Lachenalia blooming was Emails

Max Withers maxwithers@gmail.com
Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:38:44 PST
For Gmail users: Click on the vaguely gear-like icon at the upper
right --> Settings --> Labs --> Enable "Quote selected text"

Of course, those of us who use many different email clients on many
different platforms are still liable to make mistakes... As I did when
I sent a message to the whole list a few weeks ago that I meant to
send to Mary Sue. I'd like to apologize for that, and especially for
the implication that members with less-than-perfect English are
unwelcome, which was not at all what I intended. I think we all agree
about that.

I haven't responded both because I'm too busy, and because I did not
want to make the situation worse by adding yet another email to
everyone's inbox about something in no way related to geophytes (which
was why I wanted to send the message to Mary Sue in the first
place...) We are all here to learn about (or at least talk about)
bulbs, not email clients or spelling or how to use the internet. I
want to sincerely apologize for contributing to that problem.

Thus, the interesting part of this email:
Lachenalia orchioides var. orchioides is in full bloom, farther along
than L. aloides var. quadricolor, which normally, for me, gets started
in early December. L. orchioides, from seed, bloomed last year in late
Feb. for the first time; it got a LOT of sun this winter. L. aloides
got less sun but not I think less than usual; however, its pot is
incredibly overcrowded (from I think 3 bulbs purchased from Odyssey
Bulbs in 2007, I now have at least 14 scapes, and many more plants).
In short, either crowding delays but does not reduce flowering in L.
aloides, or extreme (winter) sun hastens flowering in L. orchiodes.
(Or both).

L. orchioides var. orchioides might be described as the kind of plant
only a mother could love. It's all green with a yellowish tinge at the
edge of the petaloid tepals. But the variation in leaf spotting is
astonishing (I have 5 plants from a single packet of Silverhill seed)
-- and even more variable are the tiny cyan (think Ixia viridiflora)
speckles on the sepaloid tepals:
http://flickr.com/photos/badthings/…

These small epiphanies are why I grow bulbs! (And enjoy reading emails
about bulbs from others who grow them).

Best,
Max Withers
Oakland CA



More information about the pbs mailing list