South African Bulbs

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This is one of the last Nerines in flower
Nerine undulata syn. N. crispa
thanks to the cold weather I think

Roland

Comments

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Tue, 09/04/2012 - 10:25pm

Sometimes our southern friends talk about crocus and trilliums, and it doesn't seem so exotic, but here's Fermi casually mentioning Lachenalia in the garden- a genus I like a lot, but certainly cannot grow outdoors (and they are not great houseplants mostly, not enough light for them).. sigh....lol

Toole's picture

Toole (not verified)

Wed, 09/05/2012 - 1:54am
cohan wrote:

Sometimes our southern friends talk about crocus and trilliums, and it doesn't seem so exotic, but here's Fermi casually mentioning Lachenalia in the garden- a genus I like a lot, but certainly cannot grow outdoors (and they are not great houseplants mostly, not enough light for them).. sigh....lol

Unfortunately they barely survive here in pots Cohan  :'( ..........Too much shade /moisture.

Cheers Dave

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Wed, 09/05/2012 - 8:01am

I have tried Lachenalias in pots too- but they didn't survive more than a couple of years. But I remember seeing some magnificent specimens in South Africa when I visited that marvellous country :o

Didn't see any Babianas though - they're as nice as anything ;)

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Wed, 09/05/2012 - 5:10pm

I have a few Lachenalia seedlings and a number of Babianas etc time will tell how they will do! I haven't set them up yet, but hoping to set up some lights for them in a cool room, so they can have a bright enough winter growing season.. In this climate, I'd rather have winter growers than anything indoors!  Some of the seeds came from Chris Greenwell, in Bulgaria- they are seed from his plants, grown indoors, so I have some small hope. He's mentioned the Lachenalia and some of the others do tend to etiolate, but many will still grow and flower- obviously, if he got seeds  ;D

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Tue, 10/16/2012 - 1:39am

Some more South African bulbs from our garden
Geissorhizas are small but colourful and ixias are tall and colourful!
cheers
fermi

Geissorhiza radians
Geissorhiza monanthos
Geissorhiza tulbaghensis
Geissorhiza aspera
Ixia sp.maybe maculata

Edited to add searchable names in the text of this message ~ moderator

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Tue, 10/16/2012 - 1:48am

Some more - including a couple of Geiss I forgot!
cheers
fermi

Merwilla dracomontana
Hesperantha bachmannii
Pelargonium triste
Moraea spathulata
Geissorhiza splendidissima
Geissorhiza orinthogaloides

Edited to add searchable names to the text of this message ~ moderator

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Tue, 10/16/2012 - 3:11pm

Thanks, Cohan,
Hoy, our garden has to manage on benign neglect ;D
Although the seedpots (most of the Geiss are still in pots) get a bit more attention. South African bulbs are very easy in our climate because of the similarity with where they are from. We don't even need to water/irrigate these which is why some of them have become environmental weeds in Australia :'(
cheers
fermi

bulborum's picture

bulborum (not verified)

Sat, 11/17/2012 - 12:07am

After a few days Nerine searching
we returned with some nice plants

Roland

bulborum's picture

bulborum (not verified)

Sat, 11/17/2012 - 2:37am

England

I will post later some individual pictures
first  re-potting in my own pots

Roland

Toole's picture

Toole (not verified)

Sat, 11/17/2012 - 11:54am

Lovely bit of colour there Roland . :-*

Here's Romulea eximia currently flowering from seed for the first time --not a large flower but a nice combination of dark blotches between the outer rose petals and inner yellow throat.

Cheers Dave.

bulborum's picture

bulborum (not verified)

Sat, 11/17/2012 - 1:53pm

Well here the first pictures
I made them alphabetical

Roland

bulborum's picture

bulborum (not verified)

Sun, 11/18/2012 - 4:09pm

I will post more Cohan

first bedtime here

R

Toole's picture

Toole (not verified)

Fri, 11/23/2012 - 12:49am

Another Romulea enjoying the heat yesterday --20c  :P

R. subfistulosa --a stunner --large flower --dark markings on the edge of the yellow cup.

Cheers Dave.

Toole's picture

Toole (not verified)

Wed, 12/12/2012 - 11:15pm

Babiana tubiflora ---first flowering, from NZAGS seedx ,sown Aug 09 .

Cheers Dave.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Thu, 12/13/2012 - 9:32pm

Very cute one! Atypical colour for the genus?

