PBS Forum

Dear members living in the EU,
This is a last reminder for donations before we will close the second round of the EU exchange. We have so far received only a few items. We are planning the ordering time window over the Easter Weekend. Please send in your donations to Martin now if you have surplus seed or bulbs. Here is the address
Martin Bohnet
Ludwigstr. 1
73035 Göppingen
It would be a good idea to send an email to Martin <garak@code-garak.de> to let him know a donation is under way.
Please do not hesitate to get back to me (Uli) if you have questins
Thank you very much!
Uli and Martin

Hello Wylie,

I don't grow Babiana tanquana but I may have this Lachenalia. Don't know off hand which one this is. I must check my collection during daylight. I have not donated many Lachenalia bulbs, though. Will keep you updated. 

Dear Members living in the EU,
This is a reminder: There will be a second round of the EU sping Bulb and seed exchange. We do the second round for mainly bulbs to avoid frost damage to bulbs. It is planned for Mid April. If you have spare seed or bulbs please send them now to Martin in Germany.
The EU exchange is open for all fully paid members with a postal address in one of the EU countries. The first round has mainly covered seed and the second one is for bulbs but both is welcome.   Please send only clean and healthy material.
As usual, we suggest prepacking of seed on a voluntary basis, five portions of seed would be fine, if therer is plenty more you can add an extra envelope Martin can use as a reserve. If you need seed envelopes you can get them free of charge from Martin.

His address: Martin Bohnet
                   Ludwigstr. 1
                   73035 Göppingen
                   Germany
                   email: <garak@code-garak.de>

Please label your donation with the name of the plant and your own name so that your donation can be referred to you. You will get a bonus covering the postage.
Closure of the donations and opening of the ordering time window will be announced through the same channels
And please do not hesitate to come back to me(Uli) in case of questions johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de

Uli and Martin

Dear members of the PBS living in the EU,
The ordering for bulbs from the South African Bulb Company will be closing tomorrow at midnight Central European Time. I have not received any more orders or messages from interested members during last week so that I think everybody has placed her or his order. You can still order and send your order form to me until tomorrow. Please remember that this is a service for fully paid members with a postal address in the EU.
Please do not hesitate to come back to me with questions
Bye for now,
Uli

I don't know if you have this kind of material: in Europe some nurseries use a coconut fiber mat which is about 1 to 1,5cm thick on top of pots to keep weeds out and moisture in. It is fairly rigid and can be cut to measure with ordinary strong scissors.

It is Ipheion uniflorum. There are different colour forms around, the one with the most intense blue for me is ,Jessie'
,Rolf Fiedler' is also a good blue but apparently it is a separate species of which I do not recall the name.
The regular uniflorum is relatively pale blue, older flowers fading to a paler hue, so that is probably your plant 

Dear members living in the EU,
The first round of the EU spring seed and bulb exchange is now closed for orders.
Martin will send out the packets in the next days to come. Every order will contain a payment slip, please wait with payments until you receive your items.
The donation for bulbs and seeds remains open until further notice. We do a second round for mainly bulbs which will be announced through the same channels.
Please do not hesitate to contact me in case of questions
Uli

Quote from: Zsara on March 09, 2025, 03:34:28 AMThey are definitely (to my untrained eye) at least 2 different plants. I think I remember some of the bulbs being slightly larger and flatter on one side.
I guess we can't be certain until they flower. Will update again when they do 

The one with pinkish leaf tips looks like Allium to me. Have you crushed a leaf? Does it have an onion smell? Not sure if they are two different things. They are at different stages of development.

Hello All,
Back from a nice hike on a crisp Algarvian spring day, I would like to share some impressions with you. It was cold, around 5°C, but sunny, some wind and the occasional raindrop. 

Zantedeschia aethiopica naturalizes beautifully in wet spots. Lots of simple water catchment there, so there must be a spring.

Primula acaulis, also near running water but higher up. I have not seen it before in the Algarve. On a steep north facing slope.

This magnificent cork oak is a survivor of the vicious 2018 wildfires. It's valuable cork had been stripped in 2016, hence the figure 6 still visible. Had it not been stripped two years earlier it would have survived in a better shape.

Thank you for this lovely picture of wild Ceanothus. I am trying hard to establish Ceanothus in my garden, Blue Jeans is a success. It never gets any irrigation. Whenever I can lay my hands on a Ceanothus here in Portugal, I buy it. They do sometimes appear in the trade but not regularly. Establishing is another job, there are a few small ones, some look promising, others..... Blue Jeans was raised in Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens and  is is a relatively new hybrid.

Dear All,

Some information about my donation.

Albuca pulchra 
Verry large summer growing bulb, Inflorescence like a greenish yellow Eremurus up to 1,8m tall. Architectural accent plant. Will need several years to reach flowering size, sow spring, keep bulbs dry and frost free during winter dormancy

Albuca abyssinca, syn angolensis 
More or less evergreen species, yellow-green flowers, sow spring

Aristolochia gigantea 
Not a geophyte.... But spectacular climber with large, non stinking flowers. Can be flowered on a trellis in a 15cm pot but will grow very big with free root run. Loses most leaves in winter, frost tender

Begonia martiana var gracilis, Bulbili 
Tiny bulbili, give a soak in lukewarm water over night and plant as soon as possible. Will make one peltate leaf the first year and flowers in the following year.  At the end of the season plant is very prone to mildew. Dry winter dormancy. Starts relatively late in spring. Be patient with the bulbili and do not overwater but do not let dry out.

