Eucomis 2011

[Brian Ellis]

Brian E will be green with envy.

I don't know, I go away for the weekend and look what happens.  What wonderful examples of Eucomis schijffii Green with envy doesn't begin to describe my feelings Lesley, I have just picked myself up off the floor!  It is just so difficult to find one.  We have had Eucomis disasters here, many of those which have been perfectly happy for years in the cold greenhouse have succumbed to the bad winter we have just had.  I am hoping beyond hope that there may be enough plant material left for some regeneration, but things are not looking good.  I had taken the precaution of extra protection too.  To make matters worse, the common Eucomis bicolor which seeds round the garden has come through the winter.

Oh the joys of gardening

[Ezeiza]

Brian, Jenny Archibald had Eucomis schijffii in her latest (recent) catalogue.

[Kirsten]

Arnold, I keep the greenhouse as cool as possible in the summer, half the windows are removed and the door is open. The plants might as well be in
pots on the patio.

[ArnoldT]

Kristen:

Thanks, my greenhouse can get up to 100 F with fans on and windows and ridge vents wide open.

Thanks, need to invest in some shade cloth.

[Paul T]

I'm green with envy as well.  I have a tiny bulb of the species that I bought YEARS ago and it just produces a single leaf about an inch or so long each year and nothing else.  It never gets bigger and I have no idea what I am doing wrong.  I am hoping that the edging appears when the plant gets bigger, because mine doesn't have it at this stage.  I've been trying to speak nicely to it but it doesn't seem to help.    I'm wondering whetherI may just be better to try to get seed some decade and try them from scratch?  All my other Eucomis do well here, just not that one.

Well done to those of you who are growing it so well...... and to those lucky enough to find it on a sales table somewhere. 

[Lesley Cox]

Maybe stop speaking nicely Paul and give it a good kick! Works wonders with many plants.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

It is still such a small plant that if I kicked it I'd likely never find it again.   I did have it outside for a couple of years where it really struggled, now it isin my covered shadehouse.  Still only one leaf after 2 more years.

[Hans J]

Paul ,

Do you know  the name of this bad growing Eucomis ?

Maybe it is E.regia ? this plants are wintergrowers

Hans

[Paul T]

Hans,

It is supposed to be Eucomis schijffii, which is why I brought it up here where people are obviously growing the species quite happily.    Mine doesn't have the leaf edge, but it may not be mature enough to have that edge yet.  Either way, it is going SO much slower than anything else I've ever grown Eucomis-wise.  I've had the common Eucomis from seed to flowering and multiplying in far less time than I have had this little thing.

The one i have is definitely a summer grower, although it seems to appear later than most of the other ones I have, except perhaps bicolor and montana which I find are both quite late to surface here.

[Hans J]

Paul ,

maybe it is E.grimsawii ?
Perhaps have earlier anybody collect this species and as E.schijffii distributet ....

E.regia is a real winter grower - same behavior like my Massonia

For pics please look here :
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/EucomisThree

Hans

[Paul T]

Hans,

It is still so small that there is no identifying features of the plant.  This year it was a larger leaf, reaching perhaps 7 or 8cm long, but still just a single one.  In the past the leaf hasn't exceeded 5cm, so I am hoping that it might possibly be finally starting to get a little bigger!

[Hans J]

....OK ...good luck !

[Brian Ellis]

Well, believe it or not, some of the Eucomis which suffered from the abnormal winter are just beginning to grow!  There are tiny shoots on E.'Pink Gin' and E.'Sparkling Burgundy' which gives me hope that some of the other cultivars will follow suit.  I don't suppose for a minute that they will get to flower this year, but I am pleased they are alive.  They will be cossetted this winter!

[Maggi Young]

That is good news Brian. I was sorry to think that you might have had a complete disaster. Ours in the garden  have been slow to get going this year too, but I hope they are all still alive. One or two still to put in an appearance  

[Ezeiza]

Eucomises, several species, come from high in the mountains and there are reports of them being very hardy if the bulbs are planted deep.