From ???@??? Tue Jun 18 20:40:25 2002 Message-Id: From: "Cathy Craig" Subject: welcome Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 13:34:00 Hi everyone, Thanks, Mee. We really needed an email robin, and now we have one. Everyone has been automatically subscribed so we can start having bulb and gardening discussions right away. Summer has as last come to San Clemente. We haven't had 10 days of sunshine here since last fall. While I love the cool weather, I grow a lot of daylilies and many just don't color up without the sun and warm air. After 5 years here I am at last getting to the front yard. We removed everything and are starting over. John put up an arbor for me and picket fencing and even made a half-moon gate for the arbor. What a guy. Many of you saw it who were here in June for the dinner. I will have some shade and morning-only sun. The back yard is full sun, 365 days a year. The Clivias are in ground now and they were never this happy in their pots. So are the Rhododendrons - they've been living in pots for nearly 3 years. Also the Azalea and lots more that were confined to pots in back under beach umbrellas. I have been collecting plants that no one grows here. The Astilbes I had in a trough from Costco last year are sharing the shade with the Clivias. The other day I found a Philadelphus at Plant Depot. Wow, what a neat plant. What a great fragrance! Never seen a live one before except the 'mock orange' plants that grow practically wild here. Ugly devils, thorns, hedges is what they are. The other Philadelphuses I see in my reference books look beautiful. Actually Harold does have a Phil. I remember seeing it last year. Gets to be 8ft tall but I don't know what kind it is. Well enough of all that for now. Welcome aboard everyone. Am looking forward to hearing about your plants and gardens and what bulbs you will be buying this summer for fall planting. From ???@??? Thu Jun 20 21:37:27 2002 Message-Id: From: "res07umn" Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] welcome Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 21:04:21 -0700 Hello, everyone, No fires on the coast yet, but it is drying out. Calochortus tolmei (I think) is blooming like crazy long the ocean bluffs right above the water. Came across a very large patch just north of the enclosed shelter at Shoreacres State Park below Charleston. We have had rain off and on (now giving way to just cloudy days and fog) up until recently and many of the natives are looking very spiffy. At least it's cool enough that I haven't had to water the nursery stock every single night! Robin Hansen (Hansen Nursery) in Zone 9 in the wilds of Coos County, Oregon From ???@??? Tue Jun 25 20:40:25 2002 Message-Id: From: "Cathy Craig" Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Call for Seed and Bulb Donations Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 20:11:53 -0700 Please check your stash, I mean of course your stash of seeds and extra bulbs. We need donations for our SX and BX offerings. All donations greatly appreciated. Please send clean and clearly labeled donations to our SX/BX Director: Dell Sherk PO Box 224 Holicong PA 18928 Thank you very much. Your donations and generousity are greatly appreciated!! Cathy Craig San Clemente CA Zone 9b From ???@??? Wed Jun 26 22:29:40 2002 Message-Id: From: Mary Sue Ittner Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Moraea (Homeria) type seed Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 19:52:50 -0700 Dear All, In my Northern California coastal garden I planted Homeria in the ground. I had various species (collina, flacccida, ochroleuca, pendula). I had grown some of these when I lived in Stockton in raised beds with deciduous perennials. The Homerias did their thing and then the perennials came up and I pulled the dying stems of the Homerias off. They survived in raised beds with regular summer water. Every year they bloomed in greater numbers, but did not appear where they were not planted. Here on the coast it is another matter. Before I realized they had set seed and seeded themselves about and I now have very interesting hybrids that bloom for a long time in spring appearing all over my garden. Each flower is open about two days in this cooler climate and many flowers are produced. Some are pure yellow or pure apricot and some yellow with an orange cup or orange with a yellow cup. There are some interesting variations. After I became concerned that I might be starting a new weed invasion I have tried to deadhead. So far they have not appeared beyond my 1/2 acre garden. Jim Duggan told the IBS forum last year that Homeria is now considered a weed and he cannot send bulbs out of the state of California. I find this a bit humorous since if they are going to be weeds California is probably where that will happen as they wouldn't be hardy everywhere. This is a long winded way of saying that this year I collected seed. It would be considered Moraea hybrids (Homeria type.) I probably shouldn't send it to Dell. Is there anyone in California who wants it and is willing to watch it so it won't get carried away? I think inland it wouldn't be such a problem, at least it wasn't for me. If you want some, send me privately your name and address and I will mail some seed to you. Mary Sue From ???@??? Tue Jan 28 20:41:08 2003 Message-Id: From: "Cathy Craig" Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Moraea (Homeria) type seed Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 21:40:43 -0700 Hi everyone, I second the recommendation of these plants. Mine sound like Mary Sue's but I am not positive of their ID as I bought the bulbs from a nursery and you know how they are...you are lucky if the package lists the genus much less the species. Mine also are orange and many are yellow. They are gorgeous flowers, very bright...I can see them from way across the yard. Mine grow to about 30 inches (I have seen these same ones - yellow ones - The Huntington Botanical Garden has a big drift of them and there they grow to nearly four ft tall). I deadhead everything (just because I am a neat-nick outdoors) so probably won't have them coming up everywhere. I too live on the coast but in So Cal. We have had practically no sun to speak of since last fall and it was another cold spring here and summer is cool too so far. When the Homerias bloomed, it seemed to me that the flowers lasted some days. If true, probably due to the low light and heat levels. They really are worth growing. And the foliage is easy to tolerate as it dies down, not like tulips, hyacinths, and narcissus foliage that is awful to look at for months after bloom. Do try them and let us all know how you like them next year! From ???