freesias

I received 10 freesia bulbs for Christmas and they're all growing like crazy. They're in a sunny window as per instructions. The instructions also say you can plant them outdoors. My question is, when they finish blooming, can I plant them outside and will they ever bloom again? Live in zone 9b.

Thanks,
hatch

Yes they will Hatch'One of my favorite flowers so fragrant'HTH, Sis'

Hatch yes they will even survive the wet costal winters we have in southern England as long as they are planted in well drained soil. They may bloom a little later once outside though.

Sis I'm in the group of 15% of people who cannot smell Freesia at all. Pity I understand they have a wonderful scent.

So sorry Baa,they're fragrance is"enchanting" to say the least'

Thanks so much for the information. I've never seen or smelled them but am so excited to see what develops. I found pictures of them and they're beautiful.

Now, one more question: do they do like other bulbs and multiply so you can separate them and then can have a whole bed of them?

hatch

Yes given that they are happy in their situation they will multiply quite quickly.

Baa,
Thanks for the answer. I sure am gonna give it a try.

hatch

You're welcome

They make a great long lasting cut flower too, if you cut them when the spike is in bud.

Baa, are you saying that there is some selective loss for some smells like colour blindness?? I never heard of it, and it sounds very interesting.

Dimitri

Hi Dimitri

Apparently so (sorry I got my figures wrong its about 25% of people who can't smell them).The curious thing is that all of my family can smell Freesias and love them. Perhaps I'm the coalman's daughter after all, as they used to say ;)

This message was edited Thursday, Feb 28th 6:43 PM

Makes a change from being the milkman's anyway, lol!
Baa, i'm on heavy clay here (good for brickmaking, but a bit of a nuisance for gardening). Would they do better in a container for me do you think? - must be in the 75%, love the scent, sorry you miss out. Are they the only flower this applies to?

I'm on heavy clay too, if in doubt grow in a pot seems to be our planting motto. We have them scattered in a few pots although I don't think they have made it this year, no signs of growth from them anyway. Not surprising since they had a tough time last year in all that rain.

I'll take your words for it that I'm missing out on a nice scent LOL. The whole scent thing isn't restricted to Freesias, apparently there are various plants which have this affect on different people (although I don't know the plants I must look them up).

Well, i've gone for it and bought some freesias today.
Keep us up to date with which other flowers some people can't smell, if you have time, please Baa :)

I bought some today too. Mixed colors. I think I'll just grow them in a container. While searching I noticed they aren't in the Plant database. Baa - what's the current Latin name?

Poppysue

Current name is a bit complicated. Freesia is still the genus of the bulbs we are talking about but some have been moved to Anomatheca genus. Freesia laxa is now Anomatheca laxa (False Freesia). Both genera are very closely related so they will probably mix and match again before now.

The origin of the Freesias we buy in packets (in the UK anyway) are usually F x kewensis. These are a cross between F armstrongii and F refracta. They appear to be the main parents of the modern cultivars but there are other crosses made with other parents so its hard to say which parents a cultivar may have.

Philomel

I've done a bit of searching and it seems that there are masses of plants which smell different to different people. I'll see if I can get a list up in a week or so. On another thread of course :)

Brilliant! Thanks Baa - sounds really interesting
:)

I can't smell Freesias either. However I can smell all other flowers that are supposed to have a nice scent. so maybe it is just something peculiar with Freesias. I thought it must be the kind I was buying so I tried different sources and then I began to think I was being lied to. And then I faced the facts, I'm just smelling impaired.

Forget me not - no not smelling impaired, just a genetic variation to the type species ;)