Toole's picture

Toole (not verified)

Fri, 12/14/2012 - 12:08am
cohan wrote:

Very cute one! Atypical colour for the genus?

Thanks Cohan

I understand the colour is generally white to cream sometimes with red markings on the lower tepals.

Cheers Dave.

Tony Willis's picture

Tony Willis (not verified)

Mon, 12/31/2012 - 12:21pm
RickR wrote:

An extra fine specimen with the extra wavy margined leaves.

How old is it?  It seems about as big as it is going to get (?).

I was given it in flower last year so it was fully grown then but it has now produced two off sets this growing season. I think I will remove them as I think it may lose some of its elegance as a clump.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Wed, 01/02/2013 - 3:40pm

It would be a hard call for me- it does look great single, but a huge unruly mass of multiple stems sounds very cool too!

bulborum's picture

bulborum (not verified)

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 12:25am

Nice collection Fermi
here they hardly flower in the garden
I think it's to cold in the summer
They are potted now in the poly-tunnel
much warmer in the summer
maybe that works

Roland

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 7:27pm

Hi Roland,
they certainly seem to appreciate being hot, dry and in full sun throughout the summer here - even though I don't! ;D
The other South African bulb doing well is Crossyne flava, which I'd already posted on the SRGC Forum,
cheers
fermi

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 8:35pm
RickR wrote:

Beautiful in bud, but kinda homely in flower...

Does it perfume the air?

Not that I've noticed, Rick.
They are more spectacular in seed - the pedicels elongate till the seed-head is the size of a soccer ball. Then the stem snaps off and it becomes a "tumble-weed" - and nearly every seed seems to be fertile! I've taken to collecting the seedhead before it becomes detached from the ground but there are already seedlings scattered around that I'll have to dig out at some stage. :-\
cheers
fermi

bulborum's picture

bulborum (not verified)

Thu, 03/07/2013 - 11:58pm

They look a little like Allium christophii for me
just the leaves are much more attractive
It wouldn't wonder me if the Crossyne flava could be a weed in Australia
be careful with this plant

Roland

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Fri, 03/08/2013 - 9:45am

Hadn't heard of Crossyne before, a split off from Boophone (a genus name I am familiar with, fun to say).

The Pacific Bulb Society had a good page on the genus, with several species and a range of good photos.
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Crossyne

It is said about Crossyne, were previously thought to be species of Boophone, they differ from that genus in capsules and seeds.  Back to that nagging question about criteria separating genera, such as berries versus dry capsules in Gaultheria/Pernettya, and same distinction in Actaea/Cimicifuga, it seems that different criteria, and levels of criteria, are applied depending on genus being looked at.

Crossyne/Boophone; fascinating plants.

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 12:56am

More plants from the South:
Brunsvigia gregaria
Nerine fothergila Major (some now consider it part of the N. sarniensis complex)
Crossyne flava in seed!
cheers
fermi

Fermi de Sousa's picture

Fermi de Sousa

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 10:13pm
RickR wrote:

The scape seems a bit shorter than most Nerines?
How tall is it?

Hi Rick, probably just the angle I took the pic :-[
The scape is a typical nerine height - about 14 inches I think,
cheers
fermi

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 3:06pm

Michael, I remember you (or someone) posting a similar pic of Hesperantha vaginata before, and the flower's Wow factor is no less.  Are all (translate: most) members of the species as vividly colored?  Never mind.  I just googled images and see that they do, but yours seems to have just the right mix of contrast.  Or, maybe it's the photographer(?)! :o

At first glance, the Hesperantha cucullata might almost pass as a gladiolus sp.! 

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 4:24pm

Michael, that plant (Hesperantha vaginata) certainly has the "wow factor". Sending the plant name through Google Images, I see that in some forms there are no dark marks at the end of the petals, and others do have those marks.  Cool plant species!

Longma's picture

Longma (not verified)

Tue, 04/16/2013 - 9:40am

Freesia viridis

I don't grow many bulbs from South Africa, but fortunately this one doesn't take up much space !! ;D

I read that it sets seed prolifically, but can anyone advise please if any assistance is required for this to happen?

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 11:46am

Moraea atropunctata
Moraea aristata.x 2
Gladiolus cunonius
Gladiolus carinatus.

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Thu, 05/02/2013 - 1:11am

From one to about  five days, each one has a  different time.

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Sun, 06/16/2013 - 8:49am

Moraea tulbagensis ( neopavonia.)

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