April 2024

[Wylie]

This Gladiolus is flowering for the very first time with me, raised from seed. The label says G. carinatus which it is definitely not. About 60cm tall, leaning sideways.
The foliage is not hairy and some of the flowering shoots are branching. No detectable fragrance. Any idea of the ID?

I have the same thing and thought it was Gladiolus carneus.

[Too Many Plants!]

A few recents:

Ixia dubia better than any of the commercial yellow Ixias, foliage fairly broad.

Hesperantha bachmannii, delicate and perfect.

Bulbine mesembryanthemoides, tiny flowers, but insanely complicated.

Babiana odorata or similar.

Ixia viridiflora, I'm sorry if it shows up as a vivid sea blue (maybe just this monitor)...it is a delicate greenish blue in person.

Coelogyne cristata, OK, not a geophyte, but it hangs out with them and requires chilling to bloom well.

Elsewhere in the garden, Bomarea are blooming variously, and there are still a few Arums pushing up flowers.

Robert
Actual springlike conditions in San Francisco at the moment

Fantastic Robert! I have B Odorata about to bloom, and I once upon a time had Ixia Viridiflora, but unlike most Ixia I have planted it did not stick around!

[Too Many Plants!]

My Ferraria ssp. Nortieri just going off! And my B. Angustifolia looking nice with lots of color on it...

[Carlos]

Bi, I think  neither is G carneus, I will look it up later

Carlos

[Too Many Plants!]

Another unknown gift bulb reveal...Watsonia of course, and I'm guessing it's Aletroides?

I thought I had this species already, but what I have is much bigger longer leaved plants. So maybe they're some other species. I know I have Meriana bulbifera as that is unmistakable.

[Carlos]

Narcissus obesus

[Robert_Parks]

Fantastic Robert! I have B Odorata about to bloom, and I once upon a time had Ixia Viridiflora, but unlike most Ixia I have planted it did not stick around!

Ixias are mostly very happy with me, other than I have to plant them in gopher baskets...and if they aren't in clumps the wind sometime pushes them over. I. viridiflora has strong intermittent seed dormancy, so I still get volunteers from one pot of recycled soil...I guess I could do a lot worse than having more greenish blue flowers 18 months from germination.

[Too Many Plants!]

Ixia Paniculata flowers have been in bud for weeks, and...finally opened today!

[Uli]

This Gladiolus is flowering for the very first time with me, raised from seed. The label says G. carinatus which it is definitely not. About 60cm tall, leaning sideways.
The foliage is not hairy and some of the flowering shoots are branching. No detectable fragrance. Any idea of the ID?

I have the same thing and thought it was Gladiolus carneus.

Hello @Wylie,
Thank you very much for the ID. I think you are right. Looking at the name carneus I might well have made the mistake myself mixing up carneus and carinatus when writing the label. @Carlos, what do you think it is? I checked with the Saunders field guide and it fits. I did try to identify it with the same guide before but could not decide which species it was. 

[Carlos]

It is carneus, sorry

[Uli]

Yesterday I came across this nice stand of the native Iris xiphium. Color is slightly variable, the plants are very elegant and graceful. They grow in acidic sandy soil among Cistus, Myrthus, Lavandula stoechas and other plants. Trees nearby are cork oak and pine trees.

[Robin Jangle]

@Robert_Parks please check the filaments - in dubia they are free, maculata is united for a bit (under a third) and what was known as maculata var fuscocitrina is united up to halfway - it is now known as arctotioides. Your plant looks like arctotioides!

@Uli your plant is definitely carneus - the form that was known as G. blandus

@Too Many Plants! I have not forgotten about your Ixia - my prints of all the various updates are all over the place so hopefully this weekend I can get them back and id your plant.

[Robert_Parks]

@Robert_Parks please check the filaments - in dubia they are free, maculata is united for a bit (under a third) and what was known as maculata var fuscocitrina is united up to halfway - it is now known as arctotioides. Your plant looks like arctotioides!

Thanks for the advice, it is always a struggle to get cultivated plants properly labeled. Of course, not one of the pictures on my phone helps, so I'll have to take a look when I get home. It happens to be the earliest Ixia this year, but that could be dependent on many factors.

Robert
Brisk (for San Francisco) with a moderate breeze, a last storm is due this evening. 

[Too Many Plants!]

Yesterday I came across this nice stand of the native Iris xiphium. Color is slightly variable, the plants are very elegant and graceful. They grow in acidic sandy soil among Cistus, Myrthus, Lavandula stoechas and other plants. Trees nearby are cork oak and pine trees.

Very nice, Uli. Thanks for sharing!

[Too Many Plants!]

1- I believe this is Freesia Laxa

2- Lachenalia sp. too many plants growing around it right now to view or pull out the tag. Smells wonderful, like sweet honey cinnamon!

3- Ixia one of the cultivation forms (hybrids). I still enjoy it.