You are welcome, Amy (got a copy of a nice magazine recently ;) ) I'm looking forward to seeing yours! I've been fascinated by Clivias ever since my grandma lived. She had an enormous 100 year old plant in a huge pot! [/quote]
Here is my Clivia seedling in full bloom for the very first time!! The seed came from a large plant that Matt Mattus gave to me when I worked as propagation & greenhouse manager for a large nursery & garden center a few years back. I collected the seeds and every one germinated. I gave lots of plants away and kept 4. This is the only one so far to flower, that I know of. Matt said it was an 'interspecific cross', but as you can see it is very much like the common C. miniata. But still very special to me! ;D
Here is my Clivia seedling in full bloom for the very first time!! The seed came from a large plant that Matt Mattus gave to me when I worked as propagation & greenhouse manager for a large nursery & garden center a few years back. I collected the seeds and every one germinated. I gave lots of plants away and kept 4. This is the only one so far to flower, that I know of. Matt said it was an 'interspecific cross', but as you can see it is very much like the common C. miniata. But still very special to me! ;D
Amy, Congratulation with the first flowers on your Clivia. Very nice and of course it is special! If it is an interspecific hybrid you should self it - then you can get some interesting results.
Here is my Clivia seedling in full bloom for the very first time!! The seed came from a large plant that Matt Mattus gave to me when I worked as propagation & greenhouse manager for a large nursery & garden center a few years back. I collected the seeds and every one germinated. I gave lots of plants away and kept 4. This is the only one so far to flower, that I know of. Matt said it was an 'interspecific cross', but as you can see it is very much like the common C. miniata. But still very special to me! ;D
Amy, Congratulation with the first flowers on your Clivia. Very nice and of course it is special! If it is an interspecific hybrid you should self it - then you can get some interesting results.
Trond...does 'selfing' simply mean to cross-pollinate the flowers back and forth with each other? I've never been clear on that. :P
Yes. Use pollen from the same plant. It doesn't matter whether you use the same or another flower. If your plant is an intergeneric hybrid (F1) then miniata seems to be dominant. In that case all member of the F1 generatin would be similar and probably show some heterosis-effect (extra vigour). But if you manage to get seeds by selfing you should get recombination on traits in the F2 generation. Then you have to grow and select new types ;)
Most of the Clivias in cultivation today are inter-specific crosses, that is crosses of various strains of Clivia miniata.
Here are two pictures of my yellow Clivs. The seeds came from South Africa through the Clivia Store. They came loose in a plain envelope. I was surprised that they came through the mail like that, but it worked. All but one seed grew and of the ones that have flowered so far, two have been lovely yellows. The one that has just bloomed is also strongly fragrant. Another seedling seems to be staying miniature in size.
The book 'Clivias' by Harold Koopowitz is the last word on clivs and well worth getting.
Now, anybody want about 47 miscellaneous orange Clivias????
The yellows are nice :) I know plants have sold for plenty, if not as much as snowdrops! How long did they take from flowers? My mom has a mass of orange ones from a plant I got her years ago, but they are too big for my house- I can fit many small plants in that space!
Mine took three years from seed to bloom, but the plants are still small. They'll be full size in another year or two.
I saw some seeds for 'pastel mix' Clivias advertised just now for $65 per seed. And I'm tempted! I must be nuts......
Yes Lis you are nuts!! I bought 6 seeds for a variegated form of Clivia for just $8.00 on ebay!! Give that a try....if you really, really need them! ;)
$65 a seed! For that amount of money I can go to London and back by air! And I do not have to pay extra for visiting the pub though ;) Right now a trip to London is $15! (+ some taxes of course with Ryanair)
For $15-- hmm, maybe I could drive to Edmonton or Calgary, 2.5 hours away (one way).... which is where I would find an international airport... any flight would be a lot more on top of that! Not to mention airport parking, which I'm sure is more than $15....And of course a return drive...
I'd say getting one variegated plant from 6 seeds is pretty good! I'd have thought the odds would be worse... they must have really bred that variegation in!
Initially two flowers without the leaves showing ,(I've cut off one of the faded blooms), --now another ,(immature), one with greenery coming away --you can just catch a glimpse of the beautiful markings on its stem.
