Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on March 01, 2012, 02:40:39 AM
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In Australia it's "officially" the start of autumn - and it certainly isn't feeling like summer anymore!
Over 4 inches (> 100mm) of rain in the last few days and temperatures down into the teens (oC)!
Here are some "autumn" flowers already:
Colchicum cilicium
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Colchicum ?atropurpureum
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Rhodophiala bifida
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Crossyne flava
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cheers
fermi
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Another "mystery" colchicum which came from a Seedex as C. sibthorpii but I was told it isn't:
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Cyclamen graecum
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cheers
fermi
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Autumn here too Fermi judging from the temps. 13 supposed to be the high today and snow yesterday on the mountains around Tekapo! A good thick coat too.
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In Australia it's "officially" the start of autumn - and it certainly isn't feeling like summer anymore!
Over 4 inches (> 100mm) of rain in the last few days and temperatures down into the teens (oC)!
Here are some "autumn" flowers already:
cheers
fermi
Do you call that weather autumn? Here we call it summer!
Nice flowers anyway - even the mystery one.
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Sure hope all in the eastern states survive the floods and rain. We had 38mls - a lot more civilized and cooler days - good for working in the garden.
No colchicums flowering here yet. A few Habranthus flowering and Calostemmas are now seed capsules. the Urgineas have been amazing this year - still to download the photos - continuing for ages. Started with some up the hill and then others started and then more started. So pleased to have them in the garden. The bees and butterflies appreciate them as much as I do.
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Have heard about the flood warnings and evacuatuions in NSW on the news .... sounds bad.... hope it improves soon.
The tornadoes in America are causing terrible loss of life as well as the damage to buildings..... too much extreme weather in too many places....... :'(
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My brother flew out of Heathrow yesterday and, after a couple of days in Hong Kong, will then fly on to New South Wales!
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Hope he took his swimming togs David. ???
I have what I believe is Colchicum byzantinum out already, though there's no sign of it in the patch in the guy's paddock from whence it came (with his permission) and Cyc hederifolium and cilicium are well on the way and C. purpurascens. Otherwise, mostly Acis autumnale and buds on Nerines.
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Lucy has joined Auckland Girls Choir, so I take her down for 4 p.m. Rather than come home, I take a book and find somewhere to read. The rehearsal is in St Luke's Presbyterian Church in Remuera Road and finishes at 6 p.m. I decided to find a high vantage point and check out the views. Just across the road is Mt Hobson, one of Auckland's extinct volcanoes so, as there didn't seem to be any other choice, I walked up it. Rough pasture with olive trees, oaks and pohutukawas, but there are some bulbs planted on the lower, more manicured areas. The Amaryllis belladonna looked like a self-seeded clump, as there was a singleton nearby.
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Good to see that sign Anthony. Not sure if I would be sitting on the side of any sort of volcano - especially in NZ.
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Anthony can i ask are the dark stems usual for this plant, they are really striking ?
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Good to see that sign Anthony. Not sure if I would be sitting on the side of any sort of volcano - especially in NZ.
Seeing as at least 30% of the New Zealand population live in Auckland, which boast at least 50 volcanic cones, lakes, lagoons, islands and depressions, I'm not particularly worried. Many of them have been used at land fill sites. The one at the top of our road even has its own gas power station attached!
Anthony can I ask are the dark stems usual for this plant, they are really striking ?
Not sure. I seem to remember this is one thing that attracted me to this plant in the past.
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Hi Everyone,
I believe it is fellow (recently immortalized) forumist from Downunder's birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OTTO FAUSER! ;D X
Cheers, Marcus
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Happy Birthday Otto!!
All the very best. 8)
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apart from masses of Crocus banaticus and nudiflorus these are some of the first autumn bulbs to flower in my garden today - also in a shady ,cool spot the the very slowgrowing Tasmanian cool rainforrest endemic Prionotes cerinthoides .
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Otto. Lovely!!
I wouldn't mind seeing the masses of banaticus and nudiflorus if you have a photo? No sign of banaticus here as yet, but I have nudiflorus 'Orta' with 2 flowers, and the first pulchellus. And of course lots and lots of Cyclamen, Colchicum, Rhodophiala, some Lycoris, Dahlias, Salvias etc. Great time of year.
Your Prionotes cerinthoides looks rather interesting as well. I'm figuring ericaceous? Lovely little thing, and great to see obscure Aussie stuff. 8)
Thanks for the pics.
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Lucky you Otto, and clever you, to have the lovely Prionotes in flower and looking so well. Of course you are carefully pollinating each flower. :D These two were taken in the Mt Field National Park when Don and I stayed with Marcus. It was quite lovely climbing up tree trunks. I think it would be happy where a Lapageria or Philesia would grow.
