Cyrtanthus species and hybrids Intro.TOW

Angelo Porcelli angelopalm69@inwind.it
Mon, 29 Dec 2003 10:55:01 PST
Dear Bill
 
you make me feel a bit frustrate, reading that C.elatus and its hybrids are easy to grow !
I do grow these, from a countless number of years and only one time in more than seven years I have had C.elatus in flower. The other hybrids (Pink Diamond, Alaska, Cream Beauty) have never flowered in three years. Even more frustrating, time ago I spotted on a balcony a pot of C.elatus with five stalks !
The owner is one of those eldery ladies that grows pelargonium and other common plants, so she doesn't pay much attention to this plants (maybe this is the trick?) and I also wonder how did she get it.
I also grow C.sanguineus and it flowers every summer without special cares. Probably it adapts well to my Mediterranean climate. It has multiplied a lot from a single bulb I got years ago, but never set seeds. Is it self sterile, I suppose?
I have several seedlings of C.mackenii and var.cooperi 3 yrs old, growing well outdoor, but no flowers yet, as well as C.falcatus. Finally, a surviving seedling of C.speciosus, seeds got from a German seed dealer, specialist in South African flora, that has disappeared from the net. Maybe Jamie knows what's happened to him?
He has a nice selection of Lachenalia seeds.
 
Angelo Porcelli
south of Italy 


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