Rain lilies (Habranthus, Zephyranthes etc)

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ezeiza

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Re: Habranthus
« Reply #15 on: August 26, 2011, 06:25:06 PM »
Alisdair, it is not from Mexico, but from South America where I discovered it. I am glad to know it is in cultivation, no dobut via Australia.

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2011, 11:53:23 AM »
When I went to the MGS garden this morning, Sally Razelou showed me a lovely clump of Zephyranthes 'La Bufa Rose' (it seems to change the spelling a lot so Oron please correct). The plant has an interesting history.  A visitor from Utah gave Sally a few bulbs which grew well and allowed Sally to collect seed. Using the seedlings, she has made plantings among the shady parts of the terraces and the flowers are starting to show now in clumps and singly depending on age. There are seeds from Sally available on the MGS seed exchange.
Unfortunately Vina is away at the moment so I don't have a very good photo.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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oron peri

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #17 on: September 01, 2011, 12:28:56 PM »
Fleur,
To my knowledge, Zephyranthes 'Labuffarosea' is a natural hybrid discovered in the 90's in Mexico,
The name was given after the montains where it was first discovered.
As far as i know its status and  parents are not cleared yet.
Surly Ezeiza from Argentina knows better and can help us....

Any way it is a beauty.
« Last Edit: September 01, 2011, 12:31:59 PM by oron peri »
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Living and gardening in Tivon, Lower Galilee region, North Israel.
Min temp 5c Max 42c, around 450mm rain.

ezeiza

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #18 on: September 01, 2011, 08:46:53 PM »
This is very interesting. Zephyranhthes seeds have very short viability unless under Seed Bank conditions.
Many of the cultivars of "Labufaroae" are virused. By obtaining new plants from seed it is possible to start from healthy material. Therefore those that have access to these seeds please request them at once; they are really precious material.

Rereading reply 10, yes, there is another species of Cooperia with a similar yellow color, Cooperia jonesii.

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #19 on: September 09, 2011, 01:42:22 PM »
Sally tells me that she did indeed sow the seeds immediately after gathering them. In view of ezeiza's advice she'll send this year's seeds off immediately to Chantal when they are ripe and I'll let Chantal and the Forum know that they're on their way and will soon be available. More flowers from seedlings coming up today below.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

pamela

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #20 on: September 09, 2011, 08:01:36 PM »
Fleur ..you must have had rain in Greece for the Zephyranthes to emerge?  We haven't had any rain for months and mine are still tucked up.
Jávea, Costa Blanca, Spain
Min temp 5c max temp 38c  Rainfall 550 mm 

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ezeiza

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #21 on: September 09, 2011, 08:13:22 PM »
Now that you mention it, "Labufarosae" is dry winter dormant, flowers in spring with the leaves well developed and will remain green in spring, summer and autumn.

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #22 on: September 10, 2011, 11:25:59 AM »
Pamela, no we haven't had any rain nor is any forecast. Sally recently watered the bed where the Zephyranthes are planted because she was planting out something else and the bulbs woke up, so she has continued to water. I have mine in a summer irrigated container and the leaves have come with the flowers.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #23 on: September 14, 2011, 10:07:05 PM »
Seed is already forming on the Zephyranthes.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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Alisdair

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #24 on: September 23, 2011, 04:39:20 PM »
I can confirm that seed from Sally's plant is not viable if it has been stored for any length of time! :( :(
In the UK the current preferred nomenclature is Zephyranthes La Bufa Rosa Group. Yucca Do in Texas, the nursery that originally named it Labuffarosa when they introduced it in 1994, have now adopted the La Bufa Rosa Group name too, and sell a number of cultivars within the group. But given the plant's origin some taxonomist may well describe it as a valid species in its own right.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2011, 04:46:18 PM by Alisdair »
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

ezeiza

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #25 on: September 24, 2011, 04:18:36 PM »
I first saw this at the nursery of the BG Berkeley in 1993. It was evidently a new species from the leaves alone: VERY broad and green. Yes, there are a number of variants but all show the same shape of flower. Some color forms are larger than others but all are the same thing.

As said above, most of the forms in the trade (if not all) show heavy mosaic symptoms. Therefore anything that could be done to propagate this from seed (and therefore virus free) is most important. Growing such virused plants in one's collection is crazy as they are carrying an AMARYLLID virus.

The parents' ID is not certain but there are several natural hybrids that behave like species, like Cooperia morrisclintii) and accepted as such. And a number of color variants within the same species is not so uncommon. Therefore "Labufarosae" could well be a species.

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JTh

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #26 on: September 30, 2011, 03:48:43 PM »
I discovered these large, pink flowers on short stems in my neighbours "lawn" (a pension which is closed for the season), and I suppose are Zephyranthes sp. as well, from what I have read here. I don't know the species or variety, what do you suggest? I remember they had some flowers which probably were of the same in a flower box on on of the balconies several years ago, when I asked what they were, the answer was κρίνοι (lilies). Some seed have fallen down on the ground below, where I found the flowers, I'll see if there any seeds before I leave Greece next week.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2011, 07:23:20 PM by JTh »
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
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ezeiza

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #27 on: September 30, 2011, 05:01:46 PM »
They are Zephyranthes grandiflora again. The normal flowering time is mid-late spring with the leaves.

It seldom (if ever) sets any seed. It seems the Dutch grow a single offsetting clone.

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Alisdair

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #28 on: September 30, 2011, 07:22:16 PM »
My Zephyranthes grandiflora, which also never set seed, came - in the same batch as John Fielding's - from China, labelled as something much more exciting. Brian Mathew once told me that he'd seen it naturalised in the Himalayas.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

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JTh

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Re: Zephyranthes
« Reply #29 on: September 30, 2011, 07:22:27 PM »
Thank you, Ezeiza, great to know! If the normal flowering time is in the spring, then these must behave abnormally,  the photo  was taken a couple of days ago, and I am sure they must be the result of seeds coming from the veranda above. There is no way they would have been planted there by the owners, they are in a walkway around the building. Luckily, there is nobody there now to destroy them.
I also found some pots with Z. candida on sale in Thessaloniki yesterday, I hope they survive here.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.