South African Bulbs 2011

[Peter II]

I have these plants in a shallow dish. In the winter I bring into the basement (cellar).

[Alessandro.marinello]

very nice Fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

Fermi, I feel so jealous every time I see your avatar.

Don't feel jealous - I can't grow meconopsis and so many of the wonderful cool climate plants we saw when we visited Scotland!
Here's the first flowers of Geissorhiza corrugata which opened in the sunshine on the weekend,




cheers
fermi

[PeterT]

How much water do these need Fermi, should I stand pots of seed in a saucer?

[Darren]

I'm not sure our conditions here would equate to Fermi's anyway but this is not necessary, and probably inadvisable, in the UK climate Peter.

All my cape bulb seed, including my own seed of G. corrugata, is sown in august here and the pots stood out in the rain (and we have had a LOT this week!), they germinate in about 30 days and I bring them under glass before the first frost and then treat them as mini-adults.

 Adults - All my Geissorhiza (about 10 species) get normal bulb treatment i.e. just damp through the winter. However - in my experience they will abort their flowers if too dry as the flowers develop in spring so then I water them much more freely but still don't stand them in water. The vigorous increasers like G. aspera get overcrowded easily and this means the pots also dry out very rapidly in spring. Corrugata is easy to manage though the leaves don't spiral tightly like they do in brighter conditions in the wild or even in Australia. Mine performed better than usual in the bright spring we had this year and even went to the Hexham show where the judges were spectacularly disinterested.

Some Geissorhiza grow with wet feet in the wild and in a Mediterranean climate you could get away with saucers of water but the seeds or bulbs would likely rot in a cold dull UK autumn & winter.

[PeterT]

Thanks so much Darren, your advice is pretty much what I thought, but information availabe suggests they are almost aquatic for the winter!
Wish I could have been at Hexham, - I would have been interested 

[Darren]

 

I just thought of another good example - Hesperantha vaginata grows in wet red clay in the wild (I've walked on it and it is great for your leg muscles as your boots weigh a ton in seconds!) but I find this plant so rot-prone here that I have to grow it in a plunged clay pot and be careful with the water. The habitat bakes to concrete-like consistency in summer of course.

[PeterT]

Thanks Darren - Its a bit like growing junos and american frits...

[Ezeiza]

Darren, 10 species of Geissorhiza is just too much!

[t00lie]

Dave the Geissorhiza heterostyla is very special not one i have seen before.

There are a number of seedlings in the pot with another one just about to bloom so it will be interesting to see if there is any variation in colouring.
Cheers Dave.

One of the other seedlings is in now in bloom Davey.While this one shows a touch of purple especially in the bud ,it opened to a white.

Cheers Dave.

[daveyp1970]

Lovely white,i kind of like the dark reverse.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Got this earlier this year from a generous Forum member from down under.

Gladiolus pappei - merely 25 cm high ! 

Thanks Dave !!!! 

[David Nicholson]

Very nice Luc

[Maggi Young]

Beautiful bloom, Luc and at only 25cms  that makes it even nicer.

[jshields]

Yes, indeed, very nice.  I love the South African Gladiolus, but I have problems growing them.  Maybe I just don't go at it right.  Gladiolus oppositiflorus salmoneus is marginally hardy here.  I can keep it alive in pots, but the plants are weak and don't bloom regularly.  Planted outdoors in the ground, it is much more vigorous and blooms much  better -- if it survives the winters.  I planted maybe 10 different clones outdoors in the garden, in the same bed where Crinum variabile and Crinum [bulbispermum x lugardiae] are perfectly hardy.  Over several years, 6 to 8 maybe, I gradually lost them until I was down to only 2.  I lifted them and potted them, and they have not bloomed since.

I have been growing G. saudersii in pots right along.  They did very well for a few years, and bloomed nicely.  Now they are dwindling, and repotting seems to be fatal for them.

Other species, kept full time in pots, simply never bloom for me.

It's very frustrating!

Jim