Jacob -to be honest, if I'd known I was looking at twnety years, I probably wouldn't have started the seed. But now that it's under way, I'll give it a shot. With our short warm seasons, though, I'm not overly optimistic. I should probably stick with eucomis, which are charming, variable, and very dependable. I once had a customer who called to ask how large the seedling peonies were and when they would bloom. Informed that they probably had 3-4 years to go to blooming size, she said "OK! I'm 87 now, so I guess it's worth a shot." I've taken her as my model ever since. Thanks for your kind words about Seneca Hill. Closing it down is difficuult, but I do look forward to the comparative leisure of living a normal life. However, now I need a new, if less demanding, career - I still have 30 years to go! Ellen Ellen Hornig Seneca Hill Perennials 3712 County Route 57 Oswego NY 13126 USA http://www.senecahillperennials.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jacob Knecht" <jacobknecht@gmail.com> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 10:43 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Pseudogaltonia Clavata > Ellen, > > Ahh. Still, good for you! Clearly you are a patient person. I think ours > have 19 years to go if we are counting down from the 21 years that Harry > Hay's bulbs took to bloom. They are strong germinators, quite fun to see > how fast they develop in the first two weeks of their life. Nhu and I > split > seeds between he in California under lights and I in Hawai'i under sun and > rain (protected from winter rain). His seedlings have not grown as fast, > but he has had no losses whereas mine have bulked up faster but the > humidity > caused only three out of two dozen to come back in year two! This year > my > Hawaiian seedlings have 1.5cm wide leaves while the CA - florescent light > reared ones have much thinner leaves. > > This species' native haunts of Angola, Botswana, and Namibia > (Ricthersveld) > surely provide abundant sunshine and heat during the summer growing > season. > I have found that conditions in Hawai'i are very good for fattening up > East > Cape and tropical African bulbs (not E. Cape Ledebouria though, they hate > the warm nights). As Mary Sue suggested, I wonder too if under the strong > solar conditions of Hawai'i, Pseudogaltonia will not take as long as 21 > years to bloom? Nhu and I keep meticulous records so I can promise we'll > be > able to provide data in the future. > > I do have an older bulb of unknown age that seems to be in the vicinity of > blooming size but it's anyone's guess as to when it will bloom. It is > growing in a large pot in southern California and is not protected from > winter rain. It grows glorious glaucous leaves each summer out of curious > coconut-like bulb. In Graham Duncan's article on this species in IBS's > Bulbs (vol. 11, 2010) says that this species can rot if it gets too much > winter rain, notably in the suburbs south of Cape Town. > > Slow plants may be a bore, but it is nice to have something to look > forward > to. > > I admire your pioneering work creating Seneca Hill Perennials and have > enjoyed your travelogues to South Africa. > > Cheers, > Jacob Knecht > > ---------- > - http://www.flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/ > > > On 15 July 2010 15:19, Ellen Hornig <hornig@earthlink.net> wrote: > >> >> Bloomed them? No! They just germinated a few weeks ago. From what I >> understand, they will bloom when I'm 80, plus or minus a few years (I'm >> 59 >> now). Hope it's worth the wait. :-) >> >> Ellen >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/