South African Bulbs 2016

[fermi de Sousa]

I found another supplier of seeds from South Africa in small quantities at reasonable prices.
Only got the seeds this week so can't say anything about germination rates, etc
www.seedsforafrica.co.za
cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Once again we have Gladiolus liliaceus in flower;
1) it opens a muddy orange-red during the day;
2) in the evening it starts to become more purple;
3) at night it has turned to mauve-purple and has become clove-scented!
cheers
fermi

[Robert]

Fermi,

You grow Gladiolus liliaceus in a pot.... tender to cold weather?

Or maybe the weather is too cool in the spring to enjoy the scent in the evening out-of-doors?

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Robert,
no, it's not tender as far as I know; we got it in this pot last year and I hadn't decided yet whether to plant it out or not.
Being in the pot makes it easier to bring in side to photograph, though!
cheers
fermi

[Steve Garvie]

Empodium namaquensis


Cyrtanthus sanguineus

[fermi de Sousa]

Speaking of neglected areas - yesterday we noticed this babiana in flower in what was our "SAS Bed" (South African Sand Bed) which was abandonned a few  years ago when it got overgrown by the cypress hedge. The Hedge was removed a few months ago ...

As well as the babiana, now some moraeas are blooming! There are some bluish ones which fade by the evening but these white ones were in fullflower when I got home but the labels are long gone. I have no record of planting a white one - the only one that looks similar on the pbswiki, M. vespertina, is not in any of my lists of seeds sown.
Any other suggestions?
cheers
fermi

[Darren]

I'm thinking Moraea (formerly Gynandriris) cedarmontana.

[fermi de Sousa]

Thanks, Darren,
I'm pretty sure you're right - I seem to remeember that name - and probably bought as Gynandriris,
cheers
fermi

[Gail]

Empodium namaquensis

Such a fantastic picture, well done!

[fermi de Sousa]

This is a geissorhiza we got from NZAGS Seedex as Geissorhiza darlingensis which matches pics on the Pacific Bulb Society's wiki page http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/GeissorhizaSpeciesOne
but not the one on SANBI http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=1535-82, looking more like their pic of Geissorhiza purpureolutea http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=1535-82
So I wonder which one it really is!?
Any suggestions?
cheers
fermi

[johnw]

My SABG seeds arrived this week.  When I opened the packet of Haemanthus humilis ssp. humils deep pink to my surprise all nine seeds had sprouted and rooted.  I feared they'd collapse upon planteiung but they seem not to have skipped a beat.


johnw

[Jon Evans]

John
I think those were my seeds.  I sent them to Bill in September, so they have been in the packet a while, and all these fleshy seeded South African amaryllids seem to germinate immediately, regardless of where they are.  This is one reason the seed is so difficult to obtain - it is difficult to store for any length of time.  The ones with small seeds e.g. Strumaria can arrive quite dessicated because of this, and I usually soak them for a few hours before sowing.  All want light to germinate, so I surface sow on top of damp sand.  If there are roots already, I carefully poke a hole in the sand to give them a start.  Best of luck with them anyway.

[johnw]

The Haemanthus seed were indeed yours, with thanks, Jon and I'm tickled to at last have seedlings underway.  I failed to mention I put them under fluorescents upon planting for fear they'd sunburn in the ghouse, in a few days time I'll move them to a bright spot in the ghouse during a cloudy stretch of weather.


A pic of all 9 of 9.


Thanks again,


johnw - +10c, another blow and deluge on the way.

[ashley]

100% germination is always satisfying

[fermi de Sousa]

The first of the mixed seedlings of Ixia 'Teal' (which is itself a seedling/hybrid of Ixia viridiflora) are starting to flower,
cheers
fermi