Hippeastrum 2008

[Maggi Young]

You can easily grow Hippeastrum in a small pot while you'll virtually never flower Rhodophialas in anything but larger pots, and the bulbs usually end up migrating down to the bottom.  R. bifida flowers for me here most years and I have a pink hybrid (bought as a pink bifida but it has up to 7 flowers per stem) that flowers religiously.  Both these, plus a few different seedlings I have grown all have the elongated bulb as they are trying to push themselves deeper, but have a rounder bulb once they are down to a cool depth that they like.

Paul, this is exactly the "behaviour" seen in bulbs like narcissus which  "prefer" to be deep underground, isn't it? The bulbs are communicating by their shape what their preference is.... all goes to show we should study our plants closely and , more  often thatn not, they'll "give us a clue" !! 

[Paul T]

Maggi,

Yep.  In the Australian genus Calostemma it is particularly obvious..... when heading downwards the bulbs are long and thin and once they're at the requisite depth they are much more of a traditional "bulb" shape.  I think that things like Scilla can do a bit of this too..... when settled they're big and round bulbs, but if migrating in teh soil they are considerably elongated.

In the Rhodophiala the bulb can pull itself down a LONG way, which is why I was mentioning it.  I've dug down in an area of my garden where I planted R. bifida and at 8 inches down I still couldn't find them.  Their leaves came up that season so they hadn't died, just dug themselves down.  I'm hoping that once they're happy they'll flower properly as I didn't get a flower off the ones in the garden this year.

[Lesley Cox]

My (very limited) experience with Rhodophiala is that they are best in pots because in the garden they just keep on going down whereas in a pot they reach the bottom and have to decide on something else to do - if you see what I mean. So they make roots until thoroughly pot-bound, then get on with flowering, very freely.  When you need to divide, it's impossible to separate the bulbs but if you just break bits off the mass and replant, they seem to come to no harm.

[Lesley Cox]

Nerines on the other hand, don't go down but climb up and over each other sending roots down and around other thick bulbs. In a few years the whole clump is above the ground, the bases of the top bulbs maybe 6 or 7 cms above the soil surface. They too, have to have chunks snapped off the clump, to divide.

[johnw]

Hans  - I see the first flower stalk coming up on the Rhodophiala elwesii so I will be able to make some selfed seed.

johnw

[Hans J]

Hi all ,

Today a other flowering plant :

Hippestrelia 'Red Beauty'

This is a cross between Sprekelia X Hippeatrum

Enjoy
Hans

[David Nicholson]

Very nice Hans.

[Hans J]

Thank you David 

I'm pleased that you like it more than Lionel Ritchie and the Commodores 

[Paul T]

Great pics Hans.  Love the flower form and the wonderfully strong Sprekelia colour.

Out of interest, have you had seed from this, and if so have you grown it on to flowering?  I have heard at times that the seed from these hybrids apparently grows true, which doesn't make sense to me.  Being a primary hybrid between two genus I would have expected that it would throw back to both parents, but apparently the seed actually produces flowers the same as the parent.  Have you (or anyone else reading this) sowed seed and flowered it?  I'd be interested to hear of the results.

[johnw]

Hans - A marvellous Red Beauty. We have tried Sprekelia and they flower the first year they come in from a warmer summer area and then refuse to bloom. I still have a few pots of them which, with the Lycoris radiata, will surely break a record shortly for not blooming.

Is Sprekelia itself a good flower for you? I assume the Red Beauty is a bit more generous with flowers.

A solitary Cypripedium reginae out here along with Lewisia rediviva Jolon's Strain and the late evergreen azaleas - Watchet, Verena. Az Michael Hill just starting to open.

johnw

[Hans J]

Paul :

This is the first time for that this plant has flowered ( I have bougth it before 4 years ) -I have now pollinate this flowers ( selfed ) -and I will let you know what happens .

John :

Spekelia I grow too - but it has flowered last year -in this year nothing .....
I suppose like you that Hippestrelia flowers a bit easier !

[David Nicholson]

Well, that makes me feel better, because my Spekelias haven't flowered this year-YET! Neither had Mick McLoughlin's when we last corresponded. Is there something going on in the Sprekelia world we should know about!

[Paul T]

Sprekelias here love hot and dry in summer I think, with total neglect.  Flower madly every year, but best if left to form a solid clump.  I think they're a bit like Amaryllis belladonna that way, i.e prefer to be crowded.  Best lot I ever had for flowering was in my old garden where they were in a place where they never got watered or cared for in the slightest.  Baked themselves silly in summer and flowered their heads off as a result!!

Hans,

Good luck with the seeds.  If you end up with seedlings like the parent you'll have a lot of material for trading I'd imagine.    That is a spectacular flower.  I'm sure that there'll be SRGCers trading you things for bulbs of them left right and centre. 

[David Nicholson]

Paul, we don't do hot and dry Summers here in Devon but we do a lot of wet, muggy ones

[Lesley Cox]

How about cooking under glass David? Worth a little spot in the glasshouse?