLATE 30. AnotherformofCrocus versicolor CrimeanPeninsula
PLATE 32. Crocus speciosusstartsbloomingin PLATE 33. TheleafmarginofOrnithogalum
September fimbriatumisintenselyhairy
PLATE 35. ThemarvelousspatheofArum
PLATE 34. TheCrimeanform(varietytaurica)ofScilla elongatumishiddenunderbright
bifoliahasthelargestbloomsinitsgroup greenleaves
PLATE 36. Sternbergia colchiciflorablooms
withtinybrightyellowflowersinau-
tumn,producingleavesonlyinspring
PLATE 37. Allium meliophilumisamongthe PLATE 38. Anemone blandaisknown
showiesttall-growingalliums onlyfromasinglelocalityintheterri-
toryoftheformerSovietUnion