Disa time.

[LarsB]

The Disas are flowering.





Two Disa uniflora klones:



Disa uniflora 'Christmas Gold' opened on the 24 june.

[Peter Maguire]

Lovely collection Lars; 'Christmas Gold' looks to be an especially fine colour form, especially with the large uniflora flower.
The colour makes me think of lemon sorbet. Food again....

[LarsB]

Thanks Peter. Christmas Gold is really a beauty. You need to have more thn one plant as it only flower every second or third year.

[Graham Catlow]

Yes, I agree, a lovely collection.
I have tried to get my Disa uniflora and aurata to flower for several years following all the advice but I think I just don't really have the right conditions.
They survive and multiply but just don't get to flowering size.
I think they will be leaving my collection in due course.

[LarsB]

I know it so easy for me to say, since i obviously have some success with them, but i find them thriving well even under less than optimal conditions, as long as they get plenty of clean water. How many years have you been growing them?

[Graham Catlow]

Hi Lars,
I don't have a lot of room for winter cover and it's difficult for me to keep them frost free thought the winter but I manage. They are then outside throughout spring summer and autumn but they just don't seem to build up to flowering size. I water them with rain water and keep them damp throughout the year.

I have had them for four or five years now.

I am trying to down size my pot collection of a range of things and think that these will join some of the others and disappear from the collection.

[LarsB]

Well, if you are growing them outside all year, it's beyond my knowledge what and how to do 

[Peter Maguire]

I 've been playing about taking pictures of the Disas in flower here today, so here are some of the results:

- Disa aurata. I took a quick picture of this over a month ago (it's on the South African terrestrial thread, started by Darren) and here it is today, still flowering well
- Disa kewensis 'Alice'
- Disa kewensis 'Milkmaid'
- Disa 'Don'

There are more plants still in bud, so the season is very long for these intensely coloured flowers. 

[angie]

Peter lovely pictures. I do really like Disa kewensis milkmaid. It's really lovely with the dark background.

Angie 

[Maren]

I agree, Angie, but is it because girls like pink (I expect howls of protest) 

[Maggi Young]

I agree, Angie, but is it because girls like pink (I expect howls of protest) 

Well, I like pink too, but Disa MilkMaid is appealling because she looks just  like her namesake......

[Peter Maguire]

Disa MilkMaid is appealling because she looks just  like her namesake.....

She doesn't wear clogs, my milkmaid, that is.

I was going to say that I prefer the yellow/orange flowered ones myself, but when looking at the pictures again on 'Don' and 'Alice' earlier today at work, the degree of orange colouring was less than I see on the home computer where the monitor is calibrated for photography. It was a salutary lesson in the idiosyncrasies of digital photography.

[Maren]

Very pretty, ALL the milkmaids.

Here are my last stragglers: Disa unifoam red and D. Riette Sereen, both have been in flower for 6 weeks and getting a bit tired now.

[Peter Maguire]

Unifoam is certainly spectacular - I'm still waiting for some Disas to open. D uniflora was in bud when I went away two weeks ago - it's still in bud, but at least they are in flower for an equally long time.

[LarsB]

That Unifoam is perfectly shaped and even though the colour can be different in a picture, it looks like it has that deep red that I personally think is one of the most desirable colours a Disa can have.