South African Bulbs 2014

[ArnoldT]

Freesia fulcata


 Early this year.

[Roma]

Massonia pustulata, from AGS seed sown in January 2011.  Most have flower buds.  The leaves grow long and narrow with the poor light levels in the house.  When I repotted them this year I split them up with 1, 2, 3 and 4 in separate pots.  I left the pot with 2 bulbs in the greenhouse and it looks much better.  I will leave it there over winter and hope it survives.  With 10 bulbs I can afford to experiment.   

[David Nicholson]

Polyxena longituba grown from seed and flowering around the same time as last year.

[johnw]

The Nerine SP-8-01 finally opened this morning and it's held its colour.

Of note the formerly red 'Purple Robe' breaks down as it ages to strong purple.  The SP-8-01 has a bright red exterior base.  I wish I could deduce something from that..........

I'll add a shot of 'Purple Robe' as it appears today a bit later.

johnw

[johnstephen29]

Lovely massonia's Roma

[Roma]

Lovely massonia's Roma

Thanks, John.  I'd like to grow more South African bulbs but they get too drawn on a windowsill and the greenhouse can get a bit cold.  There's also the space problem with all the Cyclamen and other bulbs I grow
I did grow a few at work but even with some heat in the greenhouse the winter light levels are too low when these plants want to be growing.

[johnw]

See how the colour of the red Purple Robe has broken down / deteriorated to purple before departure. And compare that colour to the purple Nerine far to the rear.

johnw

[Maggi Young]

Jon Evans  has posted some pictures of some fantastic plants - many of them grown by Paul Cumbleton, which were shown at the October meeting of the South African Bulb Group :
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/discussion/underglass/Autumn+Flowering+South+African+Bulbs/19794/

 Enjoy!

[johnstephen29]

Hi Roma I know exactly what you mean about having a lot of plants, take a look at these pictures, I emptied my greenhouse so I could clean and bubble wrap it for the winter, then I looked at all the plants to go back in and my heart sank down to my toe capped boots

IMG_0195 by johnstephen29, on Flickr

IMG_0193 by johnstephen29, on Flickr

[SJW]

Flowers on Massonia echinata just starting to open, pustulata on its way.

[SJW]

I have just acquired some bulbs of lachenalia rubida from PBS but struggling to get my head around when they will flower in the UK and what conditions they need.

Following on from this conversation, I sowed seed of L. rubida (punctata) in the autumn of 2012 and one of the bulbs is just starting to flower. So, not only is it an early season flowerer, it seems to be quite precocious as well.

[fermi de Sousa]

John,
I don't envy you the re-packing job - we have a similar workload preparing the summer dormant bulbs for their rest!
In the garden a few more ixia hybrids are in bloom - these two are especially exciting to me, the first is close to the true Ixia viridiflora and the second is a "colour break" with a pinky-purple centre,
cheers
fermi

[Mike Ireland]

Flowers on Massonia echinata just starting to open, pustulata on its way.

The leaves on your pustulata are fantastic, not seen them with such nice markings.

[SJW]

The leaves on your pustulata are fantastic, not seen them with such nice markings.

Mike - yes, I really like this form too. It is a really dark purple colour when the leaves first emerge, slowly turning green but retaining the purple markings. Similar, I think, to the one shown in Paul Cumbleton's Wisley blog about Massonias (http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2007/071107/log.html).

[Maggi Young]

I think it's a cracker too Steve- shared it on the SRGC Twitter page- where it is also being praised!
https://twitter.com/ScottishRockGC