Dear All,
When you grow too many things you have the advantage of finding that when
your weather conditions change one year of seeing some flowers flourish and
others look unhappy. We've had a milder winter than usual, almost no frost
at all and less rain. We had a week of very warm temperatures and my tulips
are not having a good year. I was interested in Dave Karnstedt's comments
about Narcissus ("the roots are unable to take up enough water fast enough
to replace that which is transpired during warm, sunny, dry weather"). My
observations would be the same seems to apply to Tulipa as my flowers hang
over the pot sometimes even if you are watering every day. Later in the day
when it gets cooler and with adequate water they stand up again. I've moved
a lot of them to the shade so some of them are a bit leggy.
On the other hand, this seems to be an unusually good year for Moraea
blooms. In past years and maybe on another list we've talked about the hit
or miss of Moraea. Some years they stay under ground and you don't see them
at all. None of the bulbs seem to bloom every year. In private talks with
Jana Ulmer and Bob Werra we are all noticing the same thing even though we
each live a couple hours away from each other. And I have spikes coming so
expect this show to last awhile. My Moraea tripetala has never been so big
and had so many blooms. Will Ashburner commented on how great this plant
was in Australia and until this year even though mine bloomed, I always
wondered about that since the blooms seemed to last about a week. Perhaps
it is less rain, warmer daytime temperatures and more sunshine they have
wanted. This is the time for Moraea aristata which always does well for me,
but it seems to be a good year for M. villosa and each one of those are one
of nature's masterpieces. Last year I'm not even sure they bloomed. I think
I may have mentioned when I redid a raised bed I threw all of the soil on
the other side of my deer fence. I tried to get the bulbs out, but the tiny
cormlets remained. This year besides the Moraea aristata that bloomed there
last year, I see some Moraea villosa. I realize the deer could get them at
any moment, but so far they haven't.
Also blooming this year is Moraea algoensis. I have added a picture to the
wiki. It is a small flower, but stays open for several days and has
produced more than one.
A number of years ago I complained that M. papilionacea I had grown from
seed looked like M. vegeta to me. I was very disappointed. So someone sent
me seed and it is blooming this year. Once again it looks like M. vegeta to
me so I labored over the key in the Color Encyclopedia and ended up at 15
and 15' and lo and behold they were M. vegeta and M. papilionacea. The
plant in question had characteristics of both alas. It's the brownish
vegeta color and it isn't hairy. It was about that time that Arnold posted
the pictures from his Wave Hill visit.
Both Bob Werra and I think that picture, labeled M. gawleri, looks like
Moraea vegeta. Unfortunately a lot of the important characteristics can't
be determined from a picture (number of leaves, length of leaves, whether
they are hairy or smooth, size of flowers, seed capsules, etc.) So I'm not
sure what we should do about labeling it on the Wiki. Perhaps I'll just add
a note that the plant was labeled as M. gawleri, but could be M. vegeta.
Any other Moraea enthusiasts in the group (including you silent ones from
South Africa) willing to give me an opinion? You can write privately if you
are shy. The Moraea gawleri I saw in South Africa was all more colorful
(brick red, orange, yellow). This is a plant I've been struggling to grow
from seed and haven't had much luck.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…
Mary Sue
In Northern California where South African Irids are in their glory, my
first Dichelostemma capitatum opened to join some of the early Triteleias,
and Leucocoryne coquimbensis (YEA!) opened yesterday.