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It really is a beauty. I hadn't realised from Otto's pic that it was a climber. :o
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Otto. Lovely!!
I wouldn't mind seeing the masses of banaticus and nudiflorus if you have a photo? No sign of banaticus here as yet, but I have nudiflorus 'Orta' with 2 flowers, and the first pulchellus. And of course lots and lots of Cyclamen, Colchicum, Rhodophiala, some Lycoris, Dahlias, Salvias etc. Great time of year.
Your Prionotes cerinthoides looks rather interesting as well. I'm figuring ericaceous? Lovely little thing, and great to see obscure Aussie stuff. 8)
Thanks for the pics.
Paul, it is Crocus nudiflorus 'ORLA' :)
Otto, Super Prionotes. It's in the Epacridaceae, Paul,,, which is near enough an "eric" for my taste! ;) :)
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Prionotes cerinthoides looks great!
I have read that it can climb to 10 meter and is hardy! Is that true?
Does anyboy have seed of this one?
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It's in the Epacridaceae, Paul,,, which is near enough an "eric" for my taste! ;) :)
Same as the Richea on the "Germinating Now page Paul.
I think Marcus Harvey in Tasmania listed the Prionotes a few years ago and I seem to remember that it was listed (but supplied by Marcus) in a JJA list as well. Marcus' email is hillview400@hotmail.com and would be worth an enquiry. He didn't send me a bulb list this year. :'(
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Thanks for the name correction, Maggi. And the family for the Prionotes. The flower looks more Erica than Epacris, but I should have realised given it is a Tas native and we have so many Epacs. ::)
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...in the Mt Field National Park when Don and I stayed with Marcus. It was quite lovely climbing up tree trunks.
The image of you climbing up the trees will stay with me for quite sometime, Lesley! ;D
A few more "autumn bulbs" - A colchicum I received as "atropurpureum" which might be a dark form of Colchicum cilicium
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The promise of things to come - Sternbergia sicula
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cheers
fermi
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Well let's be quite open and honest and frank here Fermi. I'm more likely to do the climb that you are. ;D
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I'll stick to social climbing, thanks, Lesley! ;D
Here's a nice [accidental] juxtaposition of Lycoris radiata and Zephyranthes candida
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A pale form of Colchicum cilicium
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That clump of Sternbergia sicula the next day
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A stunning white Belladonna (probably an Amarygia hybrid)
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
Your accident is a beauty. The two work well together, don't they?
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Fermi, both are marsh plants.
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Bought this lovely wee Nerine for NZ$6 at Howick Market a couple of Saturdays ago.
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Anthony,
Isn't 'Fothergill Major' such a good nerine? Finished here already, but flowers well every year for me. Always the first or nearly the first Nerine each year. Sometimes beaten by things like N. angulata, but not this year.
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Too tender for me in Dunblane, but a delight here Paul.
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When they're past flowering Anthony, I'll send up some of the late June Keeley's dwarf forms. Regular Nerine colours but shorter, slimmer stems and flowers in proportion. They are not flowering well for me, maybe not warm enough through the summer, especially this year. Terry Hatch was given the Keeley collection when June died in 1993 or thereabouts. But I think they were too small to interest him and have probably vanished for good now.
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those shorter Nerines would be the ones that I would appeal more to me. Pity about the water in between.
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Thanks Lesley. I may pop down to Joy Plants and see?
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Thanks Lesley. I may pop down to Joy Plants and see?
Ask Terry, or his son or whoever is there, what happened to them. They were unique and so lovely. I've lost it now but had one June called 'Chanticleer.' It was her earliest flowering and was a rich deep lipstick red absolutely stunning, and speckled with gold. She also had a line of smoked shades and lovely apricots and coral colours. I may still have it as some haven't flowered for 2 or 3 years but it was one of the most reliable for me. June grew them in sun but with high, overhead dappled shade, from limbed-up birches. The drainage under the birches was very severe and the ground always quite dry except briefly after heavy rain.
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Anthony,
Isn't 'Fothergill Major' such a good nerine? Finished here already, but flowers well every year for me. Always the first or nearly the first Nerine each year.
If this is a "wee" one it might be 'Fothergilla Minor' rather than 'Major'. Ours are still in bloom here with one spike only just poking through!
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
I find that 'Minor' always blooms after 'Major'. My 'Minor' is sending up buds and should be open shortly, whereas the 'Major' are all over now.
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But isn't it Nerine sarniensis anyway? ???