@??? Tue Jan 28 20:41:43 2003 Message-Id: From: unknown@unknown.com Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Moraea (Homeria) type seed Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 22:01:18 -0700 And I live in the mountains in zone 7B. Mine are yellow and orange (on separate plants, not mixed), and look like those described. Yes, they do bloom for several days, especially if you dead-head. The flowerets open along the scape for up to a couple of weeks, here. If I cut the scape before seeds form, others appear. I have a few that have self-seeded, but the garden is in the center of my ten acres, so they won't get away from me even if they would grow in the dry chaparral. They are a lovely bright spot in the garden. From ???@??? Tue Jan 28 20:42:16 2003 Message-Id: From: "Barbara L. Weintraub" Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Re: Homerias Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 06:10:18 -0600 Hi Marguerite, No, I haven't tried Homerias in the open garden. However, I know have a protected south-facing area, and wonder what sort of protection would get them through our winter? Although winter temperatures have not dropped below 0 degrees F for several years, we are nominally USDA zone 5. First freeze is usually during the first week of October and last freeze (at my house - differs with geography and elevation) around the first week of May. At 10:03 PM 6/26/2002 -0700, you wrote: >Have you ever tried any of the Homerias, Barbara? >I would bet they would grow there with some protection. _________________________ Barbara L. Weintraub blweintraub1@earthlink.net From ???@??? Tue Jan 28 20:42:44 2003 Message-Id: From: Jane McGary Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Moraea (Homeria) type seed Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 11:06:17 -0700 Regarding the hardiness of various Homerias (or whatever they are now), an orange one, which I believe is H. collina, has bloomed outdoors here in a raised bed for several years, having survived winter lows as great as 5 F but more usually in the 20s F. Some years ago, one of my brothers planted some at his home above Sonora, California, with typical winter lows in the high teens F, and they seeded enthusiastically there. I don't find this orange Homeria very attractive; the reason it's outdoors is that I stuck it there, not wanting to waste space in the bulb frame on it. Jane McGary NW Oregon From ???@??? Fri Jun 28 11:38:04 2002 Message-Id: From: Mary Sue Ittner Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Moraea (Homeria) type seed Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:43:54 -0700 Dear All, Apparently others feel like Jane or are already growing these because I have had no requests for my seed and will go back to deadheading my plants in the future. I am reminded though that a friend who had a wholesale nursery mostly selling Australian plants told me that one year when she had an open house so people could buy from her directly that she had an orange Homeria in bloom and that was what everyone asked if they could buy! It was of course not for sale. I shared some of these in the past with family in Texas and they loved them. They were however not long lived in both gardens. One was Houston and it was either the humid wet summers or too much shade but they did bloom for several years before disappearing. In Midland which is much more desert like it was the cold that was a problem. A late freeze wiped them out a couple times before they bloomed and eventually they just dwindled away. That was my earlier point about their weediness. I expect most places they would not be weeds. And Marguerite you don't have to deadhead as you go to keep them blooming although perhaps they might look more tidy. Each corm produces quite a lot of flowers over a long time period regardless of whether you cut the pods off. I've recorded blooms from March to July although probably the years they started blooming earlier they finished earlier. In a warmer climate most of the flowers only lasted a day instead of two, but they bloomed for a long time. When I say I deadhead I mean I cut the pods off before seed escapes in my garden, but after I think they are done blooming. I don't usually grow hybrids but I have been fascinated by the combinations that appeared in my garden. Like Cathy I love the fact that once they dry off you can give them a little yank and effortlessly the dried stalk comes out. If you wait, they just fall over and out on their own. It may be a couple weeks to a month when they look unsightly, but it isn't too long. Mary Sue From ???@??? Fri Jun 28 11:38:04 2002 Message-Id: From: "Barbara L. Weintraub" Subject: [PacificBulbSociety] Re: Moraea (Homeria) type seed Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 12:02:09 -0600 I would happily try these plants if I thought they had the slightest chance of surviving here! Anyone care to venture a guess? I live at 7000 ft. elevation. Santa Fe has a long and consistently cold winter (a warm day is in the 30's, but we can go weeks with temperatures less than freezing), a hot dry spring and summer with a "monsoon" season usually late July through mid-September. I put quotes around "monsoon" because the afternoon thunderstorms usually build, go kaboom, and then clear up again. We are generally arid (up to 20% humidity). __________________________ Barbara L. Weintraub Leaf and Stone blweintraub1@earthlink.net