I just showed this plant in Image of the Day, Ledebouria galpinii, from seed Jan 2010, first flowering- just after emerging from a short winter rest.. very small plant, should have pretty pink flowers...
Beautiful pictures, Michael. Am wondering about how to get my Moraea bicolor to flower. After 20 years of a pot/garden indoor/outdoor routine, it is a nice clump of leaves but never a flower. Am wondering about fertilizer. Would sure love to see some flowers like the ones I saw at the entrance to Kirstenbosch Gardens in Capetown. Perhaps you could give me an idea about this. Fran
Francis, my Moraea bulbs all get the same treatment. They are all grown in plastic pots in the greenhouse in a compost made up as follows. 50% soil,20% coarse grit, 20% perlite, and 10 coarse sand. The pot is filled to about three quarters with this mix and then a layer or coarse sand about 2cm. the bulbs are places on the sand and covered with the same sand and then topped with Grit. They are kept in the greenhouse with the heater set at 2C to keep the frost out. They are watered on the 1st of September and kept just damp until they have made good growth usually around Christmas or early January. Then I feed them every two weeks with tomato feed until flower buds appear. they like plenty of water when in full growth and as they are in pure sand it is difficult to over do it. Remember I live in the west of Ireland in a mild climate and we only occasionally get heavy frosts, although 2010 and 2011 were extreme with -17c for weeks. I have had them bloom out in the garden for years until the heavy frosts came. :)
Michael - Moraea aristata is stunning. I wonder how much winter cold some of these would take? I have a yellow Moraea (not sure of the species) which has been outside now for 4 or 5 years (with a low of -14°C this winter - but usually only to -8°C or so) and Watsonia aletroides has survived and flowered quite well. Maybe if given an insulated cloche through the worst weather...?
Trond, yes, my plant(s) is (are) Ledebouria galpinii :) just remember mine a)only just emerged from winter rest so leaves are not fully developed in the pics, and buds aren't open b)my plants live indoors all year, so with lower light, the leaves will be less flat, and less purple, but they do have the attractive texture, and the flowers opened pink :)
Here is Bulbine favosa small form; this is an easy and frequent flowerer :) Probably would be much more erect in full sun, but I'm just happy it flowers.... I may try to raise at least one of them this summer to show the caudex..
Ongoing flowering on my plants from Penrock seed as Ornithogalum unifoliatum; they are one leafed, but not succulent as that species should be? Probably one of the species moved to Albuca..
Trond, yes, my plant(s) is (are) Ledebouria galpinii :) just remember mine a)only just emerged from winter rest so leaves are not fully developed in the pics, and buds aren't open b)my plants live indoors all year, so with lower light, the leaves will be less flat, and less purple, but they do have the attractive texture, and the flowers opened pink :)
Here is Bulbine favosa small form; this is an easy and frequent flowerer :) Probably would be much more erect in full sun, but I'm just happy it flowers.... I may try to raise at least one of them this summer to show the caudex..
Ongoing flowering on my plants from Penrock seed as Ornithogalum unifoliatum; they are one leafed, but not succulent as that species should be? Probably one of the species moved to Albuca..
Some fresh pics of the Ledebouria galpinii
OK, I wouldn't have recognised it without the flowers ;) You do grow a lot of plants inside the house! How many pots do you have?
I once had a pot of L socialis inddors and the leaves was pretty nice, the flowers were not! However last autumn I was too late to bring it inside. It didn't take the freezing temps and died. . . . .
I have two types of L socialis, one is also flowering now- not fancy, but still nice- and this is a form with nice leaves... I have a couple other Ledebourias too, though some of the most amazing ones are very hard to get- especially in Canada! Here's a not very exciting photo from today of Ledebouria socialis (hard to see in this pic, but the leaf is a bit more shapely than my other form, nicer markings, and the leaf back gets darker in stronger light... Also Ledebouria 'Leatherleaf'
I have no idea how many plants I have inside-- I suppose around a couple hundred maybe.... No way I could deal with just outdoor gardening here when the season is so short...
I have no idea how many plants I have inside-- I suppose around a couple hundred maybe.... No way I could deal with just outdoor gardening here when the season is so short...
