The Bulb Maven

Pamianthe peruviana

I have posted before on this beautiful bulb, and it might even be considered unfair to keep teasing readers, since I don't have any bulbs available.  I used to keep my Pamianthe in my office, but moved them to the greenhouse when I set up a bench with a heated pad.  I use this bench for most of my bulbs that are not used to cold nights, so the bulbs from the lowlands of Peru or from Brazil are kept there, and they are doing well.

We have had horrible weather for the past six weeks with one storm front after another sweeping through, and, not surprisingly, we have lost electricity from time to time.  Worrying about my Pamianthes late one night when the electricity failed again, I went out in a raging storm to bring them in to my office, carefully wrapping the emerging buds.  I have moved the others back, but kept the blooming ones in the office, and I am greeted in the early morning by their heavenly scent.

Last year I got no pollen from the flowers, and this year too the anthers appear dried up.  I think I might have got some pollen this year, but I don't understand what is happening to the anthers.  Pamianthe will accept their own pollen, so I have hope of seeds.  Seed takes about 15 months to ripen (it really does), so even if I get seed it will be a very long time before I have any seedlings available.  The bulbs do offset, and I am including a picture showing the offsets, and also a photograph to show how they grow almost horizontally.  In nature they would be growing as epiphytes on tree branches, extending their beautiful flowers like trumpets to attract night flying pollinators.   Those pollinators must have very long tongues, since the bloom can measure a good 10 inches (25cm).

www.telosrarebulbs.com

More on Twirls and Curls

I had posted on the forum of the Pacific Bulb Society regarding bulbs with curly leaves, with some very interesting responses, including a link to an article that states that it is an adapation for collecting moisture from fog and dew.  This is fascinating!

I should say here, that if anyone doesn't know about the Pacific Bulb Society, please log on to their site:  www.pacificbulbsociety.org.  You can find a wealth of information on this site, and if you have questions or observations regarding bulbs, the forum gives access to many members who are very expert in their field.  You don't need to be a PBS member to join in the discussions on the forum.

I also found in my files another example of a Cyrtanthus with curly leaves, C. helictus.  I forgot I had this picture, since I lost the solitary bulb in my possession a few years back.  Here it is.

www.telosrarebulbs.com  

Twirls and Curls

I have a young friend who loves bulbs with twirly leaves.  Undoubtedly, he will recognize himself here, and he has generously passed on to me some delightful examples  Now, we don't usually grow bulbs for their leaves, so this fascination with the curly, twirly ones I can sympathize with, since I love Oxalis for the same reason, in that they have extremely attractive leaves.  Oxalis, however, do have lovely flowers, and many of the curly leafed bulbs have flowers that are, how to put it, a bit insignificant.  That doesn't matter at all, the leaves are the thing, and they are really wonderful.

Above and to the left is Ornithogalum concordiana (sometimes called Albuca concordiana) from southern Africa with tight curls.  It would probably look even better in a hot dry environment.  The flowers are white and green, typical of many Ornithogalums, and not that preposessing.

Another curly one is Albuca spiralis, seen here to the right.  I bought my original bulbs thus labeled, and have distributed a few under that name, but I am told it isn't A. spiralis but an unidentified Albuca.  Here is the original one, with rubbery curls of leaves that are very charming. 

The real Albuca spiralis, here on the left, has leaves that are like ringlets.  The flowers are also very attractive, yellow striped with green.  I grew this amazing bulb from seed to flowering in about six months.   

The genus Cyrtanthus has several members that have curly or spiral leaves.  Cyrtanthus smithiae is seen to the right, with C. spiralis to the left.

Cyrtanthus herrei doesn't exactly have leaves that are spiral, but they do have a very attractive twist to them. No-one could ever say that Cyrtanthus flowers were dull, all have extremely showy flowers, so the leaves are an added bonus.

I don't have Gethyllis linearis, but here is a link to a wonderful picture of this bulb in a friend's collection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88332547@N03/8175966649/in/photostream

I have read somewhere that spiral leaves are an adaptation to a dry environment or intense sunlight, and I have observed with some of my plants that the leaves are more tightly curled on some days than others. 

I have to apologize once again for the formatting.  It is a problem with Typepad, and whatever I do the pictures and text rearrange themselves when I publish.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

Dog Day Afternoon

Arlo has been with us for about ten weeks now, so he is eighteen weeks old.  He has grown amazingly, almost catching up with Willie and Hannah in height, although not in weight.  It seemed he was a little fluff ball for only about a month.  He was due for his first rabies shot last week, and since I have to drive north about 20 miles to the vet, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take them to a favorite beach there.  The weather was not wonderful, overcast and blustery, but sometimes days like these are the best.  There are few people around, and the crashing waves and windswept beach has a powerful beauty, very different from a sunny day.

