February 2011 - Southern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Lovely pictures  - just a reminder that forum photos are best resized to 760 pixels wide, please. 

[Hillview croconut]

Howdy all,

Lovely pictures everyone!

Cheers, Marcus

[Ezeiza]

Fermi, Acis auiumnalis oporanthum has been in flower for two weeks now here in Buenos Aires. It is amazing that the same plants are invariably in flower at the same time in Oz, South America and Sout Africa!

Anita, your Ismene (not Hymenocallis) could be something else and not 'Festalis' that flowers in December or so. Right now, a hybrid Ismene, 'Bucaneer' is in flower but looks daintier than yours.

[Lesley Cox]

Fermi, Acis auiumnalis oporanthum has been in flower for two weeks now here in Buenos Aires. It is amazing that the same plants are invariably in flower at the same time in Oz, South America and Sout Africa!

And don't forget New Zealand Alberto. Acis autumnnalis is in full flower here too. No crocuses yet but first Cyc hederifolium out this week.

Marcus, summer was those two days we had last week. 

Alberto is there much difference between Acis autumnnalis and v. oporanthum? I can't see any at all but the latter may be mis-named. It was raised from one of the seed lists.

[Ray]

[Anita, your Ismene (not Hymenocallis) could be something else and not 'Festalis' that flowers in December or so. Right now, a hybrid Ismene, 'Bucaneer' is in flower but looks daintier than yours.
[/quote]

Hi Alberto,what I know as Ismene x festalis in this country never flowers in Dec,for me it always flowers in late summer.bye Ray

[Brian Ellis]

[Anita, your Ismene (not Hymenocallis) could be something else and not 'Festalis' that flowers in December or so. Right now, a hybrid Ismene, 'Bucaneer' is in flower but looks daintier than yours.

Hi Alberto,what I know as Ismene x festalis in this country never flowers in Dec,for me it always flowers in late summer.bye Ray
[/quote]

...and I bought some bulbs last week in England that are just beginning to shoot!

[Paul T]

Marcus,

Crocus already!!    Hopefully you'll show us a pic of the vallicola, which is the one with the pointy tips isn't it?

Fermi,

Similar things in flower here, at least from the Acis and Calostemma points of view anyway.  Would love to get more colours of Calostemma if I could ever find them, but so hard to come by.  Mine usually do not flower, so it looks like my sinking them into the top level of the crocus garden might just be working to give them the extra depth that they need for flowering.  First year to get a flower on them (and at this stage, only a single stem), but non-the-less a good thing and hopefully a sign of future years. 

Anita,

A couple of belladonnas are in flower here already, but not many as yet.  No idea what our strange weather this year will do to their flowering this year.  We've had rain today, so I'm waiting to see whether the Rhodophiala all start putting up flowers, or whether we've not had enough summer to stimulate them to flower this year.

Thanks for the pics everyone.

[John Kitt]

The effects of the weather are producing some curious happenings for me.
Absolutely no sign of any movement from Acis, belladonna or crocus.
I had a single Sprekelia bloom open this morning in the middle of a clump that flowered months ago??

[Ezeiza]

Lesley, var. oporanthum flowers without any foliage. Var. pulchellum flowers with the foliage visible. Both do exist, but these are the only differences.

[Tecophilaea King]

Just a few more of the late summer flowering species that bloomed over the last fortnight.
The large sweetly scented trumpets of Amaryllis belladonna alba is always one of the easiest bulbs for naturalising in a warm well-drained positions.
Galtonia viridiflora produces unusual greenish flowers up to 1 m tall in summer,it prefers a sandy soil and partial shade for better performance.
Haemanthus alba and a nice pink flowering Haemanthus humilus mostly emerge without the foliage and often prompted  by heavy rain.
The Rhodophiala bifida is a close relative of the Hippeastrum, and typically have much narrower leaves and smaller bulbs with distinctive narrow necks and often pull themselves deep into the pots and sometimes through the bottom, the lustrous pinkish red to maroon trumpet flowers with prominent golden anthers, always make a striking debut.
The last one is the  Stenomesson miniatum and the currently accepted botanical name but it still commonly known by its synonym as Urceolina peruviana.
 
Still very warm for the time of the season with temps up to 30°C during the day,  high humidity and night temps up to  20°C or more.

Amaryllus belladonna
Galtonia viridiflora
Haemanthus alba
Haemanthus humilis
Rhodophiala bifida
Urceolina peruvianum

[Paul T]

Bill,

Great pics as always.  Is your Urceolina really this late?  Mine flowered ages ago, yet my belladonnas have only had one or two stems as yet (this may mean they aren't going to flower this year due to all our rain  ) and my Haemanthus I don't expect for weeks yet.  I don't grow H. humilis though, or not mature as yet.  I didn't realise it even came in pink, and that is a beautiful pink.  I am VERY jealous. 

[Tecophilaea King]

Bill,

Great pics as always.  Is your Urceolina really this late?  Mine flowered ages ago, yet my belladonnas have only had one or two stems as yet (this may mean they aren't going to flower this year due to all our rain  ) and my Haemanthus I don't expect for weeks yet.  I don't grow H. humilis though, or not mature as yet.  I didn't realise it even came in pink, and that is a beautiful pink.  I am VERY jealous.  

Paul, the Urceolina peruviana picture was taken 2-3 weeks ago, and believe it or not, photographed from bulbs flowering dry in the trays.  

[angie]

Bill some real treasures there. I do like your Haemanthus humilis. I do have this plant ( due to a kind forum member )but as yet haven't had it flower. So it's something for me to look forward to. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Angie

[Lesley Cox]

Lesley, var. oporanthum flowers without any foliage. Var. pulchellum flowers with the foliage visible. Both do exist, but these are the only differences.

My two potsful have short leaves but the patch in the garden doesn't but I think it's just because it's bone dry where the Acis is. It is NOT what I had as v. oporanthum.

I'll have the double Galtonia candicans 'Moonbeam' out soon. Pic in due course.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

I hope you don't mind, but I've just prepared some pics and they include Galtonia 'Moonbeam'......

Also some pics of the Campanula carpatica 'Pearl Deep Blue' that we mentioned earlier in this topic.

And a crepe myrtle, in this case a variety called 'Natchez'.

Enjoy.