Climate-appropriate choices

Gastil Gastil-Buhl gastil.buhl@gmail.com
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 20:01:43 PST
Lee,
Good point about the Chilean blues. I have some of these but did not mention them because they were not blooming. 

I have some Tecophilaea cyanocrocus and the 'violacea' of that, both purchased as bulbs and not as vigorous returning their third year. I may have them in too warm a spot or not have watered them enough or delayed their re-planting too long. One of the 'violacea' is open. 

Tropaeolum azureum I tried from seed but none sprouted. I will try again because the Tropaeolum hookerianum seedlings are thriving, climbing up their twigs eagerly, though their parent tuber has not made an appearance again this year.

I have not tried Zephyra elegans. It looks lovely in the wiki photos so this one goes on my wish list. Let us know if you discover what conditions led to the successful pot. 

And Jane, also good suggestions.
Good to know of the lack of frost tolerance of Z. elegans, as I do get significant frost but have a couple beds with frames to lay a blanket over. Frost was not mentioned on the wiki page but makes sense given the coastal habitat. 

I have second-year seedlings of some Pasithea caerulea (which made buds last year but a bug ate them). They look big enough again to bloom this year. My seeds were from Nhu, via the PBS BX. I did not recognize a rhizome. It did grow the peanut-like nodules on its roots like the photo on the wiki. (My concept of rhizome may be limited.) I dug it up last summer just to look at it, then replanted it in the same spot. I expect it would have preferred to be left undisturbed but I am too curious. 

I have some Leucocoryne vittata seedlings which look promising.

Other than a few species which appeared in the BX, I have not tried many Chilean seeds yet. 

- Gastil



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