Massonia 2015

[johnw]

I have been separating and potting on 2 year old Massonia spp. today.  Took them out of a very dimly lit cupboard where they've been sitting potted but absolutely parched.  I was very surprised that they were alreay making new roots as you can see in the pictures.  Seem very small for 2 yos, maybe I'd better start to fertilize regulaly.  M. echinata plentiful but tiny after a year, M. obovata - very few but same size as the pustulatas.

M. wittbergensis I mistakenly sowed last autumn and up they came. I then had to move them under lights to simulate summer and then dried them off and sent them to the cold cupboard till June, after much misting no signs of activity so today I potted them on and found one just breaking dormancy. I will have to extend the season a bit to get them back in sync I suppose.

john

[johnstephen29]

This M. depressa plant hasn't hung around, I only gave it and the others in my little massonia collection there first watering of the season about a week ago.

[johnw]

The M. pustalata seedlings (photos 1-2) took about 4 weeks to emerge and amount to anything.  You can see in my previous post the bulbs were not a bad size.  Perhaps they were slow due to the warm humid weather, quite atypical of August.  The tiny M. echinata bulbs (photo 3) also repotted on 4 August are taking their good old time. M. obovata - photo #4, up with M. pustulata.

I will mulch them after they have made good roots and it's a bit safer to water.

Meanwhile I am still watering 2013 Massonia ex JJA seeds that have never emerged. Time to toss them?

Ed. whoops had an obovata pic as pustulata, now corrected.

john

[johnstephen29]

Hi John you massonia's are looking good, if they were mine john I'd give them another year. I had some iris that took over two years before they germinated.

[Rimmer de Vries]

Hi John
 i also did not know they were summer growers and started M. wittbergensis from the 2013-14 SRGC SX last September, they have kept growing all year.  it was only last winter that i learned they were summer growers from a comment by Paul C. so i started another batch. They have been outside on a porch all summer.

here are both batches now.

[johnw]

Rimmer  - I was lucky and was able to trick the M. wittebergensis into 2 years of growth in 10 months but they were very reluctant to come up in late Spring after a winter under lights with a brief cold rest.  Mind you they are tiny compared to yours, alive is the main thing.

John - It seems I ordered the JJA seed in 2012 also so I'll have to check the date.

john

[Rogan]

Massonia species are great little plants to grow: this is M. echinata flowering in the wild near to my new home.

[johnstephen29]

Great to see them in the wild Rogan, the leaves look a bit tatty, looks like something has been chewing on them.

[Darren]

I like this time of year when the Massonia are just starting to emerge 

Here are two new shoots:

First is a hybrid between M. amoena and M. hirsuta.  I find it hard to stop these two hybridising. Usually with hirsuta as the pollen parent. The reverse cross seems less frequent (presumably as M. amoena has its stigma hidden down inside the tube). The hybrids usually lack the best features of either parent and get discarded. This one is quite nice however.

The second picture is of a seedling from the late Charles Craib's final Penrock seed list. Listed as 'M. hirsuta, very robust form, Nieu-Bethesda'.  It is about to flower for the first time. I'm not yet sure it is hirsuta, personally, but the fritillaria-like tesselation on the leaves is fascinating. Sadly this fades as the leaves mature.

[angie]

I like this time of year when the Massonia are just starting to emerge 

Me to, and like I have said before it's thanks to certain forum members that I have a little collection of my own to enjoy 

Angie 

[Darren]

Me to, and like I have said before it's thanks to certain forum members that I have a little collection of my own to enjoy 

Angie 

The beauty of growing these winter-growers is that we get to enjoy 'spring' twice in a year 

[Maggi Young]

The second picture is of a seedling from the late Charles Craib's final Penrock seed list. Listed as 'M. hirsuta, very robust form, Nieu-Bethesda'.  It is about to flower for the first time. I'm not yet sure it is hirsuta, personally, but the fritillaria-like tesselation on the leaves is fascinating. Sadly this fades as the leaves mature.

My word, that tesselation is grand, isn't it?  Seems that with a lot of these leaf markings  as the foliage first emerges, one has to be on the ball to observe and enjoy it while it lasts.

[johnw]

Darren - I'm growing seedlings of Massonia obovata, pustulata & echinata.  None have tessaltion, is there a chance it will develop on any of these next year in their 3 year?

john

[Darren]

Anything is possible John.

Certainly leaf markings, hairs, pustules develop more as the bulbs age (never write off 'poorly' pustulated forms of pustulata (or longipes if that is what we are supposed to call it now) until year 3 - they do improve).

Usually seedlings of pustulata/longipes that have a faint purple cast in year 1 go on to have pronounced, sometimes blotchy, purple colouring on the newly developing leaves when mature.

That said - I've never seen this tesselated pattern before and I've raised hundreds of Massonia seedlings. Nearest I've seen to it are forms of depressa with purple markings - though these don't seem to have the same regularity of pattern. I don't recall the tesselation being so pronounced last year, when the bulb was still too small to flower.

[Darren]

My word, that tesselation is grand, isn't it?  Seems that with a lot of these leaf markings  as the foliage first emerges, one has to be on the ball to observe and enjoy it while it lasts.

Indeed - reminds me of some Cyclamen mirabile forms where the leaves emerge quite pink.