Beginner Gardening: Blue flowers blooming now, 1 by DaleTheGardener

DaleTheGardener wrote:
Sue,

I would have to grow alpines in my refrigerator, under grow lights, for them to survive.

So you like SAfrican bulbs - then you should order seed from http://www.silverhillseeds.co.za/ByCategory.asp they have excellent choice - things you will never see available anywhere else. They offer more than 50 Lachenalia. I have been ordering from them for years and have always been happy with my purchase.

The nice thing about living in NorCal is that all the SAfrican bulbs can be grown in pots and all you have to do is water them during the winter (a little fertilizer helps too).

Since they are summer dormant you can just stack up the pots in an out-of-the-way place and restart them in Oct/Nov, in the same pot.

When I worked at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont we had a species freesia that had been growing in the crack of a retaining wall for years. It reseeded itself all over the area below the wall - and what a sweet scent it had.