The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Bulbs (including other geophytes with corms, tubers, rhizomes etc) => Topic started by: Heinie on May 29, 2011, 04:19:26 PM
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Here is a Haemanthus albiflos family in a pot with five flowers
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/IMG_3191.jpg)
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/IMG_3190.jpg)
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This Haemanthus pubescens flowered recently and the 2nd and 3rd photos are of the ripening berries.
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/IMG_1267.jpg)
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/IMG_3158-1.jpg)
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/IMG_3160.jpg)
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Wow, that splendid potful's growing well!
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Hey, I grow that as a house plant in Devon. How hardy is it ?
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I think you'd be unwise to try it outside even in Devon, Jo. One or two people in California, where it's grown outside quite widely, say it will stand a very few degrees of frost, but the general view is that any frost will kill it - and wet British weather is probably just as bad for it. H. coccineus would be a better bet outside in a very mild garden in the South or South West of the UK, in sheltered well drained soil, or perhaps, if you can get hold of them, H. humilis or H. sanguineus.
Another option, of course, is to put it outside in the warmer drier months, and bring it in for the winter.
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Jo,
You would have noticed that the plants are in a 25cm pot. The pot is normally outside under very large trees with Clivias and lots of light. It grows much faster outside but then here in Cape Town we never experience frost. The lowest winter temperature at night is very seldom below 10C. Frost will kill them outside.
The wet weather does not affect it's growing at all as long as the growing medium is a well draining one. I plant all my bulbs in a mixture of 50 to 80 percent grid and the balance a fine compost. The medium for all my Haemanthus is 60/40. I bring various plants in pots closer to the house when they flower and go back as soon as the flowers are spent.
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Heinie you are a very bad man.
I was looking through all your posts, at all your photographs, and then went on line and ordered a lot of spring bulbs. It has cost me a fortune. :o :o :o.
I couldn't find anything as rare as your bulbs, but I now have coming;
Narcissi, mainly from the jonquil group. Tulipa cluisiana var chrysantha, Tulipa sprengeri, and Tulipa sylvestris, Gladiolus tristus and Tropaeolum tricolorum.
I would like some more species tulips as well, but do not know yet, which ones would like eastern Crete.
If anybody can recommend any, please do. ;D
Daisy :)
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Daisy,
I know how bad I am and there are many bad plant collecting people on various forums I belong to. They continuously post these MUST HAVE species of plants and bulbs.
You must start swapping bulbs with forum members and your selection will grow rapidly. It is great fun and so rewarding. Growers that I have made my internet friends from all over the world are very good friends who I have never met but we are friends. Weird hey but real plant people are very honest people. The main reason I say that is that it is an accepted unwritten rule that the person that sends the item on is the one that pays for shipping. It may sound unfair but over an extended period shipping costs are always evened out. I also buy a lot of bulbs and plants too.
My 1st choice of my hobby is growing Clivias for the last 20 years. The 2nd in line is bulbous plants mostly from the Amaryllidaceae family for the last 12 years. I have more than 500 pots in which I grow bulbs because my soil is pure clay. My 3rd choice is Daylilies which kicked in about 4 years ago. I have a 4th item now which is Oriental, Asiatic etc Lilies for about two years now.
I still have must have plants which somebody on this forum may be able to help me with. They are Scadoxus cyrtanthifloris, Paramongaia weberbaueri and Cryptostephanus haemanthoides. Following are photos copied from PBS in the above order.
If somebody can offer me one of each for sale I will be most happy.
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/Scadoxuscyrtanthiflorus.jpg)
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/weberbaurii.jpg)
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o149/loevenstein/Cryptostephanushaemanthoides.jpg)
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Daisy, very easy, go to http://www.bulbargence.com/m_catalogue/index.php?id_categorie=7. Lauw is flower bulb grower on the Camargue, France. He has a wide catalogue including many species tulips. He was/is a member of the MGS and regularly receives members for tours.
David
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Heinie, I have come across Cryptostephanus haemanthoides but not seen it. It is thought to be a close relative of Clivia and a possible way forward in breeding and developing Clivia. How compatible they are is of course another question but if they flowered together it's worth a try.
