Show us your Summer Bulbs & Discussion Part 3

very pretty

so odd for me to see boojum and raydio posting amaryllises in bloom at this time. Mine do their thing in March/April. (I'm saying this with a little bit of jealousy....)

jmorth, love that cosmo with the lily-nice pairing!

booj, gorgeous amaryllis! I thought it was an Aztec lily at first glance.

My magic lilies are finished now, but are in full bloom in most of this area. Strange because in this hollow where I live, I'm usually 2 weeks behind everyone else. I love the unexpected color in the dog days of summer. Often there are subtle streaks of true blue in the petals that can be seen up close. I've seen a site offering a blue form that I'd really like to see.

Neal, is that a Pulmonaria behind it?
Careful who is in company when you mention that bluer Lycoris- I know someone on a warpath for it.

Good eye there! Yes, pulmonaria behind and ferns and hostas at their ankles.

This montbretia (emberglow) with a Parks bareroot sale (4.49) rose, Marmalade skies turned out to be a nice combo. Patti

ya, ya, I love combos like that

Tigridia

A late-blooming 'Lollipop'

Blackberry lily

Hardy glads

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Acidanthera

Fancy. Great shots, Kylee.

Wow, Kenton. That's gorgeous!

Another Tigridia...

They are all so LOVELY! Kenton, great shot, I love it!

Another Blackberry Lily

kb you seem to have a lot in bloom, my crocosia Lucifer finished some time ago. I'm glad someone can keep the pics coming! I love the Acidanthera, I have put some in a pot and as many in the ground, I haven't tried them before but my daughter grew some and they are lovely in real life. I shall see how they go in the ground, and leave the potted ones in the greenhouse, no flowers yet!

K, you are tantalising us with that superb Calla!

I do have a Eucomis in flower for the first time, it was sold as E Peace Candles, but this I found from another source looking the same, and is in fact missold and is E comosa, I think most likely 'Cornwood'

''

I've never grown eucomis. They look like they have a scent like my cimicifuga (bugbane).

I started a eucomis in a pot, then transplanted it outside when it was warm enough and it just got ugly, so I cut it down. Of course, that was the end of that. Yours is lovely, wallaby!

I've got lots in bloom, yes, and it's my intent to have lots ALWAYS in bloom, no matter what season it is. Other things blooming in the garden right now are tropical hibiscus (this is still in the pot, but sunk in the ground), balsam (LOVE those crazy seed pods!), hardy glads, roses, mexican hat (ratibidia), coreopsis (several kinds), nasturtiums, heuchera, begonias, feverfew, african daisies, daylilies, gaillardia, gazania, balloon flower, zinnias, cosmos, gerbera daisies, heliotrope, dahlias, cardinal climber vine, tradescantia, obedient plant, dianthus, rose of Sharon, hydrangea, and lobelia. Probably a few more that I've forgotten.

The Eucomis is scented, I hadn't noticed it before but it's only just getting to fully open stage. I had forgotten to check but bent down near it and it hit me (the scent!), it does smell rather like my Cimicifuga James Compton. I have read that it (cimicifuga)doesn't have a pleasant scent, mine does and is a sweet musky scent. It reminds me more of Yakka, as in the Australian plant, not Yucca. Even though it isn't what it was supposed to be, I really can't grumble!

boojum, time to start growing Eucomis, there are some really interesting ones.

http://www.theafricangarden.com/page40.html

kb, I started my eucomis bicolor in pots, they didn't like it when it got hot in the greenhouse so I planted them in a semi-shaded spot. That was 2000, they set seed everywhere and the seedlings have now matured and flowered. They grow amongst Delphinium and wherever else they put themselves, I have left them where they are happy.

I'm not sure about putting this one in the ground until I have spares, it seems to like the heat more. If it makes seed I'll be dancing.

Which hardy glads do you have? I have G papilio, communis ssp. byzantinus and now dalenii from seed last year, getting big quick. I am straining at the leash to grow as many species glads as I can, when I feel I have caught up with myself! I have a papilio starting to flower now, a couple of flowers open, I love them.

Have I shown you my Roscoea auriculata? This is one I grew from seed, in the 6th year now and ready to plant out. The original one I took the seed from is overcrowded and needs dividing, plus it has self sets growing around it. This one is paler than normal, it's fading but looked so pretty against the Red Baron. It's difficult to get the purplish colour anyway.

maybe dumb question but I'll ask anyway. Wallaby, what is the advantage of concentrating on species glads? they're sturdier, therefore less maint?
what is red stemmed plant behind your beautifiul purple glad (is that red baron?)
I bought 75 acidanthera bulbs at our local discount warehouse and the first year they grew leaves but no flowers. the 2nd year, greens were much less and still no flowers. They're supposed to be something I can grow in houston, but they were a terrible disappointment. I planted inground, mostly sun, water might have been a little scarce, dunno if that was the prob.

