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Messages - Diane Whitehead

#1
Mystery Bulbs / Re: yellow flowers
July 14, 2024, 07:33:08 AM
Thank you both.  Yes, the leaves are slightly sticky and smell like pinched spruce needles.

I've just checked, and I have sown seeds of lots of albucas.   aurea, canadensis, namaquensis, rupestris, shawii, spiralis.  I can't find any labels, though.
#2
Mystery Bulbs / yellow flowers
July 13, 2024, 06:09:21 PM
These slightly scented yellow flowers are currently in bloom.  The petals are 1.5 cm long, and the whole flower stem and leaves are about 35 cm long.  The very narrow leaves have a deep groove along the entire length.

When I dumped the pot out a couple of years ago to check for bulbs, I found no bulbs, but lots of circling roots.  The root tips are poking out of the holes in the bottom of the pot.



#3
The narcissus fly lays its eggs where the leaves enter the soil.  I grow bushy plants to hide the base of the narcissus leaves.
#4
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
June 14, 2024, 08:22:27 AM
Years ago I read about using vinegar to kill weeds so I went to a garden store to buy some.  They had it in a locked room along with other poisons.  I didn't buy any and have never used anything to kill weeds except a garden fork and muscles.
#5
General Discussion / sick lily
June 10, 2024, 09:43:19 PM
What is wrong with this lily?

sick_lily.jpg
#6
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
June 04, 2024, 08:05:27 AM
Not just bananas.

other fruit:  apricot, citrus, kiwi, melon, pear, rhubarb

veggies: bean, beet, pea, baked potato, squash

mushroom

dark chocolate

I guess you don't have to worry until you start to glow in the dark.
#7
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
June 03, 2024, 04:35:21 PM
Plants with feelings? New book The Light Eaters might change how you think about plant intelligence

A review of The Light Eaters by Zoƫ Schlanger

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-the-light-eaters-looks-at-the-growing-signs-of-plant-intelligence/
#8
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
June 01, 2024, 05:53:23 PM
Maybe just the ones they grow in Iceland.
#9
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
June 01, 2024, 08:39:01 AM
It's a good thing I eat a banana every day, but only a 10% improvement per pill?
#10
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
May 26, 2024, 08:52:18 AM
I guess it's possible that all the pink-flowered ones were dug up over the centuries and only the unpopular white one was left to be discovered by Dick Roberts.

I wonder if pink ones are still growing in old gardens.
#11
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
May 26, 2024, 07:37:02 AM
The pictures in the article are of white flowers.  Why is it called "rosy"?
#12
Current Photographs / Re: Calochortus superbus
May 13, 2024, 07:04:01 AM
And, getting back to the main topic:  Calochortus.  I have germinated many different species and have pots of bulbs that have never flowered.

Hmm - I'd better start tipping those pots out,  Maybe there's nothing in them.
#13
Current Photographs / Re: Calochortus superbus
May 12, 2024, 12:03:08 PM
My record for slowness:

Colchicum bornmuelleri (which apparently is a form of speciosum) - sown in 2000.  One seed germinated in 2008.  It sends up a leaf every year but has not flowered yet.

After that I decided not to sow any more colchicums.  If I want some, I'll buy some bulbs.
#14
I am growing crocus from The Crocus Group seed exchange.  This is an informal group, an off-shoot of the British Iris Society.  Anyone can join the group.  The only charge is to cover cost of the seed exchange, there's no membership fee.  If you want seeds, you email a request for the list.

One seedlist I have kept has 89 offerings.  That doesn't mean there were 89 species - there were 8 collections of C pallasii, for example, from different areas of Turkey. 

Many are still in pots, having never flowered, but some I put in the garden.  C boryi and goulimyi bloomed and were eaten, probably by rabbits.

The Scottish Rock Garden Society website includes The Crocus Pages with descriptions and photos of many crocus    https://www.srgc.org.uk/genera/index.php?log=crocus

Unfortunately for you, the USA has regulations for importing seeds that make it too much of a bother to send seeds to you.

Diane






#15
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
April 16, 2024, 01:53:05 PM
I should lend them some hummingbirds - they pollinate Puyas in Chile.