PBS Forum

Quote from: Uli on December 15, 2024, 10:42:48 AM

Quote from: Robert_Parks on December 14, 2024, 10:08:21 AMMy evergreen Bomareas don't have an off season for blooming...4 of the 5 big ones are going off right now.

Hello Robert,

Wonderful pictures of your Bomarea...... I wish I could grow them here but several attempts failed, they cannot cope with our hot summers....

So you probably can't grow the cloud forest Passifloras either then. They say that cool night temperatures are ALSO needed.

It is interesting that they seem to grow and flower about the same year-round here, not minding the winter rains and temps to near freezing, while the deciduous species go dormant in mid-fall.

Robert
in damp cool San Francisco, where a big Passiflora X Oaklandia is about to get moved or removed because it is overly vigorous, requiring bimonthly trimming to keep it from blocking the driveway from the arch trellis that is threatening to collapse under the weight.

My evergreen Bomareas don't have an off season for blooming...4 of the 5 big ones are going off right now.

Robert
in cool damp San Francisco

Quote from: Bulbous on November 09, 2024, 09:48:42 AM... I'm not sure if it is even a bulb!

Indeed, most likely, Oxalis hirta, an easy and vigorous plant.

Yes, a true bulb, although Oxalis does indulge in pretty much all the ways of geophyte storage. Mediterranean climate, although mine tend to want to start in September, which is way before the natural rains. Probably eaten by gophers, if you are thinking of planting out.

Robert
in newly rainy San Francisco

Quote from: Martin Bohnet on October 19, 2024, 12:07:04 AMI rarely have guests for dinner, but when I do it's the perfect time for the stinker to open up: Arum pictum

is in flower, and obviously the trap works...on the other hand i'm hopeful that next spring the crown will be passed to someone else: my mother bulb of Amorphophallus konjac

Flower Colors:	black
Flower Season:	mid spring
Special:	edible storage organ
Life form:	tuber

has reached 2.3 kg - that HAS to be enough for flowering size (was 800 g last fall)

Flower bud! Thicker and sort of thumb-like = flower bud, flat with a short spike in the middle = leaf bud.

Amid the "autumn color" in the indoor grow area (almost all the aroids are going down now), a last flower on Typhonium violifolium. "Little Stinker" could be used to describe the pervasive essence of staleness from an inflorescence barely 4cm (1.5") tall. Darling little plant with (by the end of the season) layers of adpressed leaves.

Two aroids today...

Ulearum donburnsii - stays open for a long time, usually no scent, but tonight? Fruity poop.

Typhonium roxburghii - blooms intermittently during the whole active period. Flowers last barely 24 hours. Stale mothballs, if mothballs actually went bad.

Robert
in warm misty, no blinding blasting fog, no blazing heat, sun, argh. Summer bulbs are going dormant very slowly.

Quote from: Too Many Plants! on September 24, 2024, 11:25:53 AMWe have some giant Mediterranean bulb. I don't remember the name at the moment, but seem to recall it's supposedly the largest bulb in the world (I certainly could be wrong). I guess I don't remember it being a Drimia, but the flowers appear to be very similar. Large green leaves with a touch of glaucus bloom on them, leafing at a different time than flowering, and flowers are like 5-6 feet tall (150-180cm).

Probably labeled Urginea maritima...Urginea has been sunk into Drimia at the moment.

It keeps trying in my cold foggy climate, the leaves come up at random times and melt in the fog, then it send up a flower spike that usually melts in the fog. My last one hangs on because removing it would destroy the Rhodendron it is nestled against...the bulb isn't getting bigger, but it also isn't getting smaller.

Robert

Not growing inside, but in my outdoor conditions... It grows and flowers late for me, usually blooming as the fall rains turn into winter wetness...so November into December, then a quick descent into dormancy. Pots left outside all winter do fine, in fact tubers have escaped into the patio pavers. No idea what the triggers are for flowering or dormancy...which could be an issue for growing as a houseplant.

Quote from: CG100 on September 05, 2024, 08:52:31 AMMany of the Hedychium, in fact many of the Zingerbraceae, in cultivation are hardy or borderline hardy, although most also like plenty of water.
Frost-free, I can imagine that many will romp away and probably be evergreen.

Frost free, but with a distinct winter season, Roscoea has a strong dormancy, each species goes down and sprouts at its own time...not particularly linked to water or temperature...maybe there is a day length trigger in there.

