Calostemmas

Paul T. ptyerman@ozemail.com.au
Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:58:17 PST
At 06:15 PM 28/11/2011, you wrote:
>Hello Rob
>
>Do you grow them in pots or garden
>
>Do you keep them cold in winter
>or are they semi tropical
>some places where they grow seems to be very hot

Roland,

Not Rob here, but I hope you don't mind some additional responses?

No problems for me growing them here in my 
conditions.  Definitely not semi-tropical. 
<grin>  The bulbs will pull themselves down quite 
deeply into the ground, insulating them from the 
summer heat.  I had difficulties flowering them 
in pots I must admit, as I think they get too 
warm there in summer.  Mine have started 
flowering last year after dropping them into the 
centre of a garden I built for my crocus and hoop 
petticoat daffodils etc.... with a higher bit in 
the middle that allows the Calostemma bulbs to 
sink at least 30cm into the ground if they wish 
to.  They've only been in there a couple of 
years, but the first flower stem appeared last 
year.  My fingers are crossed that there will be 
more than that this coming summer.

I am growing here the "normal" red and yellow 
species, the yellow, a pink and a white with pink 
tips (only received from a friend last year).  I 
hope to collect more colours if I can ever find 
them available.  I have found them hard to get to 
mature from seed unfortunately, usually finding 
they die out for me after a couple of 
years.  This is in pots though, and I think that 
is likely to be the problem as they get too hot 
in summer and I lose the small bulbs.  That is my 
thought anyway.  I am definitely finding that 
they grow MUCH better in the ground for me than they do in pots.

Now, over to Rob. <grin>

Cheers.

Paul T.
Canberra, Australia - USDA Zone Equivalent approx. 8/9
Min winter temp -8 or -9°C. Max summer temp 40°C. 
Thankfully, maybe once or twice a year only.

Growing an eclectic collection of plants from all 
over the world including Aroids, Crocus, 
Cyclamen, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Galanthus, 
Irises, Liliums, Trilliums (to name but a few) 
and just about anything else that doesn't move!! 




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