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Daisy, Heinie's advice about swapping etc is really at the heart of getting lovely and unusual plants, and as Heinie says people who have those plants are incredibly generous with them.
Also, don't forget seed exchanges, including the MGS seed exchange (run by our forum member Chantal) - that usually has seed of some interesting South African bulbous plants. And although some bulbous plants can take years to grow from seed (some lily species!), others - including some really choice plants - reach flowering size even in a year. There is a real kick to seeing an unusual plant you have grown from seed flowering for the first time, and then you have the extra pleasure of contributing its seed to the seed exchange in turn. And so the cycle goes on!
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I remember seeing the Paramongaia at RHS Wisley last year. It is just possible that at some point seed would be available in their seed list if you are a member!
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Oh Alisdair, how it is well said for our seed list advantages. But, unfortunately, we don't have such rarities. I encourage every body to send me whatever they grow, with a preference for mediterrenean climate plants. There is no dead line date for sending the seeds, as we are an international society dealing with southern and northern hemispheres.
You can see information on where and how to send the seeds on the MGS website (http://www.mediterraneangardensociety.org/seedlist.html).
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Thank-you David for that link. I have just spent another small fortune ??? ??? ???
Seriously, I am glad for it. I have only had my new garden for 18 months, and there are no spring bulbs in it at all.
I am just getting common, easy flowers for the first year. Mainly narcissus, although I have ordered some Morea polystachya and Morea flaccida aurantiaca which are new to me.
Daisy
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Daisy, you might like to see the list of suppliers attached to this posting (http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=158.0)....
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We have a photo of this on the MGS website but I couldn't resist posting another one since all these flowers have appeared in the last few days. This Haemanthus coccineus
is growing in the MGS garden having expanded from a single bulb over many years. The dappled shade seems exactly to fit its needs.
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... and for John Fielding's photo of a potful, click here (http://www.mgsforum.org/smf/index.php?topic=148.msg562#msg562).
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It's quite a while since the last posting here, but in spite of warnings, I'll see if I get some response to my question. Several years ago I saw Haemeanthus coccineus in flower in the MGS garden in Paeania, and I immediately put it on my wishlist for plants to try in northern Greece. Haemanthus is not very hardy, but I read that it may take some short cold spells and light frost, and Fleur wrote that it has been growing in the MGS garden for several years. I can't resist picking seeds whenever I'm travelling, and I now have some tiny seedlings, but it may take a while before they are ready to be transplanted.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48094068842_f7ba2d2fe8_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2ggUF6u)
IMG_20190619_194958.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2ggUF6u) by Jorun Tharaldsen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/46063510@N03/), on Flickr
I have Haemanthus albiflos growing indoors in Norway, the pot was so so full of bulbs that I finally had to divide it, so now I have more plants than I have room for on my window sills. I would like to try to grow it in northern Greece, do you think it is possible to keep it alive?
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Jorun, though I have no experience of growing it, I'd be strongly inclined to hope for success. Most Cape bulbs seem so happy in the unwatered part of our own Greek garden that I feel they're always worth trying unless they are real bog-dwellers. I know our own Greek garden faces very much milder winters than yours, but Haemanthus albiflos must face occasional frosts in the inland parts of its range. Given that it's evergreen, you might have a better chance with it (relative to H. coccineus) than someone in a hotter part of Greece anyway. Presumably you've got somewhere suitably shady for it. Give it a try!
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Thank you, Alisdair, maybe I'll succeed? I have more bulbs than I need here in Norway, anyhow, so I'm not taking a big risk if I bring a few bulbs to Greece. Finding a shady place for them is not a big problem.
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I got seed of Haemanthus barkerae from SilverHill Seeds in 2003 and in 2017 I got the first flower. This year the flower looks a bit stronger!
1) first flower 2017
2 & 3) in 2020
cheers
fermi
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Fascinating how much South African bulbs/geophytes vary in how quickly/slowly they come to flower, with many producing flowers almost immediately but others tantalisingly taking so many years as your Haemanthus, Fermi!