PBS Forum

Hello Arnold,

We started this new topic within minutes at the same time.....

Dear All,

Here are some impressions from my garden in March 

Iris cretica. This magnificent plant was given to me in October last year as a small division. I hope it will make it through the summer....

Oxalis obtusa, large Namaqualand form. One of the very best Oxalis. From the collection of the late John Lavranos. The flowers remain open even on dull days.

..... not a geophyte..... but Salvia libanensis is so beautiful. A difficult plant to maintain here, though 

Hermodactylus tuberosa, difficult to catch the complex colour in a picture 

Oxalis, unknown species, I love the foliage. New to my collection. Can anybody identify it?

Gladiolus aureus, grown from Silverhill seed. I do hand pollination to get seed of this endangered species 

Are the leaves pleated? It could be a Babiana. I have had single other seedlings coming up in a batch of seedlings from Silverhill seed. 
But with so many different South African bulbs it is impossible to tell what it is without flowers.

Hello,

Very interesting. Where did you get the Bromelia from in which the Hippeastrum turned up? H. papilio is an epiphytic plant in habitat so maybe the Bromelia had seed in it? Just a guess.

Try the microwave method for self sterile Hippeastrum. It has worked for me in the past with Hippeastrum.
https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Microwave

Good luck 

Uli 

Dear Members living in the EU


The donation time window for the EU spring seed and bulb exchange is now open until further notice. Please read this notice carefully.

Please send your donation to                Martin Bohnet,
                                                        Ludwigstr. 1
                                                        73035 Göppingen
                                                        Germany


Please remember that bulbs should be clean and healthy and seed free of chaff and debris.
As in previous exchanges we ask you to pre-pack 5 portions of seed on a voluntary basis, the portions should contain enough seed for a good potful of seedlings, at least 5 seeds with rare plants and less with super rare ones. Seed envelopes are available free of charge from Martin: (garak@code-garak.de) If there is a lot more seed available than 5 packets, you can include a larger packet for Martin to do extra portions if requested. Pre packing seed is a tremendous help for Martin. Bulbs should be sent in one bag per species and not pre-packed.

Please label each species of seed/bulb with the botanical name and your own name.

Every  donor will be refunded the postage for the donation or a minimum of 5 $, please send a copy of your receipt for postage to Martin. And please send Martin an email telling him what you sent so he knows about your donation in case of postal delay.
We will do two consecutive exchanges this spring, the time window for donations will remain open for some time.  As the weather is somewhat unpredictable at this time of the year, we suggest that you send in seed now and bulbs for the second round as they are more prone to frost damage. The second round will be announced through the same channels. Please do not get stressed with seed which is not ripe by now, or with bulbs still growing, they will be for the next autumn exchange.
You are welcome to write comments or instructions for your donated items, this will in general increase demand.

This notice will appear in the PBS Forum, in the old email list and all EU members will receive it as a private email from a mailing list.

This might be a reason for non members to consider joining the PBS, as only fully paid members with a postal address in the EU will be entitled to order.
Once Martin has compiled the new BX list it will go online through the same channels.
Please be aware that the US exchange and the EU exchange are two different ones at different dates.

Thank you all very much in advance!
Please do not hesitate to contact me in case of questions or difficulties. (johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de)

Uli and Martin

As I quite like Acidanthera, I tried them here in Portugal with the same results as you had, @Leo. So reading your comments, I will try them as winter growers.
Then I looked it up in two books: Bulbs by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Pan Series.
I attach the picture and the text but not sure if the text is readable.
The other book is Gladiolus in tropical Africa by Peter Goldblatt.
This book says that gladiolus murielae has an unusually large but scattered distribution from north east Africa through Ethiopia to Malawi and Mozambique. It says that this plant grows in mountains without giving the elevation. It also says that the exact location of the type specimen is not known.

Hello Mike,

Thank you for sharing the desert pictures with us. Anza Borrego is my favorite desert, I particularly love the spot where the stream flows through a grove of Washingtonia palms. A little further up I have seen the wild sheep...

