Zephyranthes and other Amaryllidaceae 2010 - 2011

[fermi de Sousa]

This summer has been peppered with rain events so there has been a sporadic flowering of some more rain-lilies!
Zephyranthes flavissima only gives an occasional flower as it doesn't get much water - I must move some to a wetter area!


Habranthus robustus selection ex "Russell Manning" always pleases with its huges pink florets - especially compared to the much smaller H. martinezii below it!


cheers
fermi

[Renate Brinkers]

Hi at all,

here are some pictures of Amaryllidaceae we made last August in Kew Gardens - it was a bit like paradise to see all those wonderful plants.

Sternbergia sicula `Arcadian Sun´

[Renate Brinkers]

I loved this small Nerine rehmannii.


Nerine filifolia
Rhodophiala bifida
Nerine rehmannii

[Hristo]

Fermi, yet more FAB Zephs! How do these perform for you compared to say Lillium species?
Renate, thanks for the Kew pics, haven't been there for years so great to see.

[fermi de Sousa]

Fermi, yet more FAB Zephs! How do these perform for you compared to say Lillium species?

Hi Hristo,
the rain-lilies do very well for us as they are mostly dormant during the extreme weather - though I have lost Z. grandiflora due to frost! Summer rain-storms usually result in recurrent bursts of bloom especially from Habranthus tubispathus and H. martinezii and H. robustus.
Liliums grow during the hot months so require supplementary watering to keep them alive - if you look at the Lilium thread you'll see pics I posted of the effects of the heat wave we had a few weeks ago - and February is our hottest month so more on the way!
cheers
fermi

[Hristo]

Cheers Fermi, I guess it just tickles me to think of Zephyranthes in the open gadren, not an all year round possibility here. I have a few Zeph species and hybrids which are great flowering house plants for me. The scorch on Liliums is something I experienced for the first time last year, if the Liliums are exposed to any direct summer sun they scorch, lucky for us though the soil, now under a six inch mulch of bark, retains adequate moisture through the summer without additional watering.
Sorry if I'm forcing you to repeat yourself but what other Amaryllids do you grow in the open gadren?

Chris

[fermi de Sousa]

Cheers Fermi, I guess it just tickles me to think of Zephyranthes in the open gadren, not an all year round possibility here.
Sorry if I'm forcing you to repeat yourself but what other Amaryllids do you grow in the open gadren?

Chris

Well, I wish I could grow some cool climate things here but have no luck
The Amaryllids we grow outdoors here include Amaryllis belladonna, Brunsvigia, Calostemma purpurea, Crossyne flava, Habranthus, Haemanthus, Hippeastrum hybrids, Ismene, Lycoris, Nerine filifolia, N. flexuosa alba, N fothergila, N rosea, Rhodophiala bifida, Sprekelia formosissima, Zephyranthes and of course the cold hardy Galanthus, Leucojum, Acis, Sternbergia and Narcissus.
Clivia and some Nerines have to be protected from frost and a few others are still in pots waiting for me to decide if I can trust them in the ground.
This Lycoris incarnata started flowering on the weekend but will be finished by this weekend! The nerines are more long lasting.


This pic was taken this morning, three days after the ones above and you can see the first flowers are already withering.


cheers
fermi

[anita]

Chris,
If you are interested I've justed posted a few shots of the plants Fermi mentioned in his list in the In flower now - Southern Hemisphere thread. I've got Sternbergia just starting to poke through the ground... hopefully will have blooms within a week. Anita

[Hristo]

Fermi, what a list! Ok you can't grow all the cooler growing bulbs but WOW, can only dream of a garden with Sprekelia, Ismene and Brunsvigia in the open garden! The many possibilities for 'sub tropical' bulbscapes are staggering, the kind of thing we in Europe can only see in a glass house. ( I'm all jealous mate!! )
 Anita I'm going now to have look!
Cheers
Chris

[Joakim B]

Far from growing as many as Fermi we are in Portugal (and elsewhere around the Mediterranean) able to grow quite a lot of these plants.
The rain lilies are not so common here.
Much of what arrives in Portugal does so from South Africa via Madera often with a lag time of decades. Maybe the cooler summers in Madeira 30C and winters of +10-15C have stopped the growing of rain lilies there as I have not seen any here.
I am now trying some from seed. Many buy there first Amaryllis belladonna by the ladies at the flower market in Funchal Madeira believing that it is an endemic. This grows well and forms bulb- complex of 30 cm in diameter having several flowerheads coming up from them at least for us growing in "Terra cota Terra Rosa" or what the red clayish material is here..
Clivias are grown as pot plants outside but generally close to the porch so that they do not get wet during our wet winters.
I have so far not seen any heat scorch on my lillium (only hybrids) but we do water in the summer and I might have missed the strongest summers.
Interesting to see what will be possible here.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Hristo]

Hi Joakim,
I'm sorry I forget that Portugal and Spain have winters such that many South American and African species can be grown outside all year round. I am being all 'Northern / Central European' centric! It would be great to see some pictures of these 'exotics' growing in Portugal!

[Joakim B]

Chris I am also looking forwards to see some photos of the exotics from Portugal.
Probably take a while if they come from me as the rain lilies are just sown.
The A belladonna and neriums have been shown earlier and the normal clivia is not that exotic but I think I posted some different looking clivias from Estufa fria in Lisbon some years ago.
I have not been there in a long time and hope to visit soon again and complement with some photos of exotics.
The normal Hippeastrum hybrids are growing in pots by us but I saw at the Lisbon Zoo that they had them in the open garden at least a few but I do not know how well they do.
They also have what I think is crinum of some sort as well as clivias as bedding plants.
So so far it is mostly the possibility we have not so much actually the plants. There might be others in Portugal that have these rain lilies but I have not seen this.
So with time I hope to show some more of these exotics, but as I am not that good in taking care of my seed sown plants or even getting them to germinate there might be quite a while unless I start to import these as plants.
The ones that are not so common in the north, since they need frost free conditions, are not here in general commerce since here is mostly the standard Dutch cheap bulbs.
Maybe there is a market but I do not now.
I think Cris in Lisbon have sown some of the rain lilies and got them to germinate so through SRGC there are some at least on its way in Portugal.
Kind regards
Joakim

[fermi de Sousa]

More rain-lilies are coming into bloom.
This is the "commercial" stock of Habranthus martinezii x H. robustus,




And this is one we raised ourselves by crossing H. martinezii x H. robustus "ex Russell Manning"


They look pretty much the same which would back up my belief that what we have as "ex Russell Manning" is close to straight H. robustus.

H. martinezii continues to bloom well


and Zephyranthes "Grandjax" has also started,


cheers
fermi

[Hristo]

Healthy patch of 'Grandjax' Fermi, how readily does this multiply for you?

[fermi de Sousa]

Healthy patch of 'Grandjax' Fermi, how readily does this multiply for you?

Probably about as quickly as a galanthus would for you
I've had this clump for a few years but it would've been only 3 or 4 planted 6 years ago - but with a few removed once in a while.
cheers
fermi