Canna paniculata 
Very large Canna wild form, magnificent foliage plant but flowers insignificant small orange in winter. Will not go dormant  in winter and cannot be stored as a dry rhizome. I overwintered a small division under frost free glass which makes a giant new plant in the following summer. Nick seed before sowing, bottom heat.

Gladiolus dalenii 
Summer growing, winter dormant orange-salmon species, sow spring

Lilium formosanum tall form 
Vigorous tall white trumpet lily, very easy and fast from seed, sow any time

Lilium leucanthemum centifolium 
White trumpet lily, sow spring

Lilium pumilum 
Brilliant laque red turkscap, very attractive, very hardy but short lived, keep sowing, sow spring. Easy from seed

 
Manfreda maculata 
Related to Agave, Rosettes of attractive mottled leaves, stoloniferous, frost tender, prone to attack of Agave snout beetle, sow spring

Milla magnifica 
Mexican summer grower, starts relatively late in the season and remains green for long, but totally dry winter dormancy. Fragrant white flowers. Not the easiest plant from seed, sow spring

Neomarica northiana 
Blue and white, low growing. No experience in growing from seed, sow in spring.

Rhizomes 
Hedychium gardneriannum
From the open garden, Portugal. Needs bottom heat to start. Big fragrant inflorescence.  Survives foliage being cut off in winter but starts much better and flowers earlier if overwintered with at least part of the foliage. Spectacular container plant.

Hello All,

Some greetings from my garden....

This pure white Cyclamen persicum was selected from seedlings raised from AGS seed. It has particularly elegant fragrant flowers.

Gladiolus virescens 

Onixotos triquetra likes it wet but also performs well in normal conditions if kept moist.

Gladiolus liliaceus 

Ranunculus asiaticus next to one of the Lachenalia quadricolor forms 

Not a geophyte...... Ceanothus ,Blue Jeans'

Uli 

Quote from: Zsara on March 06, 2025, 01:22:19 AM

Quote from: CG100 on February 20, 2025, 12:50:29 AMEggs in pots is usually crows, hoarding food, probably magpies.
I have seen foxes blamed, but I don't believe a word of it.

The bulbs will be a few years old, so they did not arrive as seed. I also did not realise that the pots had been filled from empty by you, rather than bought, ready-planted, from a nursery.

All of the guesses at identity grow with bulbs at or very close to the soil surface, so for any animal to find them would be no major challenge. "Hiding" them deep into a pot is more difficult to explain.

(Edit to add - the eggs I discovered were chicken eggs not smaller birds.)
See, I could imagine a fox being able to carefully carry an egg, dig a hole with its paws then cover the egg. I can't imagine how a crow would fit an egg in its beak. We get jackdaws nesting under our guttering but I've not seen the larger crow variety. I planted the bulbs in a spare bed. They seem to be different types of plants. I can't figure out how to share photos in a quoted comment

Hello Zsara,
You cannot share photos in a ,,quote", it has to be a reply. Click on reply and below the text window there is a smaller window: click or drag files.....
If you click there a menu opens and you can choose the pictures you want to share depending where you have stored them. Then follow the instructions and that's it.

Dear members of the PBS living in the EU,
We have received a brand new  list of interesting bulbs from The South African Bulb Company from which you can order now.
Please..... do read this instruction and the instructions by the South African Bulb Company carefully and completely.
And please.... Do remember that this is a service to EU members of the Pacific Bulb Society. You must have a mailing address in one of the EU countries and you must be a fully paid member. You can join the PBS at any time to participate. The current price list and an order form are attached.
Our learning curve from the previous joint bulb order was steep and we will do certain things differently. The timing of this order is better than the previous one as the winter growing bulbs are still dormant and shortening the growing season of the summer growers does not harm the bulbs. Please do not forget that you have to do a hemisphere swap with the bulbs after their arrival, the seasons in South Africa are opposite to the ones in Europe.
It might be a good idea to opt for the slightly bigger bulbs if there is the choice between very small/small and bigger ones.  From the previous bulb order we learned about some losses which were more related to the delayed delivery and not to the quality of the bulbs, but bigger bulbs in general travel better. In some cases Leigh had advised not to order a certain bulb which was in an unsuitable stage of growth, but this was the exception and will be handled individually.
Please use the order form which you can download or copy. Using this from avoids misunderstandings in names,  number and size of bulbs. For legibility, please type directly into the order form and don't use handwriting. Thank you.
Please send all your orders to me, Uli johannes-ulrich-urban@t-online.de  and NOT to the Forum and NOT to the email list. I will confirm and forward your order to Leigh and there you will be served on a first come, first served basis. Some of the bulbs will be in short supply.
After all the orders have arrived at Leigh's, an invoice will be sent to me and I will forward the expense. Please calculate for yourself roughly the double price of the bulb value you ordered to cover postage, phytosanitary certificate and a fee for the customs agent on arrival. This time we will use the services of a customs agent at the airport of entry because Martin had a lot of trouble and there was a considerable delay in getting the previous order through customs and plant health service. These costs will be spread according to the individual order value and added to your individual bill. You will receive an invoice together with your bulbs, delivery is planned for April. Please ignore all the other payment instructions given on the SABC price list and please do not pay anything on ordering.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have questions.
Happy browsing!
Uli

Hello Arnold 
Has your Arum got dry accidentally?