Recent Images on the Wiki #8 and a report

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Thu, 08 Apr 2004 07:48:30 PDT
Dear All,

I don't believe I ever announced when I created the Cyanella page. I added 
pictures to it of Cyanellas we photographed while in South Africa. Several 
images were of that yellow Cyanella alba that I'd love to grow, but never 
seems available anywhere, not even seed. These were photos of plants in 
pots grown by IBSA members. Rachel has told me they never find seed of it 
in the wild in the Biedouw Valley, a very dry area where it comes from.

Another picture was of an attractive Cyanella we saw at the Karoo gardens. 
Julian Slade helped me identify it. Finally I added a picture of Cyanella 
lutea we saw in the Little Karoo where it would get very little rain. In my 
report to the group I wrote about our trip I said this:

"Seeing the Cyanella lutea it struck me that it was no wonder if wasn't 
really very happy in an area where we often get 60 inches of rain during 
our winter rainy season. The fact that I had one in a raised bed subjected 
to the elements that bloomed for three years before it disappeared was more 
surprising than the fact it disappeared."

When I redid the bed it was last seen in I saved some of the bulbs I wasn't 
sure of and this year guess what has come up and is blooming in one of the 
mystery bulbs containers? Perhaps it has been happier in this dryer year?
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Most of my Oxalis obtusa that was blooming well went dormant when we had 
our heat spell. The only ones that didn't were located in cool spots were 
they got less direct sunshine. But before it went dormant I photographed 
another Oxalis obtusa Michael Vassar accession, 7087. It is a really nice 
one and I added it to the wiki even though we have quite a lot of other 
Oxalis obtusa pictures.

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

How you grow many of the Oxalis really determines how they look. I know 
that is no doubt true for all we grow, but the form of the obtusas can be 
so different. When I redid my raised beds I tried a couple of Oxalis in the 
beds since I was then planting in containers and could contain them and 
wanted to experimant. The Oxalis luteola did great. This same accession of 
Oxalis obtusa (7087) planted in the raised beds was slow to emerge and then 
the plants remained mat like, a much better form. They didn't bloom very 
long however and the heat spell we had prevents me from being sure whether 
it was the weather or the way they were planted. Michael Vassar preached 
little organic matter and no fertilizer to keep the leaves low and 
contained. But my informal experience has been that I get longer blooming 
on my Oxalis plants when I fertilize them a little.

Mary Sue




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