These were three very happy dogs.  Willie, as usual, was off on his own finding his particular adventures, while Arlo stayed close to Hannah. Willie loved the flocks of little sandpipers, chasing them until they took flight.  They would twirl around and land a little further down the beach, when he would repeat the chase, until all I could see was a tiny white dot far down the beach, and I had to run to get him back.

I often get buried in work here, and don't take them to the beach as much as I should.  The nearest beach is only a few miles from here, but I don't usually go there, since it is overrun with dune buggies and pit bulls, so tearing myself away from shipping orders and caring for the bulbs and packing the dogs in the car for a drive to a safer beach is not always an option.  This was a special day, and seeing the joy on my dogs' faces will encourage me to make the time to go more often.

 

Nerine Part 3

Summer Growing Nerines

The majority of Nerines that I grow are hybrids of N. sarniensis and are winter-growing, producing their beautiful flowers in late summer and autumn, their leaves following soon after.  N. sarniensis is from the Cape Province of South Africa, where the climate is Mediterranean with cool rainy winters that are mild, and dry summers.  Other Nerines are summer-growing, since that region has good sized mountain ranges, and species such as N. bowdenii, coming from high altitude, will grow in summer and be dormant during the cold winters.  Above to the left is N. bowdenii v. wellsii, with petals that are even more frilled than the species.

As you move across the Cape Province from west to east, you leave the Mediterranean climate region, and come to a central region that has rain in summer and winter.  In the most eastern part of the region, there are rainy summers, and dry winters (I hope this is not confusing!).  I found it very confusing when I first started growing Nerines, not knowing whether they needed water year-round, in winter or in summer, so you really do need to know where each species originates.  This, to me, is part of the fun of growing bulbs from other parts of the world.  You start to understand somewhat the geography and climate of each region, and even if you never go there, you can travel there in your imagination and feel connected to more than just a beautiful flower.

Nerine huttoniae comes from the western part of the eastern Cape, so it receives summer rain and is dormant in winter.  It blooms now (August 30) and has large umbels of deep reddish flowers.  I have found it easy to grow and flower.  Here it is to the left.  To me it looks like a scaled down Brunsvigia josephinae with its widely spaced flowers.

Very similar in appearance  is Nerine laticoma.  It comes from drier regions, and has very large umbels of pink to red flowers.  It needs a dry winter dormancy to grow and flower well, and although it is said to be difficult to flower, it seems happy in my conditions.  Here it is to the right.  It is also in bloom now.

Also summer-growing is Nerine krigei, seen here to the left, reputed to be the easiest of these three species (although I haven't really had any difficulty with any of them).  It can tolerate winter moisture if it is in a very well drained situation.  The leaves are twisted, and the flowers deep pink to red. 

Winter Growing Species

The winter-growing species include N. sarniensis.  I wish I had the pure species, but it is difficult to obtain, and I only grow N. sarniensis v. corusca major.  N. sarniensis comes from the slopes of Table Mountain where it can be bathed in fog in summer, similar to the conditions found in coastal California.  It is noted for the gold sparkle of its petals, looking as though someone had sprinkled gold dust all over it.  I should mention that all Nerines have this sparkle, and in the light colored species or in white ones it is silvery.  Here it is to the right.  You can see a little of the gold on its petals.

Nerine humilis is a small species, and is very charming.  A pot full in bloom is very beautiful.

There are many other species of Nerine, and one day I hope to add some to my collection.  They are very rewarding plants, easy to grow, free of disease, and reliably blooming.  They are excellent additions to the garden in suitable climates, and you can find a species that will grow for you whether you are in California, England or Texas.  They are fantastic plants for container culture, multiplying well, and making a wonderful display in late summer.  If you can bring yourself to pick the flowers, they are a dramatic addition to a bouquet, being a bouquet all in themselves.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

Nerine Part 2

There are a number of Nerines that are small and mostly evergreen, so I'll talk about those today.  In my mild climate they keep their leaves all year, although some will die back in winter (their normal behavior in their home environment).  Most have leaves that are very fine and grassy in appearance, and some are extremely easy to grow, blooming and multiplying profusely.  Seen here to the left is N. angustifolia.

Nerine gaberonensis is rarely seen in cultivation.  It is from Botswana in southern Africa and can stay evergreen.  Here it is to the right.

Nerine masonorum is a very easy species, and will multiply well and bloom very readily, rapidly filling a pot and producing a mass of frilly pink flowers.  It is seen here to the left.

