Never thought to pot mine up until this thread came along! They're glorious. Very nice, Jack!!
When is the best time to dig them and are the pots left outside during winter or held in the garage?
Gloriosa rothschildiana blooming !!!
If you go to here it should detail how I do pots of gloriosa: http://davesgarden.com/tools/blog/index.php?tabid=1788 - Scroll down to the entry on pot culture. The entry is about half way down.
This message was edited Jul 10, 2010 12:27 PM
Tried your link two different ways, Jack, and it said, "Access denied", each time.
It's in my gardening blog, I think I encountered this problem before, but alas, I don't remember the solution. In lieu of the proper way there, I copied and herewith paste: usually grow mine in very large containers (14 to 20" +).
I place the tubers (which are often shaped like fingers, legs, or L's) 2 inches below the top of the soil, they are placed horizontally with an inch or two apart, 3 to 6 per container. If using pots or containers, its a good idea to have a trellis in place so as not to accidently pierce one when soil covered later. They can grow upward (by tendrils at leaf's ends) up to 8 feet per season. It's essential to provide a support for them to grow upward on. The soil must be free draining (adding some sand usually helps). For most of my containers I put a couple inches of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom (this keeps the weight more manageable and helps drainage). Mine usually bloom through the whole summer season.When they decline by fall, taper off watering. I move mine to the basement for overwinter storage. If utilizing large pots, they maybe be left dry in the pots till spring when it is recommended they be re-potted. When tapped out of their old pot an amazing juxtapositioning has often occurred in that the tubers migrate from the horizontal plane to become vertical.
I usually fertilize them with liquid MiracleGrow every 2 to 3 weeks.
One can ascertain when they'll come out of their dormancy by observing the tuber tips, they take on a pinkish coloration. At this point it is usually easier to establish which side goes up when planting for a rudimentary eye becomes visible and points upward. The basement here maintains a fairly constant average temperature around 60 degrees.
When grown outside they prefer night temps 60 - 70 degrees but can tolerate down to 50 degrees. Preferred day temps are 75 degrees or higher with high humidity (typical midwest climate).
They can also be grown as houseplants or in the ground summer plants.
At season's end or next season's beginning when extracting them from their habitat it is easy to break them. If that happens be not overly alarmed as usaully each separate leg will bloom any way.
Thanks, I appreciate your help. I'll copy and paste to my own notes.
Just because your plants grow so beautifully I did attach the stems to a trellis today so you've got me started now. Mine must be 7 or 8 years old. Do the odds favor finding a herd of tubers?
More than likely...here's the harvest from 14 large pots -->
Zounds!
Zounds indeed, pirl! Thanks for the photos, jnorth. Those are just what I was hoping to see. They grow like clematis and just about as tall as the clematis I used to grow in pots. I think I'll try them next year. Quite lovely.
Judith
Gloriosa greenii
greenii and rothchildiana for comparison
You've got the magic touch, Jack.
why thanks pirl
agreed.
how long does it take the tubers to put out shoots?
Fabulous!
never actually timed shoot appearance time, temperature and moisture may be factors; probably a week, maybe more...
Haven't logged onto DG in months, until I remembered this thread when harvesting some seeds. Got a great harvest from Roth, and a decent harvest from G superba considering it's in its first year with me. I now have all seeds planted in my little garage nursery :~)
Photo is of superba seeds.
