March 2011 in the Southern Hemisphere

[fermi de Sousa]

The start of another month and a repeat of sorts for the first post!
Lycoris elsae peaking out from under the foliage of a Rugosa which had invaded the bed so I didn't notice the Lycoris till it flowered!


cheers
fermi

[fermi de Sousa]

This nerine came as N. laticoma but having seen Heinie's pics I assume mine is mis-named




Anyone care to suggest what it really is?
cheers
fermi

[Ezeiza]

Fermi, leaves of laticoma can not be confused with others. Resemble Valotta leaves.

[majallison]

Fermi, the plant has something of the look of Nerine platypetala

[fermi de Sousa]

Thank you, Alberto and Malcolm.

A couple of Colchicums,
the first came from a friend and he thinks it might be Colchicum corsicum,




The second was grown from SRGC Seedex 2004 as Colchicum sibthorpii




cheers
fermi

[Lesley Cox]

May be wrong but I'm pretty sure C. corsicum flowers with its leaves.

[Paul T]

Fermi,

My Lycoris elsae is flowering at present too.  Here's a pic of the 2 flower stems, plus a closeup of one of the flowers in the shade to show some of the colour detail.

Then there's one of the Amaryllis belladonna that are in flower at the moment.  This one is a multiflora hybrid that can produce up to 25 flowers in a full circle on the head.

And lastly, a Tigridia pavonia seedling that is flowering for me for the first time.  David N is the proud parent that sent me the seed..... this is the first one of them to flower for me.  The flower is just gorgeous, and given I have lost the orange/red I used to have, I am extremely pleased to have this wonderful flower in my garden again.... and hopefully hardier than the others as it was grown from seed here.  Thanks David. 

[arillady]

Travelling along a nearby road yesterday I saw a flash of pink below the road on the verge.
Well there were a few patches like this one. Calostemma purpureum in abundance.
Sparaxis have also made a home nearby but of course not flowering now but still in this abundance too.

[Paul T]

Wow, Pat.  That's an amazing amount of them. 

[Maggi Young]

What a superb stand, Pat..... "locally plentiful", I guess!

[arillady]

I know when I found that Calostemma purpureum bulbs being offered in the UK on the web for 15 pounds - think of a cartoon dog with dollar signs in his eyes and jumping up and down.
I will not be doing this of course but it would be easy to collect some of the seeds which are fleshy round and when the seed heads get too heavy the stems fall over and that is where they germinate. I should imagine they would have to be collected and sent and posted fairly quickly.

[Maggi Young]

When I first saw those huge stands of Calostemma my thought was... would there be a market for these as cut flowers?

[arillady]

I haven't picked any to see how long they last. But yes at the right time they would be good I think.

[fermi de Sousa]

Pat,
that is an amazing sight! Enough to rival some of the Western Australian spring flower fields! A paddock of the yellow one would be even more impressive (only because I've never seen one!)

In our garden another native doing well is a suckering form of Wahlenbergia stricta



cheers
fermi

[cohan]

Travelling along a nearby road yesterday I saw a flash of pink below the road on the verge.
Well there were a few patches like this one. Calostemma purpureum in abundance.
Sparaxis have also made a home nearby but of course not flowering now but still in this abundance too.

Wonderful stand! I was wondering if this was a native or invader, but I think I can infer from Fermi's comments that it's a native?