PBS Forum

Hello Laura,

Are there any summer flowering Romulea?
My first thought looking at the flower and the leaves is Zephyranthes but no idea which species.

Hello @Wylie,
The clone of Cypella aquatilis circulating in the EU BX is a single clone. I grow it, too but with me it never sets seed. I have looked for pollen to use the microwave method but could not find any. Please have a lookout for seed forming, you may have different pollinators. Seed would be most important to maintain this beautiful plant in cultivation.

Dear All,

The first box of two of the EU joint bulb oder from South Africa is in Martin's hands now and the individual packets will be posted.
The second box is still at customs, we have no influence on the timing but as the first box was cleared after some correspondence we think the second one should go through as well.
We are sorry for the delay for part of the orders.
There was and is a tremendous amount of bureaucracy and correspondence involved with these joint orders and there are some hiccups.

We keep you posted

Uli and Martin

Quote from: Uli on June 25, 2024, 01:12:37 AMLilium Vico Gold
Raised by Sir Peter Smithers as Lilium sulphureum as one parent, this was once only available in the trade. It is very tall and needs careful staking and is best in shade in my climate. It is fragrant.
However, I sometimes wonder if I have not been sold the hybrid African Queen instead. The apricot touch makes me think this. But I am not a Lily specialist, is there someone around who would be able to tell them apart?

I have the reply to Uli's question on the Vico Lily.
My friend and Lily guru, Pontus Wallsten from Switzerland, said the
following:
"it looks like the fabulous, even rarer lilium Vico Queen"..."Vico gold is
yellow with a darker exterior"

Uli, I hope this helps.
Laura

Hello Laura,


Bingo..... that was excellent news, thank you very much for this information. It is indeed Vico Queen. I wrote my question from memory without checking the label. I did this morning and it says indeed Vico Queen. I got it many years ago from Dix Export. They have stopped to sell to individuals. It is good to have the identity of this plant confirmed by a knowledgeable person.

Thank you very much again 

Uli 

Quote from: Rdevries on June 26, 2024, 12:04:49 PM

Quote from: Uli on June 25, 2024, 01:12:37 AMLilium Vico Gold
Raised by Sir Peter Smithers as Lilium sulphureum as one parent, this was once only available in the trade. It is very tall and needs a few careful staking and is best in shade in my climate. It is fragrant.
However, I sometimes wonder if I have not been sold the hybrid African Queen instead. The apricot touch makes me think this. But I am not a Lily specialist, is there someone around who would be able to tell them apart?

Hi Uli, i grow a few lilies but not this one. I passed your question on to a fellow lily enthusiast who grows Vico Gold and he agrees with you, too orange and likely African Queen. Plant Delights sells Vico Gold

Hello Rimmer,

Thank you very much for your reply. 

Lilium Vico Gold 
Raised by Sir Peter Smithers as Lilium sulphureum as one parent, this was once only available in the trade. It is very tall and needs careful staking and is best in shade in my climate. It is fragrant.
However, I sometimes wonder if I have not been sold the hybrid African Queen instead. The apricot touch makes me think this. But I am not a Lily specialist, is there someone around who would be able to tell them apart?

Hello @Robert_Parks,

Thank you for posting the pictures of flowering potatoes. What are they? Local cultivars of edible potato? Or wild species? I know that the edible potato originated in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia but I am not aware of native Californian ones. How does the whole plant look like?
I managed to acquire a species potato Solanum jamesii which looks like a white flowered mini potato plant. For safety reasons I keep it in a pot, because of bulb/tuber eating rodents and also because I know of a botanical garden where a purple flowering species has invaded the whole garden.....

Hello Peter,

I cannot comment on Blue Curls.

But I have been growing Albuca fragrans for some years, originally from Silverhill seed. A beautiful tall late spring flowering plant, about 120cm tall in flower, summer dormant. Hanging yellow flowers with some green, the yellow is dominating. A good potful makes quite a show. Distinct from Albuca clanwilliamigloria which is much taller and which has much larger flowers in pure yellow.
One interesting feature in Albuca fragrans is that the tip of the inflorescence is hanging down as long as it is in bud, it later straightens up. I could never detect any fragrance whatsoever, neither during the day nor at night. Very easy from seed, flowers the second year from seed if well fed. I find that first time blooming bulbs perform best, they tend to decline after flowering, producing lots of offsets. Sets copious amounts of seed. No idea where the name fragrans comes from and no idea if my plant is correctly named.

Sinningia speciosa Regina Serra da vista. Not a cultivar but a local form. Raised from a single leaf given to me exactly 10 years ago. Flowers every year.

My recommendation is to store bulbs in substrate especially if you live in hot and dry summer climates. Big mature bulbs can be stored in paper bags for some time but small seedling bulbs may shrivel away if stored that way. I keep my seedlings in their pots and give a light watering with a fine rose every 4 weeks or so. My summers are hot and very dry. Pots are kept in shade.

Hello Martin,

I am holding my breath for you......

Hello Carlos,

Thank you very much for your information. I have no issues with the correspondence with Leigh, both for the Amaryllid book and the bulbs everything went very well.

I checked the VAT for living plants in Germany and will correspond with Leigh accordingly. The bulbs will soon be dispatched.

Bye for now 

Hello Mary Sue,

Thank you very much for this work. I have corresponded in the past with Cameron and am growing bulbs which I received from him as seed or seedling bulbs, all of them of outstanding beauty and quality. I have no time right now to read through his articles but I looked at two of them: excellent. 
Another valuable addition to the WIKI 

Dear members living in the EU,
Having received several orders after sending out the reminder, I will close the ordering time window today at 24:00h Central European Time. No more orders will be accepted after that.
Bye for now
Uli

In my hot and dry Portuguese summers I move the pots with dormant bulbs to a shady place, otherwise the black plastic pots become too hot. At some stage I empty all the pots and put the bulbs into paper bags.
But I try to keep the storage of the dormant bulbs in paper bags as short as possible. Some bulbs do not at all like to be stored out of the substrate, dry in a paper bag. These are replanting immediately and only the surplus is stored in a bag. I very rarely use plastic bags to store bulbs because they ,,breathe" and produce a surprising amount of moisture which may lead to rot.
Young seedling bulbs can be lost in their first dormancy if kept brutally dry so they get a light hand watering with a fine rose every 4 weeks or so. If kept too wet during dormancy they may also rot. Pot size matters: the bigger the pot the more stable the conditions are in the substrate. Clumps of mature bulbs are grown in 6, 8 or 10 liter pots depending on number of bulbs and size of the plants. My standard seedling pots are square 8 X 8 X 8,5cm. Anything smaller has proved unsuccessful.
Especially species winter growing gladiolus are prone to loss in their first dormancy.