Tecophilaea

[Jan Jeddeloh]

Quite excited to finally get a bloom from one of my tecophilia seedlings.  I don't know when I planted the seed but it's taken forever.  Next year I hope the straight Tecophilia cyanocrocus will also bloom but this year I have to be content with the leichtlinii form.

[Claire Cockcroft]

Good for you, Jan.  While I've had several seeds germinate, I never get the bulbs to blooming size.  I could blame that on the weather, but I think it's the gardener's fault.   

[Diane Whitehead]

I have a few pots of plants I've grown from seed and from purchased bulbs.  I've never had a flower.

I just checked on my pots.  One has leaves just emerging, and another has very long narrow leaves (67 cm long - 27 inches). Could this really be a tecophilaea?

I've googled, but all photos are of the flowers, and no one mentions what the leaves are like.

Diane

[Maggi Young]

Diane, while the  leaves  can extend  a  bit  in full growth, after  flowering, they never  get  to be  as  long as  yours  seem too.  At  most they'd  be  about  20cms  (8 inches)
Here  are  a  couple  of  photos   from Ian's Bulb Log  which show the  leaves  at flowering ....

[Diane Whitehead]

Thanks, Maggi.

Ian's plants have leaves not just shorter, but also a lot wider than mine. 

I wonder how many years it will be before I discover its true identity.

Diane

[Jan Jeddeloh]

I think the tecophilia like spending the summer in my plunge bed.  I can keep them pretty dry without desiccating them and relatively cool.  I was out in the greenhouse yesterday and it looks like I might get a second bloom this year after all.

[Rimmer de Vries]

I don't see a thread for these so i post them here
Two different forms of yellow Ipheoin/ Nothoscordum

[Rimmer de Vries]

Last year this was described as a hybrid. From the Wallis’

[Diane Whitehead]

My Definitely-Not-Tecophilaea is blooming.  The leaves are now a metre long (42 inches).  Two flowers and a couple of leaves, emerge from a small bump 25 cm up from the soil surface.

In the photo, I have propped it up on a stick as it can't hold itself up at all.  Perhaps it is native to a cliff somewhere and is used to hanging down.

When I get a name for it, I will toss it in the compost.  All these years, for this?

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Diane,
a few years ago I got seed from one of the Exchanges which looked suspiciously like romulea rather than tecophilea. I never bothered sowing it. I think that might be what you've got. I'd be wary of putting it into the compost though!
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

My Definitely-Not-Tecophilaea is blooming.  The leaves are now a metre long (42 inches).  Two flowers and a couple of leaves, emerge from a small bump 25 cm up from the soil surface.

In the photo, I have propped it up on a stick as it can't hold itself up at all.  Perhaps it is native to a cliff somewhere and is used to hanging down.

When I get a name for it, I will toss it in the compost.  All these years, for this?

 I don't  know  enough about the  family, but  may it  be  another  member  of the  Tecophilaceae? Such as  Tecophilaea violiflora ? ( it  does  look a  tad  pale though) It  seems  to  have  the  right  growth pattern for that.

   Or  even a  Conanthera or Zephyra elegans?

[ian mcdonald]

My Tecophilaea have new shoots but always die off before flowering.

[Maggi Young]

My Tecophilaea have new shoots but always die off before flowering.

That's  odd - are they frosted ? Too wet, too dry?

[Diane Whitehead]

romulea  I'd be wary of putting it into the compost though!

Yes, I can see why you say that, as R rosea and R minutiflora are noxious weeds in Australia.

I sowed seeds of Romulea minutiflora ex S Africa in 1996, so that is probably what it is.

OK.  Into the garbage.

Just noticed - it was offered in the SRGC seed exchange this year.

My South African books give its maximum height as 20 cm.  Maybe mine was stretching desperately for light in my dim winter light.  Well, correct or not, it's out of here.

[ian mcdonald]

Maggi, they are in pots in an un-heated greenhouse. I was told when I bought them to with-hold water until after December then give a little water once a month until they flower.  They send up new shoots in February which stay white and then they shrivel.