David, you've misunderstood "Devon". In this case it's a town in S Africa somewhere east of Johannesburg (Cameron McM assures me it's a "very cold" area - though S African cold and NY cold are two entirely different things!) The seeds were wild-collected. I grow 'White Dwarf' too - and I am not at all persuaded that it isn't an E. zambesiaca, by the way. Dawie's collection from Devon is definitely an E. autumnalis, and it's quite different from both 'White Dwarf' and from what Silverhill sold a few years back as E. aff. autumnalis (now blooming, I would say certainly E. autumnalis, also a lovely squat form with a tight cylindrical inflorescence of green flowers, the leaves much greener than Dawie's Devon collection, quite similar to what Cameron has sold in the past as 'Triple Streams' form.) Sorry about the sentence construction there... Ellen -----Original Message----- >From: "David Fenwick Snr." <davidfenwicksnr@googlemail.com> >Sent: Jul 19, 2010 7:07 PM >To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> >Subject: Re: [pbs] Eucomis revisited > >>>>>>>Has anyone else grown the Eucomis autumnalis, dwarf form from Devon, > >>>>>>>I have a few different collections of "dwarf" E. autumnalis, but I >>>>>>>have to say that, to date, this is my favorite. Has anyone else >>>>>>>tested hardiness on this one? > >Hi Ellen, >I can't remember sending Dawie seed but it's very likely I did, if so the >plants came to me as Eucomis autumnalis 'White Dwarf'; and yes it's a >cracking plant and very dependable to flower. The original plant was >obtained from a private garden in Teignmouth, South Devon, in 2001. Haven't >obviously really had to test the hardiness but the plants did well both in >the ground and in clay containers. I've got a feeling that I found these to >have come from a probable Dutch source, as I've either seen them sold as dry >bulbs or have grown the same from a packet. > >Eucomis autumnalis 'White Dwarf' >Height in Flower - 43cm >Length of Flowering Head - 19cm >Flower Diameter - 18mm >Flower Colour - Pure white, shading green. >Crown - Larger than width of inflorescence >Leaf Length - 30cm >Leaf Width - 5cm > >Nearly 50% of the spike is covered in flowers. The Eucomis I really used to >rate were the ones that stood up for themselves and have over 50% of the >scape covered in bloom. There aren't really that many that do this and don't >need staking, but those that meet the criterior are exceptional plants. > >One of my all time favorites is a little bigger than 'White Dwarf ' but not >by much, it's called >Eucomis comosa 'Rose Selection', or as it originally came to me 'Roze >Selectie'. > >Height in Flower - 43cm >Length of Flowering Head - 25cm >Flower Diameter - 24mm >Flower Colour - lilac pink. >Crown - Less than width of inflorescence >Leaf Length - 57cm >Leaf Width - 8.5cm >Leaf Colour - Bronzey purple. > >Certainly one to look out for. > >Best Wishes, >Dave > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ Ellen Hornig Seneca Hill Perennials 3712 Co. Rt. 57 Oswego NY 13126 Phone: 315-342-5915 Fax: 315-342-5573 http://www.senecahillperennials.com/