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A Guernsey lily by any other name. 8)
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I have this Colchicum flowering in my garden at the moment labelled 'Conquest' . Have I got the correct name ? it is a darker rosy-lilac colour than the photo .
and two more in flower today
Colch. 'Conquest'009 (13) ?
Colch. autumnale 'Alboplenum'
Colch. polyphyllum
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Nerine rosea is now in bloom
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This is the "common" colchicum in many gardens- is it "The Giant"?
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Lycoris aurea
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
Yes, it is 'The Giant' as far as I know.
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Thnaks, Paul.
Does anyone have any idea on what this one might be?
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I grew it from seed as C. bivonae - which it's not! It's just a little bigger than C. corsicum.
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cheers
fermi
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Thnaks, Paul.
Does anyone have any idea on what this one might be?
cheers
fermi
It's a Colchicum, Fermi. ;D :P
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My Grandmother would have called them naked ladies. 8)
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Really? I know Amaryllis belladonna as Naked Ladies, not Colchicums.
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Curiously, my third edition of James Lee's "Introduction to Botany" (MDCCLXXV1) calls Colchicum "meadow saffron" and Amaryllis "lily daffodil". The misnomer meadow saffron for colchicum seems to be repeated in all older my flower books (Hutchinson; Clapham, Tutin and Warburg; Step; Bentham & Hooker). They all refer to it as autumn crocus and naked ladies (the latter not in B & H, but they note that it is named after Colchis on the Black sea), but Step also calls it naked boys! Amaryllis belladona wouldn't have had an olde English folklore name, but I have always known it as the Jersey lily. I suppose names would be transposed as people spread and attached familiar names to new plants, just like the name robin ap;ied to robin-like birds the world over. Captain Cook coined the name "cabbage tree" or "cabbage palm" for the nikau palm (Rhoplostylis sapida) because the fat, cabbage-like leaf bud was edible and eaten as a vegetable. European settlers transposed the name to the more common Cordyline australis, which was also edible, but only cabbage-like if you shut your eyes and looked the other way. ::)
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Must check out the local botanic gardens and see if they grow Quercus coccifera (kermes oak - pictured on page 43 of January's "The Rock Garden" no. 128).
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Must check out the local botanic gardens and see if they grow Quercus coccifera (kermes oak - pictured on page 43 of January's "The Rock Garden" no. 128).
Hmmm.... you mean the one captioned in error in the journal as Quercus robur.........
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Really? I know Amaryllis belladonna as Naked Ladies, not Colchicums.
Quite so. Colchicums are Naked Virgins ;)
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Driving past clumps of Amaryllis belladonna, I can see why they could be called naked ladies. Colchicum nudiflorum is not very lady-like in leaf.
Must check out the local botanic gardens and see if they grow Quercus coccifera (kermes oak - pictured on page 43 of January's "The Rock Garden" no. 128).
Hmmm.... you mean the one captioned in error in the journal as Quercus robur.........
That's the one, and what reminded me. I grew it from seed collected near Barcelona and they survived the winter of 2009-10 outside. The leaves are even more holly-like than Quercus ilex, but are usually only a couple of centimetres long.
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This little Eucomis has been close for days and finally a couple of flowers are open. Dreadful picture, sorry, I'll try another when a few more are open. The height of the tallest of 3 stems is just 10cms from tip of the top knot to the pot surface so a real dwarf, with the name of 'Tiny Pink Rubies.'
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I think I saw somewhere that Eucomis can be propagated from leaf cuttings. Would someone expound on that please?
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Lesley,
That is brilliant. Is it an NZ breeding, or from overseas? I must look out for it and see whether it is here in Aus. VERY nice!
Yes, leaves can be used to propagate Eucomis. I'm sure I've seen instructions posted somewhere, but goodness knows which list it was on. My brain doesn't work too well at times at present. ::) I would have thought it was here on these forums, but I'm guessing as you haven't seen it that it must have been on one of the mailing lists. Sorry I am not sure where.
A quick look online though produced these....
http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com.au/2007/08/how-to-propagate-eucomis-bulbs-leaf.html
http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/how-to-propagate-and-grow-eucomis-from.html
The first in particular runs through step by step. My google search was leaf cuttings eucomis and these were some of the first. Lots of others to look at as well if wanted.
