Cyrtanthus obliquus

[Heinie]

Here is one of my Cyrtanthus obliquus flowering now.

[Maren]

Heinie,
that is gorgeous!! How tall is the flower stem?

[Heinie]

Maren,

The stem is 552mm tall from the crown of the plant to under the flowers. The flowers are between 85 and 100mm long.

[Maggi Young]

The flowers are between 85 and 100mm long.

 What a size!

[Heinie]

Maggie,

Yes it is huge compared to all the other Cyrtanthus species. Only the C falcatus comes close to this size. My biggest bulb is the size of a cricket ball and is growing 3 baby bulbs now which I am very excited about because it is a first one to give me some babies. This one in the photo is also growing a baby bulb.

[mark smyth]

wow very nice

[jshields]

What is the secret of getting obliquus to bloom?  Mine are still unbloomed after 8 years (from seed).  I'm getting a bit frustrated with them.

[Heinie]

Jim,

I do not know if there is a secret but the norm is to bloom at 6 to 8 years. I grow mine in full summer sun with one bulb to a 25cm pot with a very well drained growing medium and water once a week. They have a huge root ball. I leave them in the same positions during winter rain. I take off about 80mm of the top of the growing medium after each winter and replace it with coarse compost as I do with most of my bulbs. I hope yours bloom for you next season.

[PeterT]

only another 4 or five years for me to wait then  

[Rogan]

Lovely plant Heinie!

For some strange reason my venerable C. falcatus plant set seed this year (it has never before in 20 years...) and now I have two pots brim-full with seedlings - whatever am I going to do with them?   

[Alessandro.marinello]

Heinie
beautiful, I waited for my Cyrtanthus, still nothing flower

[johnw]

Here is one of my Cyrtanthus obliquus flowering now.

Heinie - Spectacular size!  And what a great form, so many I've seen photographed are ho-hum. Hope you popped the champagne for that.

johnw

[Heinie]

John,

I ran out of champagne because I had a second one flower since. Two of my large bulbs did not flower this year but they are producing pups at 4 on the one and 3 on the other. This is a new experience for me. The pups grow extremely fast. The flowers do not last long, about 6 to 8 days only. I will attempt to pollinate the flowers next season for the first time.