South African Bulbs 2016

Amaryllis belladonna is another regular late summer/early autumn flower in our area (and most of southern Australia!)

These are some seedlings which show some variation in shading

This is a deep pink, almost cerise variety which was apparently raised in this area of central Victoria

No flowers yet on any of the white forms

cheers

fermi

Nerine​ filifolia masoniorum in flower in a pot - it needs summer water to flower so early

cheers

fermi

Those anthers are huge!

They really add to the beauty that the flowers already have.  Too bad the foliage is so.... blah. LOL

Another autumn blooming South African geophyte, Moraea polystachya, opened its first flower of the season today,

cheers

fermi

Nerine rosea is a favorite as it survives our frosts very well,

cheers

fermi

Now in Full flower!

cheers

fermi

More nerines coming into flower:

Nerine fothergilla 'Major' (now subsumed into N. sarniensis, but is a little more frost resistant in our garden)

Nerine 'Ariel' is an old hybrid which I got about 30 years ago and is fairly reliable in flowering most years

cheers

fermi

You need sunglasses to view that nerine, Fermi!

Some autumn flowering South African oxalis in our garden now:

Oxalis polyphylla v. heptaphylla

Oxalis flava (mauve form)

Oxalis hirta.(salmon form)

cheers

fermi

Another Oxalis grown more for its foliage than flowers, is Oxalis palmifrons,

In our rock garden it does manage to flower each autumn, but it spreads too easily by stolons and needs to be confined!

cheers

fermi

Gladiolus dalenii is a late autumn flowerer but suffers badly if hit by frost - fortunately these have come into flower before being hit!

Nerines are still flowering: these are possibly Nerine humilis (previously N. flexuosa?) with the smaller one in the pot being Nerine crispa (now Nerine undulata)

Nerine not quite filifolia - grown from seed as Nerine filifolia but the foliage is too wide!

cheers

fermi

Hesperantha humilis is a startling flower in the depths of winter but quite diminutive in this example

A second pot came into flower a day later and the stems are a bit taller

The exterior of the petals are attractive with the speckling - almost crocus like!

cheers

fermi

Massonia depressa flowering now in our Shade-house,

cheers

fermi

[quote=Fermi]

Another autumn blooming South African geophyte, Moraea polystachya, opened its first flower of the season today,

[/quote]

3 months later Moraea polystachya is still in bloom!

cheers

fermi

First flower this year on Lapeirousia oreogena, grown from seed from the NZAGS Seedex, sown in 2012

The first seedling flowered last year and seemed a little bit paler

Still nice though!

cheers

fermi

Yowza!

It's no wonder that you changed your avatar!

[quote=RickR]

Yowza!

It's no wonder that you changed your avatar!

[/quote]

Well, I do try to stay up-to-date

A couple of other seedlings in the same pot have opened

cheers

fermi

Romulea tetragona has bright pink flowers and foliage which is cross-shaped in cross-section

cheers

fermi

Babiana odorata did not flower last year as the frosts destroyed all the buds though the foliage seemed to be unaffected.

This year the frosts must've been too early or too late to affect them as they are flowering well

cheers

fermi

[quote=Fermi]

Fermi wrote:

Another autumn blooming South African geophyte, Moraea polystachya, opened its first flower of the season today,

3 months later Moraea polystachya is still in bloom!

cheers

fermi

[/quote]

Another month later still blooming!

cheers

fermi

Another tiny one,Lapeirousia montana

cheers

fermi

Lachenalia aloides from our group's plant swap (from Carol, not Ron!)

cheers

fermi

Moraea macronyx, from seed from Silverhills Seeds many years ago,

It has a citrus scent which reminds me of lemon meringue pie

cheers

fermi

Ixia rapunculoides - not easy to photograph when it's breezy!

cheers

fermi

Moraea tripetala - apparently it's quite variable and may be divided into new species or subspecies; this one appears to be one of the ones which will end up as a subspecies of M.tripetala

cheers

fermi

Romulea sabulosa

cheers

fermi

Hesperantha latifolia from seed from NZAGS Seedex

cheers

fermi

When Babiana odorata and B. pygmaea flower at the same time we end up with hybrids which have varying amounts of yellow in them and usually radial symmetry showing the influence of B. pygmaea,

cheers

fermi

Babiana pygmaea is now in flower

cheers

fermi

More South African bulbous plants in flower at our place.

One pot of seedlings of Hesperantha latifolia seems to have an interloper!

Is it another species or perhaps a hybrid between H. latifolia and something like H. humilis or H. pauciflora?

