I'm in Encinitas, not far from Richard in Vista, both in San Diego County. My velthemia grow in the dry shade of a pepper tree (Schnius molle). They do go dormant in summer, and sprout about now. The sprouts are leaves, not flower spikes. The flower spikes follow. I too would love some yellow velthemia. I've seen them in a local private nursery but they were not in sufficient numbers for the owner to sell - yet. Anyone else have any sources? Nan On Oct 25, 2011, at 7:08 AM, Mary Sue Ittner wrote: > Hi, > > I'm really curious about Doug Westfall's recent post about the status > of his Veltheimia > >> There are flower spikes on most of them > > My Veltheimia bracteata has just broken dormancy this month. Most of > the plants haven't had leaves since early summer. Are these new > flower spikes? My plants usually bloom sometime from March to May. > > This is another example of how plants grow really differently in > Southern California than in Northern California. > > Many years ago when we discussed Veltheimia some people reported > their plants never went dormant, probably because of the difference > in how much moisture they got in summer. When the leaves on mine > start dying back, I stop watering them. The ones I planted in the > ground dwindled away I expect because it was too dry for them in > summer since in South Africa they would have rainfall in summer. In > large containers in the shade in our relatively cool summers the soil > probably doesn't dry out so much. > > How do you treat yours Doug? > > Mary Sue > > > Mary Sue Ittner > California's North Coast > Wet mild winters with occasional frost > Dry mild summers > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >