Hello Hendrik from South Africa's Proudplants and others of PBS~ As a very new member to PBS as well, I too am very impressed with the conversations and knowledge of this group. I've enjoyed the glad (and sometimes not so "glad") discussion. My Ledbouria are blooming right now and some of my Aloes are too--of course being from Pennsylvania they are inside. I am addicted to South African succulents (and others, too). My Eucomis are starting to pop their heads up out of their pots a bit too early. They are extremely easy to winter-over here. Each fall we dig up the bulbs, usually after the first light frost has knocked them down, pot them up in a soilless potting mix (such as ProMix) and tuck them away for the winter in the basement or wherever they won't be in the way and then we don't think about them again until Spring. Really, not one thought. Then in May I bring out the pots and put them on my patio/porch in the sun and give them a drink of water. Then they take off from there. As soon as I'm finished with classes later in May and when I can get around to it I transplant them to the garden or to mixed containers and continue to enjoy them for the rest of the summer. What a plant! Some of my Eucomis have even been hardy over the winter--some of those that I didn't get around to digging up in the fall. A few Eucomis autumnalis have come up year-after year for about 5 years. And we don't normally have snow cover Like Ellen Hornig has in Oswego New York. After seeing pictures of Oswego, I suppose saying "snow cover" is an understatement this year. This must sound unblieveable and like a lot of effort just to have Eucomis (and so many other tender things like South African gladiolus or ... shudder....hybrid glads) in our gardens to someone from South Africa. I'm sure to most of us it isn't WORK...it's what we do because we love the challenge (though Eucomis is NOT a challenge at all), the surprise, the "having", and the beauty of it all in our gardens. What's most amazing to me is that you, Hendrik, are roasting in South Africa desperately wishing for rain and I'm here enjoying a hint of sunshine sneaking through the windows while it won't get above freezing here today. Some of you of this PBS discussion group are buried deep in snow and others are already enjoying a taste of spring while all of us are able to have this continuous conversation. The thoughts, the suggestions, the experiences and the passions shared among people around the world in minutes. Really AMAZING! Marilyn Daly Rosewood Farm Dallastown, Pennsylvania Zone 6 (though I heard this year "we've moved into Zone 7 this year"...could this be true?) A sunny and wintry day began this morning at 2F. mlgd@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: proudplants@telkomsa.net To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Sent: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 2:33 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] new member Hi All I'm allso new to this group and from South Africa. I am very impressed with the knowledge of the members of the PBS. I love our SA plants and grow a lot of them. My favoured bulbs are Ledeboria's Eucomus and Nerines and then the Aloes and SA succulents.Living in a very warm part of our land I don't know a cold frame and we use a greenhouse to germinate seed and to root cuttings.At the moment it is very dry and we need rain desperatly. Enjoy your gardening !!!! Hendrik Strydom proudplants@telkomsa.net -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of MLGD@aol.com Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 5:03 PM To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [pbs] new member Hello~~~ I'm new to this group, and actually, I've never been on a "list" so I'm not sure how this works. I came across Matt Mattus's blog (I'm not sure what a blog is exactly) and was so impressed because he was growing Lachenalia and Nerines and other South African bulbs. I grow a lot of South African plants and am growing a lot of South African bulbs in a greenhouse this winter. I live in Pennsylvania. I'd love to hear about other's experiences with South African bulbs (and other South African plants as well) in these cold climates as well as in more reasonable areas for growing them (Pacific Northwest, California, Florida, etc.). Hope this is what I'm supposed to do to make contact. Thanks for any instructions you can pass on to me for how to "do lists" and "do blogs." Marilyn <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com/. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.