A more unusual Nerine is N. platypetala with wider flat petals.  It is very rare in cultivation, but not at all difficult to grow, and it prefers to be moist in summer.  Here it is to the right:

Nerine undulata has tall stems topped with umbels of very frilly flowers, and it also has larger leaves.  Here it is to the left.  A very beautiful Nerine, previously called N. flexuosa alba, is now included as a white form of N. undulata.  Here it is to the right.

All of these small Nerines make excellent container plants, and can also be included in the garden in mild regions.  None are difficult, and most will multiply well, filling a pot with a mass of bloom.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

Nerine

I have posted before on the genus Nerine, but this was three years ago, and it is time, perhaps, to go over it again, since this is their season, and many beautiful hybrids and species are in full bloom now. The genus can be a little confusing for those newly discovering its pleasures, especially when it comes to cultivation, since some grow in summer, some in winter, and some are evergreen.  I have split this into three postings to cover the different categories.

Nerine is a South African genus of about 25 or so species.  Only one, N. bowdenii, is widely grown, and although it is lovely, it can be one of the most frustrating species, multiplying prodigiously and blooming sparsely.  It is, however, the most hardy species, which is why it has been in gardens since the 18th century.

I will start today with the hybrids, most of which have N. bowdenii in their parentage, as well as N. sarniensis.  N. bowdenii comes from the Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, and keeps its foliage in summer, dying back in winter.  N. sarniensis comes from Table Mountain in the Cape Province of South Africa, and is summer-dormant.  Among the hybrids, therefore, you can get a variety of behaviors as far as foliage is concerned, but most of the hybrids I grow are summer-dormant.

I don't normally grow many hybrid bulbs, but some years ago the International Bulb Society distributed hybrid Nerines from the collection of a hybridizer who had died suddenly.  Most of the collection, unfortunately, was lost, and the bulbs I obtained languished for a while, not really reaching blooming size until about a year ago.  I must say, the ones I have are truly wonderful, and I eagerly look forward to fall to see if more are starting to show their lovely flowers.  Below is a sampling.

Why aren't these grown more?  It's true they are not very hardy, but with careful siting they are successfully grown in England, and produce a wonderful display in fall.  They are superb for the West Coast of the USA, and make a wonderful addition to the dry garden.  If winters are severe, they can be grown in containers in a sheltered area or in a greenhouse or sun porch.

I hope to be able to add more Nerine hybrids to the Telos list in the future, although some of the prettiest have been slow to increase.

Next posting I will talk about Nerine species.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

The Morning Walkabout

Our local county fair has ended, marking for me the winding down of summer.  Some Amaryllids are blooming, although most will come later as the days shorten and the nights cool.  This morning there was a sharpness in the air with mist hugging the ground which cleared as the sun arose.

Shipping continues at a brisk pace and caring for the bulbs has to be squeezed in whenever I can.  the bulbs should come first, of course, but customers needs are important also, and I sometimes get plaintive e-mails asking when the bulbs will arrive.  I will be leaving for my annual trip to Oregon in a week for a few days of hiking in the mountains and a two day agility trial with my dogs.  I will be taking Arlo for his first camping trip, but will leave him with friends while I take longer hikes with my two terriers.  This, of course, puts more pressure on me to clear as many orders as possible before I leave, including several large international orders.  Here is Arlo, worn out from helping in the greenhouses.

Cyrtanthus sanguineus is now in bloom in the greenhouse.  I grew these from seed, and was rather unexcited about them until they bloomed, since the flowers are orange, a rather common color in the bulb world, and I had not seen them in the flesh.  Well, they are outstanding, an almost glowing creamy orange, with very large flared trumpets.  Really beautiful.  Also blooming is Veltheimia deasii, sometimes thought to be a subspecies of V. capensis.  It is very similar, but more compact and with leaves that are much more crisped along the margins.  Very nice.

I often work until evening these days, my pets usually wanting to be near at hand.  I have to keep an eye on the puppy, who has energetically dug up entire flats of seedling bulbs, but the cats tend to curl up and nap in the warm temperatures.  The evenings are beautiful, all golden with the setting sun, the sea fog lifting this time of year.  Here is a picture from my office.

www.telosrarebulbs.com

Meet Arlo

The last two months have been very hectic, packing bulbs, shipping bulbs, repotting bulbs, and so on.  This time of year I have little exciting to post about the bulbs, and the task of keeping up with orders fills my day.  I have only been to one dog trial recently, since both my dogs are having back problems.  Willie, my male terrier, ruptured a disc in his neck some years ago, then ruptured a disc in his back in January, so agility is over for poor Willie.  Hannah slipped on takeoff to a jump in the early part of the year, and has had problems that came and went, so I pulled her from class and trials in March.  We had no training either, and we both really missed it.  She seemed recovered, and I entered her in a trial recently.  We placed second in five runs and third in two.  Not bad, but a pale shadow of her performance last year.  Athletic ability doesn't last, and she will be eight in October, so I decided it was time to start training another dog.

