December 2013 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Pat,
That late flowering arilbred is very interesting, very subtle colouring, but it would stand out against a dark background - does it usually bloom so late? Have you sister seedlings to it?
cheers
fermi

[arillady]

I have never had such a late flower on this AB. No any sister seedlings would be in with it in the clump as I don't separate seedlings - just plonk in the whole lot without disturbing.

[Anthony Darby]

Managed to ID a Zephyranthes in flower last week as Z. primulina from Mexico. 

[fermi de Sousa]

Managed to ID a Zephyranthes in flower last week as Z. primulina from Mexico. 

Did it look like the one I posted last week, Anthony?
This is a new plant for me - Ranunculus constantinopolitanus 'Plenus' (bought as "Flora Plena") which we got from the guys at Antique Perennials in Kinglake at the end of November (their nursery and their homes were razed by the "Black Saturday" fires in Feb 2009 but they've come back in great form with a huge range of plants).
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Another American bulb which is quite showy this late in the season is Brodiaea californica,
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

Exactly like it Fermi, but I didn't twig then. 

[Ezeiza]

Do they flower WITH leaves, Fermi?

Do Conantheras flower WITH leaves with you?

[fermi de Sousa]

Do they flower WITH leaves, Fermi?

Do Conantheras flower WITH leaves with you?

Hi Alberto,
yes, the Z. primulina are already in leaf and the flower has come up with the leaves.
The Conanthera campanulata usually has foliage but it has mostly dried off by the time it flowers,
cheers
fermi

[Ezeiza]

Sorry, the question was


with you, Trieteleias, Brodiaeas and Dichelostemmas, Bloomeria, etc. flower without leaves? Because they and the S. American Leucocorynes, Zephyra and Conantheras all flower after the foliage is dry, at the end of the season.

Being your climate dry and growing them so well as you do, I was curious if they behaved exactly as in the wild.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Alberto,
As you can see in the pic, the Brodiaea californica still has its foliage, but most of the others have leaves that are starting to dry off by the time the flower stems arise. Should they still be watered in that case? Or is the bulb already going dormant?
cheers
fermi

[Ezeiza]

Apparently, it is the corm that is supporting the flower stem as all foliage is absorbed and dry by that time, when the season of rain is over. It seems the corm can sustain the processes of flowering and seed production without any additional water.

[fermi de Sousa]

This is a hybrid emu-bush, Eremophila 'Summertime Blues', growing in a raised bed,
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

This is a dwarf Beschorneria  grown from  seed
It has finally flowered but I realsied that I didn't get any pics of the foliage!
cheers
fermi

[meanie]

I do like Beschorneria. How "dwarf" is that one?

[johnw]

meanie

This was collected high alititude in Mexico in 1998 as B. sp. but was identified by botanists as B. yuccoides when it flowered in BC  from selfed seed from here.   The dwarf one is 10"/25cm high with narrow bluish leaves; one sibling died in a wet summer and the other has wider leaves and pink-red flowers.  UBC flowered my selfed seed of the dwarf one in under a year.  It has wintered succesfully in Dublin, N. Vancouver & at UBC, I think in sthe second year from seed.  You might just find seedlings of the dwarf one at the Norfolk Plant Heritage AGM next year as I sent them seed!  Once we had the species id'ed we could then send seed to Fermi, it will be interesting to see if they retain their dwarfness as have the others.

Photo #1 dwarf
Photo#2 the other