Recent Posts

21

General Forum / Pacific Bulb Society

« Last post by grenadier on October 15, 2025, 02:59:18 AM »

Has anyone had trouble connecting with the Pacific Bulb Society website. All I get when I try is invalid address come up.

22

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Vinny 123 on October 14, 2025, 08:18:47 PM »

The basic flower structure of all Ascleps is broadly the same.
Back in the day when I was a member of the IAS and grew plenty, it was pre-www and there were plenty of diagrams around to explain.............. Maybe I still have some, but I have no idea where

I have now found it almost impossible to find anything useful online - this is the nearest/most helpful -

23

Blogs and Diaries / Re: Crystal Range Flora 2024-5

« Last post by Robert on October 14, 2025, 03:41:15 PM »

On the evening of 13 October 2025, a strong, cold, low pressure system brought the first significant snowfall to the higher elevations (~ > 6,000 ft. 1,829 meters) of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My botanical outing was well timed, as the higher portions of the Sierra Nevada will likely be snow bound until spring. In the Sierra Nevada foothills, the early rainfall has started to turn the landscape green (the grasslands). As of 0Z 14 October precipitation at our El Dorado County farm is 207.93% of average to date. Statistically, significant precipitation early in the season has been generally followed by drought for the remainer of the precipitation season. My skills at creating long range seasonal forecast models for our region are improving, but are still not very accurate. Drought is just part of the weather/climate cycle in our part of Interior California; however, we are always hoping for a wet precipitation season.

24

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Hans J on October 14, 2025, 10:48:29 AM »

Hi Vinny ,

Do you have a picture of the flower structure ?
Or a link to any informations and pictures or drawings ?

I have still a lot of flowers on my Matelea and a magnifying glass with 10 x 21mm....so I could try

Thanks in advance
Hans

25

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: October 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere

« Last post by Robert on October 13, 2025, 05:16:27 PM »

Hi Fermi,



I feel fortunate that I have been able to adjust to the changes well and feel very optimistic about the future of our garden here in Sacramento. I turned 70 recently and came up with a new 10-year plan for the garden. The main goal is to create a garden that is well designed and filled with color and interest during all seasons. I enjoy breeding plants, so I will continue with these projects. Anything that does not fit into the plan has been or will be terminated.

Except for a back injury (from 35 years ago) that flared up, I seem to be in good health. On my recent botanical outing I easily hiked 14 miles with an altitude gain of 1,690 feet (515 meters) in 7 miles (11.3 km), from an elevation of 6,530 feet to 8,220 feet (1,990 meters to 2,505 meters). Most of the altitude gain was in the last 3 miles (4.8 km). Except for near the end of the outing, I did not get tired and had no sore muscles the next day. The goal is to keep doing this until I am 80 and beyond.

Above is a chart of the average summertime temperature (1 June to 30 September) at our El Dorado County farm from 1986 through 2025. You can see from the linear trend line that our summers are getting hotter. If you use boxcar averaging to create the trend line, things started to change dramatically around the year 2000. The vapor pressure deficit, a measure of aridity, is also increasing during the summer. Our garden practices are being adjusted to these changes.



I am drawing some of my inspiration from the landscape flora of Interior California. This is a beautiful scene during the spring in Bear Valley California. There is also a great deal I can learn from the gardens and plants shown on the Forum. Obviously, I need to adjust the plants and ideas to fit our gardening environment and goals.



This is a scene from the serpentine barrens a short walk down the road from our El Dorado County farm. Lasthenia californica ssp. californica is combining well with Platystemon californicus.



Here is another scene from the serpentine barrens – Playstemon californicus, Lasthenia californica, and Gilia tricolor.



Annuals are a prominent part of the Interior California landscape and are also a prominent part of our garden landscape. Platystemon californicus, seed from the local serpentine barrens, is a new accession to our garden. I will be planting the seed shortly. Platystemon californicus is a highly variable species with many possibilities. I am very excited to be incorporating this species into our garden scheme, along with many bulbous species and very small heat loving perennial species – similar to what I see here in Interior California. Currently, summer and autumn are, more or less, the dormant season in our garden, however I am experimenting with ways to change this situation. It is a very enjoyable gardening journey.

26

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Vinny 123 on October 13, 2025, 02:23:56 PM »

Hi Hans
I have grown numerous Ascleps in the past, probably even Metelea
i have to say that I have never tried it - change of plants/personal circumstances, but I was assured by an Asclep enthusiast that pollination was easy. It was a while ago, but a x10 lens is very cheap through Amazon.

For sure, I had previously found it very easy to collect pollinia (on a cocktail stick) from any Asclep that I tried, but in a flower it is difficult to find where it should be transferred to - he assured me that it works perfectly OK if you carefully cut-away the flower parts to find the right spot.

You do need to understand the flower structure before trying, but worth a try on at least one flower.

27

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Hans J on October 13, 2025, 02:12:53 PM »

Hi Vinny ,

Glad that you like Matelea !
It is not so easy with pollination ...I have contacted some growers of this plants what I can do.
There was some specialists for Asclepidacae...they told me without a microscope and a big knowledge is it near impossibly ....
So my hope was that the right insects find this flowers and make her work
I know from a contact who also lives like me in the river Rhine valley ( around 70 km from here ) that he has every year fruits on his Matelea ..I know also from other parts of Germany who grow this plants that they never had ( over years ) any fruits ...so I'm lucky !

Are here on this forum any other growers of Matelea cyclophylla ?
Or are here maybe any growers of other Matelea species ( this plants grows in north and south America )
I would really swap seeds because they are very difficult to get here in Germany !
( I think some seeds in a envelope is no problem because custom)

All the best
Hans

28

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Vinny 123 on October 13, 2025, 12:58:46 PM »

My first finding of this thread.

That does a very passable imitation of Edithcolea. Very nice.

Hand pollination of Ascleps is reasonably easy - to get access you can (carefully) cut away structures that impede you, but transfer of pollinia is usually easy.

As to the comments about unpleasant smell/fly pollinators/Ascleps - many Ascelp flowers are odourless to us humans, not least most? all? Huernia, but still get pollinated.

29

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Hans J on October 13, 2025, 10:36:57 AM »

Quick update:

Yesterday, I brought my Matelea plants indoors because the night-time temperatures were quite cool

(6°C).

The first fruit has grown well in the meantime (12 cm).

I have now found a second fruit on another plant (4.5 cm).

I'm delighted that it worked out.

30

Flowers and Foliage Now / Re: Matelea cyclophylla is flowering

« Last post by Hans J on October 13, 2025, 10:34:08 AM »

Good news about my Matelea plants (4 )

I saw a fruit on 13.09.2025 !!!!

My hope was that some insect would take pity and pollinate one of the many flowers...and it worked!

Maybe there are more fruits – but you can't see everything in this jungle.

Now I'm curious to see when this fruit will be ripe, because autumn is coming... eventually it will get too cold in the greenhouse and I'll have to move the plants indoors.