Paramongaia weberbaueri dormancy

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 08:16:07 PST
I obtained a Paramongaia when Bill Dijk visited the United States from 
New Zealand and brought along some to sell. I tried for a couple of 
years to make it grow when I thought it was supposed to grow. At the 
time we didn't realize that some clones grow in winter and some in 
summer. I finally gave up and listened to the message it was sending 
about when it wanted to grow (winter). My bulb succumbed to the bulb fly 
before it bloomed, but an offset finally bloomed many years later this 
past January when I was ready to give up. I was very impressed by how 
long the flower lasted and its fragrance.

We once had a topic of the week (October 2003 if you want to look in the 
archives) about bulbs that could be converted to another cycle. This 
seems to be the exception, but it can be done (Sandersonia is an example).
Plants that are forced or sold at the wrong time usually when left on 
their own return to their normal period of growth. It would be 
interesting to hear from anyone who has successfully gotten a plant to 
grow at a time different than when it would grow in its native 
environment. I have mentioned in the past Brunsvigia grandiflora 
flowering in winter in California and summer in South Africa.

Mary Sue




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