This message was edited Aug 25, 2006 12:08 PM

voss, try giving yuor Acidanthers some tomato food, it might encourage it to flower next year. Not that I have! if no flowers, I will.

The pic is a Roscoea auriculata, a ginger member, it has a long, forked tuberous root. It likes cooler weather than yours, but is supposed to be slighty tender too. Mine went through hard frost in a deep tray from the start outside no problem. The flowers continue to make from the top as the stem grows.

Species glads are just so interesting, I like the colours and form, almost like orchids. If I get over involved with just one genus I think this would be it.

http://dip.sun.ac.za/~herbst/IBSA/Iridaceae/Gladiolus/

I found this guy who grows some, but silverhillseeds have a lot of species

http://www.rupert.bowlby.care4free.net/bowlby2.html

www.silverhillseeds.co.za

The grass behind is Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron'. It has taken some time to grow and mature, still in a pot, but is now looking great.

Lilium Barbaresco has only one flower this year, it is going downhill. Perhaps I should feed it!

hmmm. so you just like the species. I was thinking maybe you liked them better because they were tougher plants. I have 2-4 hybrids that are soooo easy that I just couldn't imagine how much easier it could get!, lol.

I bought some watsonia bulbs last year from Easy to grow Bulbs, didn't realize they are considered species glads. Did not bloom but I am giving them another year. Noticed the pic of g. papillio on that link you provided. Ain't that something!

I haven't heard of Watsonia being considered glads, will have to look that up.

The G papilio on that link is one you don't see, the one we have is G papilio Purpureoauratus Group, but they are generally not sold with the extra lengthy bit. It would be interesting to see that one for real, I like green!

voss, it's time you had something in bloom, it must be frustrating. Some bulbs do need some time to settle and are not always mature.

Perhaps the Acidanthera are sensitive, like glads, to too little sun? Are they in full-full sun?

Man, I need a black berry lily or five.
K

Well - I've ripped out all my black berry lilies and the hundreds of seedlings they've
left behind. Has anyone else found them to be just a tad too prolific for comfort?

tam

"Not I," he said, living in the desert and never having grown them, only having seen them in the midwest...

To offset the blackberry lily's ability to selfseed prolifically, I wait till the black seeds are revealed and and snip em all off.
I could snip em when they're developing seed (big pod stage) but wait till actual revealment for at that point they're somewhat photogenic. As they're pretty standard in height its easy to do swathes at a time.

Wallaby, all those wonderful species glads made me drool! I've always found the species to be more graceful and willowy than the hybrids, and having worked for so long as a floral designer it's hard for me to see regular glads as anything but funeral flowers, lol.

Oh dear, I guess that kind of deadens the excitement!

Well, WHEN I get around to growing some, you will be in my thoughts........hopefully while we are both still alive!

I went crazy for species glads after a trip to the Smith College Greenhouse Bulb Show in early spring.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/581336/
I have been unable to locate any bulbs though. Maybe I should call them and ask. Sometimes I do better through word of mouth than the internet.

Ah yes, I remember seeing those, G orchidiflorus is to die for (not yet), G watermeyeri another, there are so many to die for I will be dead several times over!

Neal, get ready with the glads!

oh no wallaby, I don't know that watsonias are glads, I just assumed that because on this like, at the very bottom there are some g. watsonius http://dip.sun.ac.za/~herbst/IBSA/Iridaceae/Gladiolus/

again, I just assumed. The pic of the watsonia I bought seem to have move rounded petals in the flowers, but again, when I saw the g. watsonius (and we were talking about glads)...

They do give a species name like that when the flowers are similar to another genus, i.e. like a Watsonia.

They both belong to Iridaceae but are a separate genus

i stand corrected. thanks Janet. I will keep my dummy hat for a week, but then it comes off!

Then again, they also name a species after a person who has discovered it, like a person called Watson.

Cursed taxonomists.

Mmm:
http://dip.sun.ac.za/~herbst/IBSA/Iridaceae/Gladiolus/G.%20angustus%201.jpg
and
http://dip.sun.ac.za/~herbst/IBSA/Iridaceae/Gladiolus/G.%20watermeyeri%202.jpg

Now I have to reevaluate my so-so opinnion for sp. glads.
K