PBS Forum

I have sown seed of Pyrolirion, don't remember the species by using the water flotation method. Excellent results with fresh seed. I would think that you have more control over mildew and rot with the flotation method rather than in a humid plastic bag. 

Hello Ron,

As a summer growing species I would sow the seed in spring and not now. They should survive until spring if kept cool and dry.

Hope that helps 

In 2017 William Baird sent me a large bag of Amaryllis belladonna hybrid seed. The first ones have reached flowering size. They are all good but different in their own way but I could not believe my eyes when this one opened.

Could be Zeal Giant?

Dear members living in the EU,
The autumn EU seed and bulb exchange will soon close for donations. Please read this email carefully and completely.
We do not set a fixed date  due to the different time span parcels need within the EU.
Martin would like to open the distribution for the second round on the weekend of October 12 and 13th. Which means that your donation should have reached him  by October 10th. The absolute deadline would be October 14th but in this case with a complete packing list sent to him in advance. (garak@code-garak.de) This solution gives us all some flexibility. You will know best how long a parcel will take from your home country to Martin's.
Please inform Martin about your donation.

Please do not stress yourself with seed which might not be ripe by then. If this is the case it is unlikely that your unripe seed is for autumn sowing. (So far we are not able to offer an exchange for the ephemeral seeds of South African autumn flowering bulbs) There will be a spring exchange for summer growing bulbs and seed to be sown in spring.
If you want to send in seed, it would reduce Martin's workload if you would pre-pack five portions. If there is enough seed each portion should give a good potful of seedlings. If seed is scarce or rare the minimum per packet should be 3 seeds. If there is plenty of seed you can add a larger number in an extra envelope as a reserve for Martin in case of greater demand.  Pre-packing is voluntary, of course. Seed envelopes can be ordered free of charge from Martin. Bulbs should arrive in one bag with no pre-packing. Please label everything with the scientific name of the plant and your name so that your contribution can be referred to you.

As usual, you will get a bonus which covers your postage or 5 US$ minimum, only if this is the second donation for this same autumn exchange, your bonus will be slightly less.
Please send your donation to:
Martin Bohnet
Ludwigstr. 1
73035 Goeppingen
Germany
The opening of the ordering time window will be announced separately through the same channels. We can already say that this second round has a lot of good stuff to look forward to.....

Don't hesitate to get in touch with me (Uli) if you have questions
Uli

Uli, i need seeds of that Gladiolus!

Well.... Yes, as I wrote I am doing hand pollination but so far I cannot tell. 

Some impressions from my garden.....

Titanotrichum oldhamii, pot grown because I lost the previous one to rodents. Not so easy, hates root disturbance.
Tropical waterlily hybrids do very well, the blue one is ,,Director Moore" and the reddish one is ,,Red Flare" but may be wrongly named.
The Gladiolus is G. decoratus, very nice I do hand pollination 
And the last picture is Drimia ,,Red Squill" from Bulb Argence. It is a giant form, the flower spikes will be more than 150cm tall finally 

Wasn't the original question about planting F. imperialis bulbs sideways because of the hole in the bulb accumulating water? Now I read that the hole goes right through the bulb. It is a long time ago I had an imperialis bulb in hand and I don't remember if the hole goes right through or not. If it does, the point of planting sideways is pointless. It would be unnecessary geophyte gymnastics.

Could it be Nothoscordum gracile? 

https://www.cal-ipc.org/plants/profile/nothoscordum-gracile-profile/

It is definitely not ferox. My plant has a single branching inflorescence. I grow ferox which is very different.
I will try to find a picture of the inflorescence in my archives 

Thank you very much for trying to identify my Aloe. I am sorry that I cannot supply any further information right now, I am too busy with repairs on our house and swimming pool.
I can say that I remember the habitat very well. The Aloes were very tall with thick massive stems, always very upright and straight (my own plant is curved because it grew in the open ground in my former greenhouse in Germany and was heavily leaning towards the light)
They were always single crowned and never branched. The habitat was dry with sparse woody plants and other succulents but no big trees, on a fairly steep slope. I remember this so well because we were on a safari and our old Landrover had a non repairable engine breakdown. Fortunately this didn't happen amongst the lions in the bottom of the Ngorongoro Crater but exactly on the rim after climbing out of the crater. So the driver let the car slowly run down the slope by gravity and luckily there was a village when the car came to a standstill in the plain. We were very friendly received and accommodated. We could not speak to the villagers but there was a lot of laughing and mutual curiosity. It took several days to get a replacement car which gave me plenty of time to walk around the village and the surrounding area. This was in fact the very best part of our safari......

Here is a picture of the whole plant on the edge of our terrace. For a picture of the flowers I would have to look in my archives.
Thank you very much for offering help

I don't have a name of this Aloe. It was raised 34 years ago from seed from the outside slope of Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania.

This show of Amaryllis belladonna Rose Foncé is getting better every year. I was away and on my return I found this, some of the flowers are already over.....

Dear members living in the EU,

The first round of the EU autumn Seed and Bulb Exchange is now closed.
Martin will send your orders in the next time to come. The donations remain open until further notice, some interesting material has already been announced.
Please wait with payments until you receive your order which will include a payment slip.

Happy growing 

Uli