South African Bulbs/Geophytes 2020

[Diane Whitehead]

Your unknown Lachenalia looks just like one I have blooming now, in a pot without a label.  Mine is scented - is yours?

I did sow seed of L bachmanii way back in 1998.  If this is it, it sure has taken a long time to flower.

[Rob-Rah]

Your unknown Lachenalia looks just like one I have blooming now, in a pot without a label.  Mine is scented - is yours?

I did sow seed of L bachmanii way back in 1998.  If this is it, it sure has taken a long time to flower.

It might have the very vaguest of muscari type scent, but it's not anything very much.

[Rob-Rah]

Spilloxene capensis. This only opens on warm sunny days - like a lot of other Cape species. The weather has been so overcast in the UK this spring that a number of species have formed buds which never really got a chance to open!



And the Sparaxis elegans (white form) again looking quite stunning at the moment.

[Diane Whitehead]

No, I think my plant is Muscari muscarimi (synonymous with M. ambrosiacum & M. moschatum), rather than Lachenalia bachmanii.

[fermi de Sousa]

The first Moraea polystachya of the year, flowering in the garden
cheers
fermi

[Rob-Rah]

We might be due a few days of reasonable sunshine this week, and this is Geissorhiza ovata which has opened a bud today. This is a tiiiiiiny plant!

[Rimmer de Vries]

Rob. I see a lot of moss in your pots. Do you grow your Geissorhiza in a humid damp organic mix?

[Rob-Rah]

It's a mix of about 2/1/1 sand and John Innes 2 or 3 and fibrous peaty stuff. It stays moderately moist in growth and the moss does seem to like it for some reason, and I get that in all the seedling pots. I removed all the moss over summer and re-dressed with fresh soil. Once plants have flowered the first time they'll get moved into a new pot with the same soil (maybe a bit more coarse sand for older plants) but a grit-top-dressing to suppress it.

[Rimmer de Vries]

Thanks Rob

I have my Geissors in sand and grit under moderate but cool lights and they are floppy. So far this season only pale and dark purple Geissorhizas are blooming. The dark purple ones are in a mesh pot of seed from McMaster as Geissorhiza splendidissma. The pale ones come up all over.

[Rob-Rah]

By the way..... Daubenya hate my conditions with that soil and they have rotted away twice. I think I'll acquire some new bulbs this year and try them in a FAR more gritty and dry mix. Romulea sabulosa has also been complaining about rot a bit this year - odd as this comes from seasonally rather wet places! Maybe just the lack of sunshine this year.

[Rimmer de Vries]

For many Daubenya try 80:20 limestone chips (or coarse grit) and a clay based mix. I use local red clay and limestone.  Seeds bloom in 3-4 years

[Rob-Rah]

Moraea villosa with a huge flower:



And this plant, labelled as Gladiolus venustus... but I'm not sure that is right? Or is this just a rather drab example?

[Rob-Rah]

Geissorhiza splendidissma, not looking all that splendid this year for some reason. It's half its normal stature!



And this, which was acquired as Geissorhiza radians but which I think is a yellowish G. tulbaghensis?

[fermi de Sousa]

And this, which was acquired as Geissorhiza radians but which I think is a yellowish G. tulbaghensis?

Looks like it (G. tulbaghensis) to me, Rob
cheers
fermi

[Rob-Rah]

Thanks!

And this opened today. Purchased as Romulea hallii, but nothing like it. I'm a bit annoyed at one particular major seller in the UK who I regularly get incorrect bulbs or substandard bulbs from! It's not too bad a flower, but it's really not what I wanted. Any guesses what this might be... just R. flava(?) (and can *anyone* supply R. hallii??)