Placea

[Paul Cumbleton]

I had almost given up on ever flowering this Placea arzae as it is 11 years from sowing. But excited to get flowers this year; perhaps it likes its new environment in Somerset!

Paul

[fermi de Sousa]

Wow, Paul,
another genus I'd never heard of before!
Quite an interesting one - another one to covet
 
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

One thing about SRGC folks - they're not quitters!! Patience is certainly one of the virtues forum members show in abundance as they wait for plants to flower. Whether that is saintly of daft, I don't know for sure - but a lot of us do it!
Lovely result for your 11 year wait, Paul. What  lovely markings. How tall is the scape?

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Maggi,
The scapes are 33 - 38 cm tall (13 - 15 inches) and each scape has 3 flowers. My only disappointment is that the flowers are relatively small - other pictures seen on the web kind of make you think the flowers are quite large, but they are actually just 6 cm wide (2.5 inches) at the widest point. Otherwise, a great flower!

Paul

[Maggi Young]

Flowers are smaller than I guessed, stems taller - but what a colour marking!

[johnw]

Paul  - The Placea is stunning.  Your patience is to be commended.

john

[shaundouglas]

this is a genus that is next to impossible to locate, and to see some one grow it,
have you made seed pods of this plant>
if so i would be interested in them

[Paul Cumbleton]

Shaun, This is the very first flowering so I don't know yet if i will be able to make any seed.

Paul

[Rogan]

Wow, quite an amazing flower! I tried but failed with this one - didn't like RSA (or me?) 

[shaundouglas]

Wow, quite an amazing flower! I tried but failed with this one - didn't like RSA (or me?) 

good luck and i would hope that you succeed with the pollination for seed

[Paul Cumbleton]

I managed to get 3 pods set on the Placea and each has a good number of seeds. I'm happy to share them, so if anyone would like some seed, please send me a private message. I'm assuming like other Amaryllids the seed will need sowing as soon as possible.

Paul

[ollie]

Paul - the flowering time for this intrigues me.  April in northern hemisphere is roughly equivalent to October in southern hemisphere where it originates, in Chile.  It is hard to find information on the genus let alone the species but I would have picked this one to flower after the hot, dry summer, with the onset of late summer / autumn rains as do so many other Amaryllidaceae.  Since this is your first flowering in 16 years, the question "is this its normal flowering time?" is somewhat redundant!

[Martin Sheader]

In Chile, Placea arzae grows on sunny mountain slopes, flowering in spring - October to December, so it seems to have got it about right for Paul!

[ollie]

Thanks Martin - not something that my limited searches revealed!

[Martin Sheader]

Ollie, quite a few of the amaryllids and alstroemerias in Patagonia, central Chile and Argentina and a bit further north flower in spring or early summer, usually becoming dormant in summer. So for example,  Rhodophiala andicola, R. andina, R. rhodolirion, R. araucana, R. elwesii, R. mendocina & R. montana are all spring / early summer flowering. Still further north and into Bolivia and Peru I understand flowering times are different.