Rogan et al
I have a very confused lot of Rhodophiala species here. Many seem to pay no attention to the seasons, die down for a few weeks and come right back up strongly. I have tried drying them offf when the leaves are mostly gone but it makes no diffference. R. araucana was repotted when it went dormant a few weeks ago and now it is booming up again. Likewise R. sp. unkown from Chileflora and elwesii, the latter never really dies down completely. I have tried to compile a spreadsheet on the various species from information on the web but have more holes than entries. Worse there is a lot of conflicting data. Here are some of the criteria I was trying to capture:
zone
altitude
habitat
flower colour
flower time
flower month
flower count
petal count
height
pistil description
leaf description
seed capsule
seed count
seed colour
seed ripening
seed sprouting
germination rate
culture
soil mix
watering
growth
winter dormant
summer dormant
dry when dormant
not too dry when dormant
moist when dormant
summer growing
spring growing
winter growing
notes
additonal notes
We had the first good frost Thursday night, though we haven't gone below 1c yet. A week ago we had a very light frost at +3c which clipped the tops off the Amorphophallus 'Konjac' and a few late shoots on Pieris volunteers that were misfortunate enough to be hit by the first rays of the rising sun. These frosts are most welcome on the coast as it gets a bit scarey when they hold off until early December and then the temperature really plunges for the first go at it.
johnw
