Tritonia crocata
Tritonia crocata
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
Requires a sunny position, preferring a well-drained neutral to slightly acid soil with a pH in the range 6.5 to 7[1]. Requires moisture in the winter and spring followed by a dry period in the summer and early autumn[2]. A difficult plant to grow outdoors in Britain, it comes into growth in the winter and flowers in the spring[3, 2]. The growing plant is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c[1]. Closely related to T. squallida, apparently differing only in the colour of the flowers[1].
Propagation
Seed - sow early spring in a greenhouse at 15°c[1]. It usually germinates freely[4]. Seed can also be sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a warm greenhouse[1]. Sow the seed thinly so that the seedlings can be left undisturbed in the pot for their first two years of growth. Give them an occasional liquid feed in the growing season to ensure they do not become nutrient deficient. When the plants become dormant in the summer, pot up the small bulbs placing 2 - 3 bulbs in each pot. Grow them on for another one or two years in the greenhouse before planting them out when they are dormant in late summer. Division. Dig up the corms in early autumn, dry them in well ventilated conditions at about 20°c and then store them in a cool but frost-free place over the winter, planting them out about 10cm deep in mid spring[4, 1]. Corms should be planted out in the autumn[5]. Cormlets harvested when digging up the corms in the autumn can be stored in a similar manner to the corms[1]. Larger cormlets can be planted out in spring, smaller ones may be best grown on for a year in the greenhouse. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Tritonia+crocata>
Pollinators
Bees
References
- [1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [2]Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books, London. · 1998 · ISBN 0-330-37376-5 ↩︎Excellent photos of over 1,100 species and cultivars with habits and cultivation details plus a few plant uses. Many species are too tender for outdoors in Britain though there are many that can be grown outside.
- [3]The New Plantsman. Volume 1, 1994. — Matthews. V. · Royal Horticultural Society · 1994 · ISBN 1352-4186 ↩︎A quarterly magazine, it has articles on Himalayacalamus hookerianus, hardy Euphorbias and an excellent article on Hippophae spp.
- [4]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
- [5]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
- [6]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.