Remarks from the Weekly KAVB Flower Show - Lisse

[Ragged Robin]

Robin, the Brodiaea (and Dichelostemma) were pictured after being a whole week in the Hall.
They are rather good cutflowers I think

Luit, they look as if they have just been put on display - great to have discovered a beautiful cut flower that lasts 

[Paul T]

Luit,

Fantastic as always.  Those Dichelostemma are just amazing.  I have only ever had D. ida-maia, which did well for me for a number of years until dying of neglect while I was sick a few years ago.  Very nice plant, but nothing compared to your wonderful red beauty!! 

[TheOnionMan]

Luit,

Fantastic as always.  Those Dichelostemma are just amazing.  I have only ever had D. ida-maia, which did well for me for a number of years until dying of neglect while I was sick a few years ago.  Very nice plant, but nothing compared to your wonderful red beauty!! 

I well imagine that Dichelostemma 'Red Empire' is indeed a D. ida-maia selection or hybrid.
See this Pacific Bulb Society gallery on Dichelostemma, on D. ida-maia, and as well, look at Dichelostemma venustum which talks about some natural hybrids and Dichelostemma 'Pink Diamond'.

Oops, forgot the link, here it is:
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/dichelostemma

[Lesley Cox]

Last winter, which was relatively mild, my half dozen Gladiolus 'Mirella' were frosted in their pot and died off in early leaf. This year they have come up again so the corms weren't killed. We've had a few mighty frosts and they are still looking just fine.

[Lvandelft]

Special entries were Gladiolus and Agapanthus on last Monday.
You might say that we had a 'full house'
I start with Gladiolus:
 
Gladiolus 1       
Gladiolus Flevo Spirit                 
Gladiolus Flevo Spirit cl             
Gladiolus Flevo Effect 1               
Gladiolus Flevo Effect cl               
Gladiolus 2                 
Glamourglads                                 
Glamourglads Mixed 1                       
Gladiolus 3

[Lvandelft]

There were many entries with Agapanthus in pots as well as in vases.
I selected a few ones to show here:

Agapanthus                                 
Agapanthus Summergold
Agapanthus Heavenly 1                       
Agapanthus Heavenly 2                       
Agapanthus Monique                         
Agapanthus Rotterdam         
Agapanthus Amsterdam
Agapanthus Enigma 
Agapanthus Sofie                           
Agapanthus Thumbelina   

more to come later   

[angie]

Wow love that Agapanthus Thumbelina what amount of flower heads

Angie

[Ragged Robin]

My goodness, just a sea of blue...what a wonderful show of Agapanthus, Luit    They are such graceful flowers, and generous in flowering in all their forms.  Particularly lovely is A Rotterdam and Summergold is intriguing with variagated foliage - I wonder if it is commercially available?

Personally I prefer the simpler Gladiolus but what a display these large varieties make at Lisse - I think the low dish is the answer as they look more like the growing plant instead of standing stiffly at an angle in a vase.  Thanks for showing them Luit.

[Lvandelft]

and Summergold is intriguing with variagated foliage - I wonder if it is commercially available?

Robin, I don't think they are in trade in Europe, but in USA there are some suppliers.

[Lvandelft]

One entry with a nice small Allium from Maroc, but unknown name??
     
Allium spec. ex Morocco 1                   
Allium spec. ex Morocco 2 

[Lvandelft]

Then there were some pots with huge Lilium, acquired this spring from England and shown here
as L. leichtlinii.
I showed in the Lilium Thread last week a picture of L. Citronella, (better name is L. Citronella Group)
I read that Mr. Jan de Graaff in Oregon improved the Fiesta Hybrids and then hybridised them with L. amabile and
L. amabile var. luteum to get new strains out of these
One of these is the yellow flowered Lilium Citronella Group.

I don't see any significant difference with the plant shown here, ( even the stem leaves
are exactly the same ) but I was told that the real L. leichtlinii is a short lived plant,
whereas L. Citronella Group is more robust and a much better garden plant.
Well, anyway in three years we will know if the shown plant is still a good grower, which
would mean that the L. leichtlinii proved to be L. Citronella Group instead.

Lilium leichtlinii 1                       
Lilium leichtlinii cl (2)                   
Lilium leichtlinii cl 

Lilium Citronella Group (garden)                 

Also shown were some flowers of L. davidii var. davidii:

Lilium davidii var. davidii               
Lilium davidii var. davidii cl

(Lilium davidii were involved in the Fiesta Hybrids)

[Lvandelft]

In this last batch I show some other plant this Monday at the show

Galtonia viridiflora 2                     
Galtonia regalis                         
Galtonia Princeps 
Eucomis                       
Scadoxus multiflorus                     
Sandersonia aurantiaca 2               
Sandersonia aurantiaca cl                 

finishing with a nice coloured Gladiolus, exposed by a hybridizer who recently
has taken some smaller Gladiolus in his programm:

Gladiolus seedling   
                       

[Lesley Cox]

Agapanthus is listed as a noxious weed in NZ where the older varieties have seeded about to such an extent they are a real problem. Here in the south they are more restrained and still available from time to time. Those above are really very good, especially those rich blues on tall stems over low, compact clumps.

Luit, you are almost on the verge of converting me to the taller Gladiolus vars. I especially like that blue in the last Glad picture of the first post. And though I hate the name, I rather like the Glamourglads with their odd colour combinations.

[TheOnionMan]

One entry with a nice small Allium from Maroc, but unknown name??
     
Allium spec. ex Morocco 1                   
Allium spec. ex Morocco 2 

It's a pretty little Allium, but please let me break this to you gently, it cannot be a species from Morocco, at least not a species *native* to Morocco.  The genus Allium in Africa is exhaustively documented in "A Revision of The Genus Allium L. (Liliaceae) in Africa" by Brigitta de Wilde-Duyfjes, a detailed and voluminous work of some 237 pages, for which 31 species are accepted and treated in great detail.  Even though the author is a taxonomic "lumper" versus a splitter, there are no members of Allium section Rhizirideum found in Africa, and the plant shown in the two photos is clearly a member of Allium section Rhizirideum.

The photos show a form, or probably a hybrid, of the amorphous European/Asian Allium senescens (which includes ssp. montanum, lusitanicum); I grow many plants that look just like this, or similar to this.  I believe most of the smaller plants of the "senescens-ilk" to be hybrids.  Allium senescens (both ssp. montanum and ssp. glaucum) hybridize freely with other related European and Asian species such as A. angulosum, rubens, nutans, and others, creating varying looking plants, but always with that "senescens look" to the flower umbel and other tell-tale plant characteristics.  I estimate at least 30% of plants grown from seed exchanges, or even plants represented in botanical gardens, end up actually being misidentified and replaced with varying forms of widely variable Allium senescens.

So, the plant might be labeled as "Allium spec. ex Morocco", but it is most likely a mistake, sorry.

[Lvandelft]

Mark, this is very helpful! I found out today who has brought it from Marocco  and send him a mail with the question if he found it in a garden or if it was growing somewhere in the fields. I hope I get an answer soon? At least we know now that Marocco is not the original habitat.