March 2024

[Martin Bohnet]

I am so tired about this Scilla discussion. Kew's PoWo and Inaturalist conserve Scilla peruviana. Besides my usual complaint (there's a valid double m Oncostemma in Asclepioideae) i'm just done with authors finding the needed number of peer reviewers in their faction to overwrite this or that, being far from any system wide consent. For now, Kew's the authority most people accept. and they're keeping Scilla peruviana as of now.

But there are lighter topics. Light sky blue like Corydalis fumariifolia

which hasn't been as impressed by early warm temperatures as many other species. It's not tuberous cousin Corydalis heterocarpa was first a bit shy in the garden, now it seeds around a lot (ants, as always with corydalis), finding places more suitable then where I planted it first.
Third one is Fritillaria reuteri

, shining bright in the sun. Another sun lover, though in a container is Anacamptis papilionacea

Height:	30-45 cm (1-1.5 ft)
Flower Colors:	pink, purple
Flower Season:	mid spring

, subspecies messenica if my records are right. Next one is the opposite of a sun lover: Asarum caudatum

hides in the shadows, despite being a flower giant compared to my local Asarum europaeum

.
Speaking about hiding: last one is my resurfaced Iris bucharica - years ago, the clump was suffocated by my huge tree peonie. I transplanted, but there seemed to be no survivors - until this one opened up a few days ago.

[Too Many Plants!]

Here's one of my nicer red Sparaxis Tricolor.

 

[Too Many Plants!]

And my Ferraria Crispa ssp. Nortieri ⭐️🐠 flowers starting to go off 💥...with a little yellow friend hanging out with them.

 

 

 

[Wylie]

Babianas do very well in the Azores. I had bought a pack of bulbs years ago, so I don't know which ones these are. They have been allowed to mix, drop seed, and grow.

One of the first Moraea bulbs I got was Moraea ochroleuca. They settle into the ground very well.

There is also the white version of Scilla peruviana.

[Diane Whitehead]

This is the third year that Leucocoryne macropetala has flowered. 
I bought seeds from John Watson and Anita Flores in 2003.

I sent some of the seeds to Sheila Burrow in Perth, Australia. 
I wonder if hers have flowered.           

[David Pilling]

@Diane Whitehead

There is a copyright Sheila Burrow photo of this species:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/146789269088182672/

that I found on Google.

[Diane Whitehead]

Same genus, but a different species

Sheila also put her photo on our wiki.


The other 6 species of Leucocoryne  I bought from F & W have not bloomed yet - lots of leaves, though.

[David Pilling]

Same genus, but a different species

Bah! Google!

[Too Many Plants!]

To close out March...here's a pic from a few days ago. I missed the full flowering (if it did), I think this guy was affected by the unusual amount and frequency of rain we've been getting this season.

G. Radians. 

This plant has taken many years in the ground from a planted bulb to develop into much to see. 

[Carlos]

Muscari atlanticum, Eastern Spain. POWO accepts it!

[Rdevries]

Cyrtanthus falcatus x Cyrt. herrei
A bulb i received from Roy Herald in 2018 he grew from seed Ken Blackford donated in BX239.  

Is it a cross? 
https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/CyrtanthusSpeciesTwo#falcatus

Tends to grow in warm weather A d can have the strange colored flowers and typical crooks neck. 

https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/CyrtanthusSpeciesTwo#herrei

Tends to grow in cool weather. 

When it was smaller it remained evergreen bit this winter it went dormant a d now a flower! 

[Carlos]

Some 'cormous' or 'pseudobulbous' plants seen in the wild yesterday

Biarum dispar


Himantoglossum robertianum 



Orchis olbiensis (mascula subsp. olbiensis for some)



And March is over.

[Arnold]

Leucocoryne sp.
Ledebouria galpinii