This was not an easy decision.  I have two terriers, feisty dogs with a streak of aggression, and they fight with each other.  They don't do any real damage, but if I acquired another terrier, the fighting could excalate.  I can break up a fight between two of them (although I have been bitten in the process), but I wouldn't be able to break up a fight between three, so I realized some time ago I would have to get another breed.  This presented some problems.  I wanted a dog that would have a sweet enough temperament to put up with my two terriers, but have the energy and drive for agility, plus I wanted a small dog.  Those qualities are hard to combine, since most high drive dogs are not mellow.  I talked to everyone at the dog trials over the past year, and finally came up with a solution.  He's called Arlo.

Arlo is now twelve weeks old (eight weeks in the photo above), and he is a Miniature Australian Shepherd.  We aren't supposed to call them this because the Australian Shepherd establishment doesn't like them, so now the AKC has told us we need to call them Miniature American Shepherds.  I don't care.  He will be about 20lbs when full grown, and is sweet and very, very energetic.  I have been told by others who have this breed that it will make me feel like a brilliant dog trainer, they are so easy to train.  Honestly, although they have a reputation for stubborness, I found my terriers easy to train.  Not easy to keep them focused on the job, but they learned the intricacies of agility very quickly.

I was still very anxious when I brought him home, thinking that Hannah would not accept him.  She is very jealous and possessive, but Willie has been friendly with small dogs at the trials.  Well, I couldn't have been more wrong.  Hannah loved him and played and played with him.  Willie was mortally offended.  He wasn't aggressive with the puppy, he just wouldn't speak to me, turning his back on me and refusing to come even when tempted with a cookie.  He wanted nothing to do with Arlo.  Incidentally, I had Willie tested for thyroid problems, since his personality had changed a lot.  His vet thought it was from pain from his spine, but his thyroid tests came out low, and the day after he started his medication he started playing with Arlo.

Arlo has been here for almost a month now, and things are going very smoothly.  Both dogs play with him, rather roughly at times, but he seems to be able to handle it.  He is learning commands already, although he won't be doing agility until his bones are fully formed.  I am thrilled.  The great adventure begins with Arlo.  We have so much to look forward to.  Agility training (the training itself is great fun), hikes and camping in the mountains, winning ribbons, and cuddling in front of the fire in winter.  My dogs have more than accepted him, and he is part of our family here at Telos.

And, yes, he has blue eyes.

Mouse Wars

When you grow things for a living, Mother Nature will inevitably throw you a curve ball.  Some years it is an unusual freeze, killing your tender plants and bulbs, another year flooding, causing increase fungal disease and rots.  The springs of 2010 and 2011 were unusually wet and cold, and as a result I lost virtually all my native lily relatives, Erythronium, Fritillaria and the lilies themselves.  They just vanished.

This year it has been a plague of mice. My greenhouses are like the Hilton Hotel to mice.  They are large, warm, dry and full of wonderful things to eat.  We are surrounded by fields, and in the winter they migrate in, sort of the equivalent of New Yorkers going to Miami for the winter.  They burrow into the pots making cosy little nests and eat their little hearts out. My two female cats, brought home two years ago for the specific purpose of controlling mice did a fantastic job the first year, and I lost not a single pot to mice.  This year it has been very different.  Perhaps they have becoming accustomed to a soft life, lounging around in my office and eating prepared food, or maybe they are just overwhelmed this year.  I have seen them many times with dead mice, so they are doing something, but when I was gone for a week I came home to serious devastation in the Oxalis benches.  One bench of Oxalis pots was almost completely wiped out.  They have taken to gnawing through the pots from the side, then hollowing out the mass of bulbs, in some cases leaving not a single bulb remaining.

Something had to be done.  I tried every sort of mouse trap on the market, and caught precisely zero mice, while more pots fell to the mouse hordes.  Poison was out of the question, since I don't want to poison my cats.  I finally decided to try to prevent the little devils from getting up on the benches by sheathing the legs of the benches in metal.  It was not a small job, but it seems to have worked, although I have to be vigilant to not allow anything to lean against a bench allowing them access.

Now I wonder what challenges next year will present.

www.telosrarebulbs.com