Tigridia--Topic of the Week

Robert Hamilton roberth6@mac.com
Tue, 23 Sep 2003 05:32:40 PDT
Hi  all,

Thanks   to  Alberto  for  the really  (as usual) informative 
introduction to Tigridia. I am interested to  hear that Rigidella  has  
now  been included with Tigridia.

I  grow Tigridia pavonia and find it does very  well in the ground  
here  staying  quite wet during its  winter dormancy . In  fact those 
in the  ground  do  better than  those in  pots  which I  presume  are 
drying out too much  during  summer. Tigridia (Rigidella) orthantha 
also  tolerates moisture through winter dormancy.

I  grow the  other  species  mentioned  by  Paul   - chiapensis, 
dugesii, durangense, multiflora and  vanhoutei as  well as mexicana 
passiflora. I treat them all the  same way- in pots  which  I  keep out 
of the rain through winter dormancy. The first  5  species flower well 
and increase by bulb division and  seed freely.  I  have  never  
flowered mexicana  passiflora which grows  at  1000m in Mexico and  
clearly finds  my  climate a  little  cool. The  bulbs  are continuing  
to enlarge so  I  live in hope . I  have  given a  couple of  bulbs to 
friends  in different climates this  winter so  hope  they  can produce 
  flowers.

I have  raised T philippiana from ABA  seed by courtesy  of  Julian 
Slade but have to  admit they  are not  really  happy- I  dont have a 
lot of  returns in their  second  season.

Last  summer I  put  some  pollen of   Rigidella orthantha onto  
Tigridia  pavonia and  managed  to harvest 3  seeds. I had  read of 
this hybrid  in Brian Mathew's "Larger Bulbs" and  thought it  was  
worth a  try.  I  will  let  you  know  if I get any  germination.

Seed  for  most of  my species  came  from Southwest Native Seeds in 
Tucson which I am  sure  will be  far  easier  for  most of  you to  
access than it  is  for  me. I also managed  to  grow and  flower the  
tiny  irid Nemastylis tenuis  nana  from their  seed but unfortunately  
  wasnt able  to maintain it in cultivation  for  very  long.

I  would  love to  hear of  any  seed sources  for the  other  species  
mentioned on Alberto's  list.

Cheers,

Rob in Tasmania

Zone  9 equivalent. (-2C  minimum)
Average  rainfall  26.5 inches  fairly  evenly distributed throughout 
the seasons.
Coolish  summers  with average maximum summer temperatures in low 20C's.



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