I've been meaning to try this myself...... I might do so one of these decades. ;D
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Yes, we've had this before.... Arnold gave this link http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Eucomis from this forum thread
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7429.msg213590#msg213590
and there's this, too
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=104
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Lesley - leaf cuttings work very well with Eucomis - I've always taken them from strong fully expanded leaves, not too late in the season, and cut into sections like you would Streptocarpus, about an inch or so long. With the stronger species you quite often get several new bulbs developing across the base of the leaf. I imagine that lovely little 'Tiny Pink Rubies' might only give one or two. They develop the new bulbils during summer and autumn, before the leaf sections die down in winter and then nice new shoots develop in the spring to be potted up. It is fascinating to propagate plants in this way.
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Thanks everyone for this information and the references. It's probably too late now but I'll try a few anyway. I bought the bulbs from a Christchurch mail order nursery when they were catalogued online, so they must have had them late in the normal Eucomis season. I bought some gladiolus corms too (the Dame Edna kind) and they too have either not flowered or are flowering now, very late, healthy though so next season should be better. Also bought a dark red Zantedeschia, almost ready to photograph and some Arisaema flavum ssp. abbreviatum which flowered and the seed is going orange now.
Oddly, a number of my Arisaema species have only just come through, even with a damp summer, and it's usually drought that makes them late. Candidissimum and ringens were in flower two weeks ago and I noticed nepenthoides and elephas have recently made leaves but are not going to flower. I can't imagine why they are so late, literally months.
Paul, I don't know if the Eucomis is a NZ production or not. I may be able to find out though. Terry Hatch near Auckland certainly does Eucomis and a friend near Warkworth also has produced som larger forms almost the colour of choc cosmos, very very dark red, and with dark red stems and whirly bits on top, better than any commercial forms I've seen. I have a couple of his cast-offs and they're very good indeed. ;D
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Lesley,
What colour are the flowers on those dark forms? If you can do some pollinating and set some seed, please think of me. I very much want to get some dark flowered Eucomis.... I've been crossing my pinkest flowered large types with vandermerwei this year to see whether I can impart some of that lovely dark flower colour of the species to the larger ones. Got to find the space to sow the seed of course, but they tend to be very shy in seed production I've found, so there won't be much seed in the pods I am guessing.... most tend to be aborted I've found in the past.
This summer has just done the strangest things to all sorts of plants. Hoop petticoat daffs with leaves up a month ago (many months early in some varieties), early autumn colour formation in some things.... first Galanthus reginae-olgae has already opened a flower here as well.
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The flowers are pretty much the same shade and depth of colour as th TPR above Paul, much bigger plants and flower heads of course. I've not had any seed from them. I don't know what plants Theo has used as parents but his best are being named I think. As I said, I have the cast-offs. ;D
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For you Lesley http://bulbsociety.org/GALLERY_OF_THE_WORLDS_BULBS/GRAPHICS/Eucomis/Eucomis_leafcutting/Eucomis_leafcutting.html (and the others friends indead ;) ;D)
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Lesley,
I've pretty much found that they only set seed if hand pollinated. Quite literally. I take a finger and transfer the pollen by hand. ;D
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Nicole, thank you for that excellent link. The technique couldn't be made more clear and says and shows everything needed. It is interesting too that they can apparently be done from leaves from the base, as one would a Ramonda. I'll try both ways. Just in passing, I wonder therefore, would it be worth trying the same methods, either one, on the leafy bit at the top of the flower stems. I might try that too, just to see what happens, if anything. :)
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Just in passing, I wonder therefore, would it be worth trying the same methods, either one, on the leafy bit at the top of the flower stems. I might try that too, just to see what happens, if anything. :)
Cor I must be getting old, I never thought of that Lesley ;)
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Maybe it wasn't worth thinking about. We'll see. :)
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Lesley,
The topknot can be grown successfully as well. This way I think was known and used much earlier than leaf cuttings.
Interestingly, this year I had Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' flower for me then continue right on growing, producing a new growth shoot net to the flower stem. The strange weather has done all sorts of wierd things. The leaves are still growing happily now, showing full purple, while the flower stem is maturing and the older leaves have faded out. I'm not quite sure when it is going to have a rest. :-\
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Some bulbs to finish off the month,
Brunsvigia gregaria
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Red Hybrid nerine
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Pink Hybrid Nerine
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Pale pink Cyclamen graecum in the rock garden
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Narcissus viridiflorus
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cheers
fermi
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Gosh, now you are teasing me Fermi. Narcissus viridiflorus but the clump! I feel as if I'm starting a new family with loads of pots of seeds and seedlings. My Cyclamen graecum (and C. africanum) from 2012 SRGC seed are just sprouting.
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Fermi,
the viridiflorus is amazing. Just doesn't like flowering for me. Yet miniatus does fine in pots..... when the other species doesn't. ::) Go figure. I love the Brunsvigia, and that pale pink Nerine is very nice as well.