Uli 

No, not with gibberelic acid. But in some genera (Hippeastrum and Albuca) I had success with microwaved pollen. The instructions are here: https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Microwave
It did so far not work with Aloe pollen.
Uli 

Yes, thank you Lee, you are right. I confused the Multiflora hyacinths up with the Roman ones. I will try to get some. Is there anyone out there in the EU who would be willing to swap some with me?

I managed to get two Tecophilea bulbs from the last EU BX and one has flowered. I have had them before with no success and this time I will follow the regime you suggest.

Uli 

Hello Lee,

Thank you very much for your stunning pictures and the info on cultivation.
Ordinary hyacinth does not do well with me in a similar climate. Are roman hyacinths genetically different? I have always thought they are ordinary hyacinths with the central bud destroyed in order to make them produce offsets. I have never grown them.

Uli 

Bert Zaalberg from Massonia.com grows it and has the same problem. 

Yes, thank you, Michael, I forgot that. I am logged in ,,forever" because otherwise I was automatically logged out at the wrong moment.

There are more tools that can be used, of course, but that is another contribution.

Following the question of a member, this is a step by step instruction how to add pictures to a post to the forum. The test picture is non bulbous deliberately.

To start a new thread and post new pictures go to the forum and choose ,,current photographs"

Go to "new topic" which is marked grey on top.

Put a suitable subject name into the blank subject box and write your text into the blank text field below. Do not yet post.

Then go down to the button ,,attachments and other options and open it. I activated the button ,,notify me of replies" this way you get an email if someone replies to your post. This setting will be saved and can be changed.

Lower down click on ,,add files" In the box drag and drop your files here. I personally do not use the drag and drop function but click on ,,add files".

By clicking on ,,add files" the software offers several options. You can take a photo straight away or go to your own storage files and choose a picture. (I am doing this with Apple on my iPad)

Once the picture has been chosen it will appear as a thumbnail in the attachment box. Next to it you must click on ,,upload" and then the attachment box will turn green. If you do not click on ,,upload" it will not work. Below a green bar will appear which indicates how much of the allocated data for one post you have used for your attachment.

You can, but you do not have to click on ,,insert". If you do, the picture will be inserted into your post as a larger picture, if you don't it will appear as a thumbnail but by clicking on it it will be enlarged. Next to the ,,insert" box is a ,,delete" box. With this the picture can be deleted before posting.

This procedure can be repeated until the green bar gets close to the end. If you attempt to attach too much, a warning will appear.

I recommend to use the ,,preview" function before posting. This enables you to correct something if necessary. The active window for corrections is below the window showing the new text.

By clicking on post your new post including the pictures will be in the forum.

Hello Jim,

If your Boophone is dormant now it is summer growing, right? So it would start into growth soon. I think this would be a good moment to move it. You are right that these bulbs do not like being transplanted but the outcome very much depends on how you do it. 
If you dig them up and replant immediately without letting the roots dry there will be already less damage. A large bulb will have a very deep root system and the basal plate of the bulb may sit much deeper in the ground than you think. So it is extremely important to dig around the bulb at a distance and deep enough to avoid mechanical damage to the bulb itself. If you use a fork instead of a spade you do much less damage to the roots. Try to severe the roots as little as possible. Never pull on the bulb to get it out of the ground, it might separate from the basal plate.
Replanting needs a big hole so that the roots can be spread out without bending them. This is best done with two persons, one holding the bulb at the original level and the other gently filling the hole with soil avoiding cavities between the roots. Water well once after planting and then leave it alone.
Good luck!
Uli 

Hello Erle,

You are lucky to live in North Wales to do the hemisphere swap with Gladiolus. If you pot them up straight away and water sparingly as Arnold recommends, they should start to grow straight away. I assume you refer to winter growing species?
As North Wales will not have a very hot summer, at least not very early in the season, your gladiolus will have a fairly long growing season before they will be stopped by the onset of warm weather. The rest is all about watching the plants, they will show you what they want. They may remain almost evergreen and then change into the northern hemisphere rhythm. It would be more tricky if they would not sprout. In that case they would need extremely careful watering and a close eye. Once they would decide to start growing they need more water. I would keep the pots out of direct sun in a cool place.
Hope that helps,

Uli