Well, I have about 100 I think - and that's enough for me. Takes time to check them all during the winter although some are completely dry during the winter. But you have some interesting ones, Cohan ;)
Some of mine are winter dry as well, though I am trying to get more winter growers, that's the whole point of having plants inside!! My best light is in spring and fall, so I have started to water my summer growers quite early, and late into fall, with a shorter winter rest, and half dry in summer; I follow a similar schedule for things like Haworthia, which are mostly winter growers in habitat, but I don't water during the darkest time of winter, and again in mid-summer (though its not hot here) I don't water again..
Some of mine are winter dry as well, though I am trying to get more winter growers, that's the whole point of having plants inside!! My best light is in spring and fall, so I have started to water my summer growers quite early, and late into fall, with a shorter winter rest, and half dry in summer; I follow a similar schedule for things like Haworthia, which are mostly winter growers in habitat, but I don't water during the darkest time of winter, and again in mid-summer (though its not hot here) I don't water again..
Have you sorted your plants in classes according to watering regimes or do they all get the same treatment? Or maybe you remember the exact programme for each and every plant you have ;)
They are more or less grouped, but I also have to fit pots where I can fit them, and where they can get appropriate light.. So I try to put pots with similar schedules together in trays, and give more or less water by making a looser soil for those that want to be drier -- this is espeically true for cacti; some plants though, just get stuck in where there is space.. Once they are adults and on schedule (seedlings tend to get water all year for a couple of years) I do know what schedule each plant needs.. That doesn't mean I always water them when I should....lol
Sometimes it seems the outdoor garden is just a small blip on the radar..... in fact, maybe I only imagined that there is a growing season outdoors here....
Thanks for the info about the Moraeas, Michael. I'll give it a try. I heard that a high potash content in the fertilizer was a desirable thing with these South African bulbs? Fran
I bought a bulb of this plant when I visited South Africa in 2003. Now I have a potfull of them and they flower from a long time every spring with nicely scented flowers.
I grow it in a pot and put the pot outside in spring/summer. It is completely dry during winter (stored in a cool but frost free room) and when I see new buds in early spring I bring it into a slightly warmer room and give it a little water. When the laves get bigger I give more water if necessary (depending on rain if it is outside). When the flowers are done in summer I put the pot behind something else and let the leaves die down during late summer/fall. It is an easy plant and seems to like that the bulbs are crowded.
Trond, I think I even saw some common Tulbaghia for sale at Walmart as dry bagged bulbs for summer planting- they've had a Nerine too.. I was going to say I wasn't sure if my summer was warm enough, but I guess (apart from risk of frost) my summer can't be much cooler than yours ;D And people do grow the big Gladiolus in the garden in summer...
Trond, I think I even saw some common Tulbaghia for sale at Walmart as dry bagged bulbs for summer planting- they've had a Nerine too.. I was going to say I wasn't sure if my summer was warm enough, but I guess (apart from risk of frost) my summer can't be much cooler than yours ;D And people do grow the big Gladiolus in the garden in summer...
Cohan, your summer is definitely as warm as mine. I would have problem growing the big gladioli as it often is too cool in summer.
I grow another Tulbaghia in a pot too. It is as easy as simmlerii but much smaller in stature. It flowers later in the summer and all summer till fall. I once had Nerine bowdenii in the garden all year for several years and it flowered regularly every fall, but I moved it - shouldn't have done for it died.
the seed are from wild collected source it was the only flowering one this year in the pot and I didn't control the name on the label so no idea what for sp. it is but it isn't violaceae I will have a look later
Comments
bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/10/2012 - 3:36amCyrtanthus breviflorus start flowering here
Roland
Amy Olmsted
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 6:18amYou are welcome, Amy (got a copy of a nice magazine recently ;) )
I'm looking forward to seeing yours! I've been fascinated by Clivias ever since my grandma lived. She had an enormous 100 year old plant in a huge pot!
[/quote]
Here is my Clivia seedling in full bloom for the very first time!! The seed came from a large plant that Matt Mattus gave to me when I worked as propagation & greenhouse manager for a large nursery & garden center a few years back. I collected the seeds and every one germinated. I gave lots of plants away and kept 4. This is the only one so far to flower, that I know of. Matt said it was an 'interspecific cross', but as you can see it is very much like the common C. miniata. But still very special to me! ;D
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 1:24pmAmy, Congratulation with the first flowers on your Clivia. Very nice and of course it is special! If it is an interspecific hybrid you should self it - then you can get some interesting results.