Lachenalia concordiana

Gladiolus watermeyeri from seed from NZAGS 2011 Seedex sown in 2012

It has a violet scent but only during the day;

Romulea sabulosa continues to be fabulous

cheers

fermi

Hesperantha vaginata - the type species has interesting black/brown sections

Moraea bipartita is flowering a bit earlier than last year

cheers

fermi

Geissorhiza (splendidissima see below, this is possibly  G. foliosa) in the rock garden

A day later with more sunshine, more flowers are open

cheers

fermi

Babiana villosa, a good red form,

cheers

fermi

Sparaxis grandiflora (I think, more likely to be)  bulbifera - not open wide due to overcast conditions,

cheers

fermi

Some new flowers this week!

Babiana sinuata grown from seed from South Africa sown 2012,

Geissorhiza splendidissima, from seed from Israel - it appears to be on steroids compared with the form I've had for ages 

cheers

fermi

Some more in our garden:

Spiloxene capiensis

Ixia maculata, forms and possibly hybrids,

Sparaxis tricolor

Sparaxis grandiflora, purple form,

cheers

fermi

Not the best pic, but I think this demonstrates the size difference between the two plants I have labeled as Geissorhiza splendidissima, (the smaller is possibly another species, such as G. foliosa)

The mass of purple is a nice background for this Lachenalia contaminata

cheers

fermi

This sparaxis used to be considered a Streptanthera (twisted anthers) but I'm not sure if it's Sparaxis pillansii or S. elegans now,

This is Moraea macrocarpa grown from seed from Gordon Summerfield in RSA in 2010; hopefully it is self fertile as it did not open when its sister seedling did!

it has a spicy, cinnamon-like scent,

cheers

fermi

Ixia trifolia

Babiana stricta cultivars

Sparaxis tricolor red form

Moraea aristata (or possibly a hybrid)

cheers

fermi

Lachenalia orchioides var glaucina

Lachenalia pustulata

Lachenalia splendida in the garden 

cheers

fermi

Sunny morning, so the Sparaxis (maybe) bulbifera looking great

Moraea setifolia

Geissorhiza monanthos

cheers

fermi

Nice, Fermi.  No sun here -- we are now in winter mode, with wind, rain, and our usual gloom. 

...Claire

Hi Claire, 

hopefully these pics will make things brighter till the sun comes back (then you can post pics during our winter!)

These yellow ixias came from a friend but no ID on what they are, possibly a form or hybrid of Ixia maculata

These were grown from seed but I'm afraid that they have crossed so I cannot put a definite name to any of them! 

Ixia maculata and Ixia dubia are in there somewhere!

cheers

fermi

I enjoy the pictures of your flowering African Bulbs.

We too are entering winter, and our winters are such that 

we do not grow African Bulbs.

Thanks for the pictures of yours in bloom.

Thanks, CScott,

here are a couple more:

Geissorhiza radians;

Pelargonium triste

cheers

fermi

Gladiolus liliaceus opened in the morning a muddy, orange red;

In the evening it started to become a purplish color;

At nighttime it was a mauve-purple and had developed a sweet, clove-like scent!

By morning it had reverted to its original color

cheers

fermi

I am wondering what makes the colour change?

Different light levels?  Different temperatures?

[quote=CScott]

I am wondering what makes the colour change?

Different light levels?  Different temperatures?

[/quote]

A good question which I can't answer! I presume the color change helps to keep them camouflaged during the day then attractive at night to their pollinators.

This little bulb came to us from the NZAGS Seedex a few years ago as Geissorhiza darlingensis, but it doesn't look like the pic on the SANBI site: http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=1535-20 looking more like their pic of G. purpureolutea http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=1535-82

So which is it?

cheers

fermi

More ixias are in bloom; these are seedlings of the hybrid 'Teal' which is derived from Ixia viridiflora,

cheers

fermi

Three rather different Gladdies, 

Gladiolus carneus

Gladiolus stellatus,last year from Greg Boldiston, Longinomus Nursery, Romsey

Gladiolus meliusculus - a recent acquisition also from Greg

cheers

fermi

Another gladdie came into flower a couple of weeks ago:

Gladiolus miniatus, from NZAGS Seedex 2011,

This was grown from NARGS Seedex as G. permeabilis but is possibly Gladiolus wilsonii (a few blooms of Ixia polystachya in foreground)

cheers

fermi

Pelargonium curviandrum is one of the geophytic species and flowers in summer after the foliage has died down

cheers

fermi

We had our local group's Plant Swap last weekend and one of the plants I got is this yellow form of Ornithogalum dubium

cheers

fermi

We got this Watsonia socium (syn Watsonia pillansii) from Glenbrook Bulb Farms (home of many fine dwarf daffodils) last year but didn't get a flower. This year the 2 corms have become a clump and have flowered profusely,

cheers

fermi

I'm always impressed by the gorgeous color range of the bulbs you grow, Fermi.

...Claire