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Well I stiill saw some wild bulbs yesterday. Dipcadi serotinum. There were also Iris lutescens, Asphodelus cerasiferus, Squilla undulata, Lapiedra martinezii and possibly Gladiolus dubius, Allium moschatum and some Ophrys, but I saw no traces of them.Happy worker's day. 

I've no special knowledge of babiana... but in general bulbs are better in the ground. Often even when there is no top growth they are busy growing roots.

Sometimes we dig up bulbs and store them, but it is when they're non-hardy (dahlias in Winter) or in the way (narcissus in Summer).

My learned colleague mentions Freesia - special case, they're often heat treated so that they will act as Summer flowering bulbs (in the chilly UK).

Hello Kelly,

Your question is not easy to answer. First of all it is strange that you received a winter growing bulb at this time of the year. I do not know Brecks. Here in Europe the Dutch bulb companies sell winter growing bulbs like Freesia, Ixia, Lachenalia and Babiana in spring which I never understood and which does only work if you live in a climate with a very cool summer (about as cool as a Mediterranean winter, I think that a Berkeley summer is warmer than that, right?) As soon as summer weather warms up the bulbs will go dormant. Before I knew better I used to order those bulbs and always failed. Have you contacted the seller and discussed the matter? Maybe you can get a refund and return the bulbs. I don't think they would survive a dry storage until the autumn. Do the bulbs show any sign of sprouting? Are they firm to the touch? If you want to keep them and try your luck you could plant them in the coolest part of your garden in the shade. If they sprout, keep them evenly moist and don't allow them to get dry as long as the leaves are green. Once the leaves go brown stop watering. This way your bulbs may make some growth and produce new bulbs. Babiana replace the old bulb each year with a new one and for that they need the green leaves. As they will have grown out of season the new bulb forming this way will be much smaller than usual. But you may still have something to grow on. If this works I recommend digging up the bulbs once they will be dormant and then plant them in an appropriate place in full sun. Babiana does not thrive in shade. The only reason why I recommend to do the emergency planting in shade is that they will remain green for longer in shade. The longer you would manage to keep them green the better the newly formed bulbs will be.
It is a bit like buying bulbs from the southern hemisphere which have the opposite seasons and do a hemisphere swap. It can fail and needs some experience. A local seller should supply bulbs at the correct season, though.
Hope that helps, happy to answer more questions 

I am a new Pacific Bulb Society member and am seeking guidance regarding planting
Babiana bulbs. I ordered them several months ago from Breck's and they arrived 4/30/24, much later than I expected. I live in Berkeley, CA and Babianas in the neighborhood have long-since bloomed. Am I correct that I should not plant the bulbs now? If so, what is the best way to store them? Thanks in advance,
Kelly Haberer

Quote from: Arnold on April 29, 2024, 06:09:51 PMCharles

 I have it.

I've been traveling and will scan and send tomorrow to you.  Can you send me an email address.

OK, email is:  2csh@bellsouth.net

Charles

Allium moly, the form described as subsp. Glaucescens, to say farewell to April.

 Charles

 I have it.

I've been traveling and will scan and send tomorrow to you.  Can you send me an email address.

Well...turns out I do have at least one more flowering to share to close out April (4/29). A quick (4/30) add of 3 pics of the second flower opened today, on the Final day to close out April. I was really hoping to post a few flowers open together. Maybe in the coming May days...so long April!

Ixia PolyStachya. From our last BX.

Again I offer a Thank you to those generous folks that share The bulb Love!

if you have a normal kitchen microwave, I recommend micorwaving the pollen before putting it on the stigma. The precise instruction how to do this is here: https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Microwave
With this method I managed to get seeds of Hippeastrum and Albuca which I tried before in vain for many many years. It may sound more complicated than it really is. Depending on how many flowers there are, ou can try without microwaving as well, of course.
Good luck!

If anyone were to offer up some H. cleo photos I would create a PBS wiki entry for it.