Amy Olmsted
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 03/12/2012 - 5:14pmTrond...does 'selfing' simply mean to cross-pollinate the flowers back and forth with each other? I've never been clear on that. :P
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Tue, 03/13/2012 - 12:37amYes. Use pollen from the same plant. It doesn't matter whether you use the same or another flower. If your plant is an intergeneric hybrid (F1) then miniata seems to be dominant. In that case all member of the F1 generatin would be similar and probably show some heterosis-effect (extra vigour). But if you manage to get seeds by selfing you should get recombination on traits in the F2 generation. Then you have to grow and select new types ;)
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 03/14/2012 - 1:48amI do fine with one ;)
Amy Olmsted
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 03/14/2012 - 5:40amFlowers are all pollinated..now it's the waiting game! :rolleyes:
thanks for your tips Trond!
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 03/14/2012 - 5:18pmThe yellows are nice :) I know plants have sold for plenty, if not as much as snowdrops! How long did they take from flowers?
My mom has a mass of orange ones from a plant I got her years ago, but they are too big for my house- I can fit many small plants in that space!
Amy Olmsted
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 03/14/2012 - 7:05pmYes Lis you are nuts!! I bought 6 seeds for a variegated form of Clivia for just $8.00 on ebay!! Give that a try....if you really, really need them! ;)
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 03/15/2012 - 1:46pm$65 a seed! For that amount of money I can go to London and back by air! And I do not have to pay extra for visiting the pub though ;) Right now a trip to London is $15! (+ some taxes of course with Ryanair)
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Fri, 03/16/2012 - 9:30pmFor $15-- hmm, maybe I could drive to Edmonton or Calgary, 2.5 hours away (one way).... which is where I would find an international airport... any flight would be a lot more on top of that! Not to mention airport parking, which I'm sure is more than $15....And of course a return drive...
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sun, 03/18/2012 - 12:36amI'd say getting one variegated plant from 6 seeds is pretty good! I'd have thought the odds would be worse... they must have really bred that variegation in!
Toole (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 03/21/2012 - 10:15pmHaemanthus coccineus
Initially two flowers without the leaves showing ,(I've cut off one of the faded blooms), --now another ,(immature), one with greenery coming away --you can just catch a glimpse of the beautiful markings on its stem.
Cheers Dave.
bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 03/21/2012 - 11:38pmVery nice pot Dave
congratulations
Roland
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/24/2012 - 11:33amI just showed this plant in Image of the Day, Ledebouria galpinii, from seed Jan 2010, first flowering- just after emerging from a short winter rest..
very small plant, should have pretty pink flowers...
Michael J Campbell (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/24/2012 - 1:10pmRomulea citrina
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/24/2012 - 10:47pmWow, bright! I'm more familiar with violet spp :)
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Sun, 03/25/2012 - 1:44amDave, a brilliant colour of that coccineus!
Michael, do you grow it as an Easter ornamental?
Cohan, are you sure the name is right? When googling Ledebouria galpinii I get something very different?
Michael J Campbell (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Fri, 03/30/2012 - 11:05amGladiolus cunonius
Moraea aristata.
Veltheimia bracteata
Watsonia laccata
Freesia alba.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: South African Bulbs
Fri, 03/30/2012 - 7:05pmI have Gladiolus cunonis started from seed last year. It's so different, and one of my favorites, after G. orchidiflorus, of course.
That Moraea aristata with its peacock feather eyes is quite stunner, Michael. Such vivid color! :o
And the Watsonia laccata is such a wonderful shade of orange, too.
