Dear All,
Sorry to post this on three lists, but I hate to leave out anyone and I know there are people who have subscribed to PBS and not one or the other Australian lists and vice versa. And in this case Cyanella is being discussed three places at the same time which is great for those of us who belong to all three. I am happy to see the conversation about Cyanella and the images too of some now blooming in Australia for Lyn Edwards and Andrew Harvie. I fell in love with the yellow form of Cyanella alba when we visited South Africa and hoped Rachel would offer it as seed some time, but she says they never find seed and maybe it lacks a pollinator. The white one looks nice too . In my field guides there were always a picture with just one flower open and I thought even if it was very nice, would it be worth one flower? But in the wild I could see it would produce more than one flower. And Andrew's yellow and orange Tritonia deusta is gorgeous too!
I collected seed from Jana's Cyanella plants, but I'm not sure which species (either orchidiformis or hyacinthoides and will send it to the BX and check with Jana about which.) I think hyacinthoides.
And for those of you not on the PBS list Bill Richardson and I wrote about how long it took for us to get ours to flower from seed and my experience that Cyanella lutea did not appear for a couple of years each time I transplanted it.
Mary Sue
For PBS list members Alberto posted this description on the Australian Bulbs list
Hi Andrew and all
We have grown Cyanellas for years here and
they are very easy, coming up and flowering season after.season. Corms are
like white flattened Moraea corms Inside the tunics the actual corm is tiny
hence the long time to reach flowering size. In summer while dormant all
roots die off. From seed they are not the easiest of plants and the
percentage of germination is low.
C orchidiformis is a tall species with lilac
pink flowers in the ones we have rather than the violet shade of the image.
C orchidiformis has small pale violet flowers. C lutea from Dirk Wallace
is extremely robust and has been flowering for a month over. Dirk grows his
material from seed and thus the plants are extra robust and healthy. C alba
we no longer have but was easy too. The only problem we had was a strange
disease in which the corms "bleed" small drops of a resin like substance.
Wether it was a bacteria or a fungus it was eliminated by drenching with a
weak formaline solution.
Many thanks for sending those gorgeous
images. And the Tritonia is absolutely stunning!
Regards
Alberto