I for one, will be watching for that posting! I am anxious to try them where I live. Patty -----Original Message----- >From: clayton3120 clayton3120 <clayton3120@cablespeed.com> >Sent: May 28, 2013 7:55 PM >To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> >Subject: Re: [pbs] Freesia laxa > >It's good I was sitting down when I read this about the blue Freesia laxa. > Most of mine are blue , and they seed in all the surrounding pots. I >assumed this was a common, weedy form. I never gave it a second thought >that it might be difficult. >Let me see what I have, I'd gladly donate it to the BX. >Rick K > > >On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 2:49 PM, Gastil Gastil-Buhl ><gastil.buhl@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Mary Sue wrote: >> "None of the seeds germinated for me. It's strange >> that this plant from a summer rainfall area blooms for her in winter >> (January)." >> >> The pale blue Freesia laxa I grow are all from a single parent plant which >> I got in the 1990s from UCSB, who got it from UCI. >> >> Because these grow so easily for me, I have not done germination tests nor >> kept much of a record of how I grow them. Until I learned about the PBS BX, >> I used to toss the seeds into whatever pot of succulents was within reach. >> I only noticed when they grew. I do not know what germination rate to >> expect. I sow them very shallow or even just toss them on the soil surface. >> >> This past year Ive grown these in their own pots, on a wire shelf under an >> arbor of vines, protected from frost. Their indicator plants are self-sown >> Impatiens that dry out much faster than anything else on that shelf so >> these pots get a lot more frequent watering than my other bulbs. Their soil >> is nothing special, just half bagged mix and half sand and pumice, roughly. >> I crowd them way too much in the pots. >> >> I set the terra-cotta pots on a wire shelf and let their leaves grow up >> thru the wire shelf above them as a support. Otherwise the floppy leaves >> just fall over the edge of the pot. They seem to like having their lower >> stems more open in the air like this. I got twice as many seed pods this >> year as last year. >> >> The flowering period has varied. This year I had flowers from January >> through April, with a few stragglers either end. This is more than in past >> years. They are beginning to go dormant now but there are still a dozen >> green pods maturing. I have never attempted to put them on a particular >> growing cycle. When they sprout I water them. When they begin to turn brown >> I stop watering them. They also get chance water; I do not move the pots >> onto the dry storage shelves over the summer. >> >> - Gastil >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >> >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/