Howey (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/31/2012 - 4:08amBeautiful pictures, Michael. Am wondering about how to get my Moraea bicolor to flower. After 20 years of a pot/garden indoor/outdoor routine, it is a nice clump of leaves but never a flower. Am wondering about fertilizer. Would sure love to see some flowers like the ones I saw at the entrance to Kirstenbosch Gardens in Capetown. Perhaps you could give me an idea about this. Fran
Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b
Michael J Campbell (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/31/2012 - 4:57amFrancis, my Moraea bulbs all get the same treatment. They are all grown in plastic pots in the greenhouse in a compost made up as follows. 50% soil,20% coarse grit, 20% perlite, and 10 coarse sand. The pot is filled to about three quarters with this mix and then a layer or coarse sand about 2cm. the bulbs are places on the sand and covered with the same sand and then topped with Grit. They are kept in the greenhouse with the heater set at 2C to keep the frost out. They are watered on the 1st of September and kept just damp until they have made good growth usually around Christmas or early January. Then I feed them every two weeks with tomato feed until flower buds appear. they like plenty of water when in full growth and as they are in pure sand it is difficult to over do it.
Remember I live in the west of Ireland in a mild climate and we only occasionally get heavy frosts, although 2010 and 2011 were extreme with -17c
for weeks.
I have had them bloom out in the garden for years until the heavy frosts came. :)
Hope this helps.
Tim Ingram (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 03/31/2012 - 10:01amMichael - Moraea aristata is stunning. I wonder how much winter cold some of these would take? I have a yellow Moraea (not sure of the species) which has been outside now for 4 or 5 years (with a low of -14°C this winter - but usually only to -8°C or so) and Watsonia aletroides has survived and flowered quite well. Maybe if given an insulated cloche through the worst weather...?
Michael J Campbell (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 04/02/2012 - 11:30amMoraea collina (syn. Homeria collina)
bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 04/02/2012 - 3:08pmMichael
Very nice Freesia alba picture
The seeds you send from the Freesia's (Anomatheca) start germinating
looks very promising
Roland
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 04/04/2012 - 4:47pmMichael- what a show!
Trond, yes, my plant(s) is (are) Ledebouria galpinii :) just remember mine a)only just emerged from winter rest so leaves are not fully developed in the pics, and buds aren't open b)my plants live indoors all year, so with lower light, the leaves will be less flat, and less purple, but they do have the attractive texture, and the flowers opened pink :)
Here is Bulbine favosa small form; this is an easy and frequent flowerer :) Probably would be much more erect in full sun, but I'm just happy it flowers.... I may try to raise at least one of them this summer to show the caudex..
Ongoing flowering on my plants from Penrock seed as Ornithogalum unifoliatum; they are one leafed, but not succulent as that species should be? Probably one of the species moved to Albuca..
Some fresh pics of the Ledebouria galpinii
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 04/04/2012 - 11:40pmOK, I wouldn't have recognised it without the flowers ;)
You do grow a lot of plants inside the house! How many pots do you have?
I once had a pot of L socialis inddors and the leaves was pretty nice, the flowers were not! However last autumn I was too late to bring it inside. It didn't take the freezing temps and died. . . . .
bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 04/04/2012 - 11:58pmI can send you new ones Trond
R
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/05/2012 - 12:27amI have two types of L socialis, one is also flowering now- not fancy, but still nice- and this is a form with nice leaves... I have a couple other Ledebourias too, though some of the most amazing ones are very hard to get- especially in Canada!
Here's a not very exciting photo from today of Ledebouria socialis (hard to see in this pic, but the leaf is a bit more shapely than my other form, nicer markings, and the leaf back gets darker in stronger light... Also Ledebouria 'Leatherleaf'
I have no idea how many plants I have inside-- I suppose around a couple hundred maybe.... No way I could deal with just outdoor gardening here when the season is so short...
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/05/2012 - 12:52amRoland, thank you very much! I'll PM you.
Well, I have about 100 I think - and that's enough for me. Takes time to check them all during the winter although some are completely dry during the winter. But you have some interesting ones, Cohan ;)
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/05/2012 - 4:41pmSome of mine are winter dry as well, though I am trying to get more winter growers, that's the whole point of having plants inside!! My best light is in spring and fall, so I have started to water my summer growers quite early, and late into fall, with a shorter winter rest, and half dry in summer; I follow a similar schedule for things like Haworthia, which are mostly winter growers in habitat, but I don't water during the darkest time of winter, and again in mid-summer (though its not hot here) I don't water again..
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/05/2012 - 11:20pmHave you sorted your plants in classes according to watering regimes or do they all get the same treatment?
Or maybe you remember the exact programme for each and every plant you have ;)
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 04/07/2012 - 9:41pmThey are more or less grouped, but I also have to fit pots where I can fit them, and where they can get appropriate light.. So I try to put pots with similar schedules together in trays, and give more or less water by making a looser soil for those that want to be drier -- this is espeically true for cacti; some plants though, just get stuck in where there is space..
Once they are adults and on schedule (seedlings tend to get water all year for a couple of years) I do know what schedule each plant needs..
That doesn't mean I always water them when I should....lol
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 04/09/2012 - 12:26amSeems you have plenty to do even when the garden is snow covered ;)
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 04/09/2012 - 12:32amSometimes it seems the outdoor garden is just a small blip on the radar..... in fact, maybe I only imagined that there is a growing season outdoors here....
Howey (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Mon, 04/09/2012 - 2:03pmThanks for the info about the Moraeas, Michael. I'll give it a try. I heard that a high potash content in the fertilizer was a desirable thing with these South African bulbs? Fran
Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 04/11/2012 - 9:46amI bought a bulb of this plant when I visited South Africa in 2003. Now I have a potfull of them and they flower from a long time every spring with nicely scented flowers.
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Wed, 04/11/2012 - 11:00amThe Tulbaghias all seem to look pretty :) This is a summer grower? It goes out for the summer?
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 12:47amI grow it in a pot and put the pot outside in spring/summer. It is completely dry during winter (stored in a cool but frost free room) and when I see new buds in early spring I bring it into a slightly warmer room and give it a little water. When the laves get bigger I give more water if necessary (depending on rain if it is outside). When the flowers are done in summer I put the pot behind something else and let the leaves die down during late summer/fall. It is an easy plant and seems to like that the bulbs are crowded.
Michael J Campbell (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 10:58amFerraria crispa
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 11:35amTrond, I think I even saw some common Tulbaghia for sale at Walmart as dry bagged bulbs for summer planting- they've had a Nerine too.. I was going to say I wasn't sure if my summer was warm enough, but I guess (apart from risk of frost) my summer can't be much cooler than yours ;D And people do grow the big Gladiolus in the garden in summer...
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 11:46amMichael, you are sure it is a flower and not a artistically decorated chocolate cake?
This was a special one :o
Trond Hoy
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 12:01pmCohan, your summer is definitely as warm as mine. I would have problem growing the big gladioli as it often is too cool in summer.
I grow another Tulbaghia in a pot too. It is as easy as simmlerii but much smaller in stature. It flowers later in the summer and all summer till fall.
I once had Nerine bowdenii in the garden all year for several years and it flowered regularly every fall, but I moved it - shouldn't have done for it died.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 6:37pmThis is just what came to my mind, too: a chocolate dessert. The colors are so distinct and pure!
Nature is so marvelous. :o
And what an excellent showcase, Michael!
cohan (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 11:56pmI forgot to mention that Ferraria- they are quite amazing, Michael :)
bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Thu, 04/19/2012 - 11:43pmFirst flowers from last years seedlings
Babiana tubiflora
Sparaxis grandiflora ssp grandiflora
Sparaxis grandiflora ssp violaceae
Roland
Richard T. Rodich
Re: South African Bulbs
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 5:16amIt is interesting that the subspecies violaceae is yellow ???. Are the names mixed up on the photos?
Also intriguing on the yellow flower is the looping appendages. Looking at the purple one, they look to be the stigma?
Are these spraxis small, like
sisyrhinciumSisyrinchium?bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 11:07pmYou are probably right Rick
the seed are from wild collected source
it was the only flowering one this year in the pot
and I didn't control the name on the label
so no idea what for sp. it is but it isn't violaceae
I will have a look later
What do you mean by this
the plant or flowers
Today is Gladiolus quadrangulus in flower
Roland
Richard T. Rodich
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 04/21/2012 - 4:54amThe
sisyrhiniumSisyrinchium we grow here have small flowers, about 10-12cm. Are those Sparaxis grandiflora that small?The petals are so symmetrical on your Gladiolus quandrangulus, except for the stamens and pistil, it looks like a lily!
bulborum (not verified)
Re: South African Bulbs
Sat, 04/21/2012 - 5:04amThe Sparaxis flowers where about 3 cm diameter
so by long not so small as Sisyrinchium (I can't find sisyrhinium)
Roland
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