Robert
where the weather is flipping between warm dry Indian Summer, and very wet fog (dry soils were wetted an inch/3cm deep this morning)

FYI. here are the recorded sources for my donation:

Name                            Note                      Number
Allium amethystinum            ex PBS-Rimmer deVries
Arum byzantinum                ex Illahe
Arum concinnatum RP1
Arum concinnatum RP2
Arum concinnatum Suspeck        ex  Plant Delights
Arum dioscoridis
Arum dioscoridis ssp. dioscoridiex PBS BX485
Arum dioscoridis v. syriacum RP1
Arum hygrophilum
Babiana framesii RP1            ex PBS BX492-MSIttner
Biarum tenuifolium              ex Bern M
Freesia caryophyllacea RP2      ex Annies
Gladiolus carinatus            ex PBS BX489
Gladiolus carneus              ex Annies
Gladiolus trichonemifolius      ex PBS BX481-RDVries
Gladiolus virescens            ex PBS BX492
Hesperantha bachmannii          ex PBS BX489
Ixia dubia                      ex Telos                                    1
Ixia flexuosa RP1              ex PBS BX481
Ixia flexuosa RP2
Ixia maculata                  ex Barry Rice
Ixia paniculata Short
Ixia polystycha                ex PBS BX478-MSIttner
Ixia polystycha (unknown clone)
Ixia viridiflora RP1            ex Telos
Ixia viridiflora RP2
Leucocoryne purpurea            ex RDVries
Moraea bellendenii              ex PBS BX481-Chinchcliff
Oxalis bifurca                  ex PBS BX470-MSIttner
Oxalis hirta RP1                ex MSIttner
Oxalis hirta RP2
Oxalis nortieri                ex DHannon
Oxalis pardalis MV 7632        ex PBS BX482-MSIttner
Oxalis purpurea
Oxalis purpurea Garnet
Oxalis purpurea Lavender & Whiteex PBS BX470-MSIttner
Oxalis purpurea Rose Pink
Oxalis purpurea Skar            ex PBS BX467-MSIttner
Oxalis purpurea White
Oxalis simplex                  ex Telos
Oxalis simplex?                lost label
Oxalis sp. (aff. flava)
Oxalis sp. RH11 Silvermine      ex PBS BX492-RDVries      shade
Oxalis tenuifolia              ex Barry Rice
Oxalis tomentosum              ex Telos
Oxalis versicolor RP2          ex Barry Rice
Oxalis zeekovleyensis          ex PBS BX474-MSIttner
Pelargonium auritum            ex DHannon
Sparaxis tricolor Red & Yellow
Tritonia crocata
Tritonia pallida ssp. Tayloriae ex PBS BX492-RDVries

Some Apiaceae? Kinda looks like a carrot relative sort of stem and leaf

I'm pretty sure all the species I have seen available are unsuited to my climate.

However, I do have a copy of Goldblatt's "Woody Iridaceae" if anyone needs something looked up.

Robert
too wet in the winter, too cold in the summer.

Quote from: CG100 on August 25, 2024, 08:21:30 AM@David Pilling - Roscoea!!! I do love this genus, although I would also have to admit that they make a hell of a lot of foliage for some rather splendid flowers. None scented?

No scent that I've noticed. They do well in my mock cloud forest summers. My big clump of R. auriculata has been in bloom for a few months, and will tail off next month...definitely takes up a chunk of space, the short ones don't seem to be as free flowering, but they also don't take up much space. My mild winters seem to satisfy their dormancy requirements easily (I drag the dry pots out of under the benches when the shoots break the soil).

Front and back yards. Very wet in front, and the rain gauge under the tree in the back shows 1.5"/35mm of tree rain filtered out of the passing fog.

Dieramas are flowering, but the flowers don't present well when continuously wet. All the (mostly dormant) bulbs in the sidewalk beds have to tolerate summer moisture.

The view in the back is mostly Andean tubers: Oca (Oxalis tuberosa), Potato (Solanum tuberosum), and Mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum)...the mashua collects enough fog that it reduces irrigation!

Begonia sutherlandii has decided not to wait for fall to bloom.

Robert in the San Francisco dry season,
cool, wet, and windy...some of the winter bulbs are being stored on top of the light chamber inside for a non-cool dormancy

I presume they are still dormant, if so, you can store them til fall. I've lifted commercial Babiana and they do fine with dry coolish storage, apparently not needing a warm dormancy satisfied. I've also left them in dry soil under cool conditions, and in the ground with moisture and cool conditions...this is San Francisco, after all. They all grow the same in the fall after watering starts. It may be that more exotic species Babiana will be more demanding.

I've had more bulb losses in pots where the soil never dried out or got accidental moisture than storing bare and dry. Indeed, there are plastic sorting trays filled with bulbs sitting on the top shelf near the grow lights getting their warm dormancy satisfied.

You never know. At first I thought it might be a Rubus volunteer (thanks to bird distribution). but then I though the pot has always been in the greenhouse, so maybe a volunteer Pelargonium (not many dicots that produce seeds in there). Lets wait and see.

I think it was the 4th leaf that started the progression towards Pel. bowkeri. The last leaf is entirely typical for bowkeri. On mature bowkeri plants, even the tiniest stem buds produce fimbriated leaves.

Robert
in wet, cool San Francisco
where Pelargonium bowkeri has to live in the greenhouse because it melts in the fog.