April 2024

[Too Many Plants!]

I believe this is my first flowering for these Albuca Namaquensis.

[Too Many Plants!]

These Orange metallic silver flushed Sparaxis Tricolor flowers really change as they progress through their flowering cycle.

[Too Many Plants!]

Here's a fun first flowering (for me) of some gift bulbs from a very generous SA bulb aficionado...

Babiana ? & ?

[CG100]

I believe this is my first flowering for these Albuca Namaquensis.

A. namaquensis has threadlike leaves and usually only a rather small number of flowers per pedicel.

Pic's 4072 and 4073 - B. purpureacyanea (spelling very likely wrong), or a hybrid that strongly favours that species.

[petershaw]

My wife and I went to Ruch Bancroft Garden, Tilden BG on Sunday and UC Berkeley BG on Monday.
What a show. This post is from the BBG.
I will post a few I could not identify (labels) in the unknown thread.The last Watsonia was really nice but could not find the name

[Robert_Parks]

I believe this is my first flowering for these Albuca Namaquensis.

Just showing the flowers, the plants had lovely storms of fine leaves, but the slugs mowed them down.

Robert
in clement San Francisco, where the weird veggie tubers are pretty much out, and the (mostly) aroids are ready to go.

[Too Many Plants!]

My wife and I went to Ruch Bancroft Garden, Tilden BG on Sunday and UC Berkeley BG on Monday.
What a show. This post is from the BBG.
I will post a few I could not identify (labels) in the unknown thread.The last Watsonia was really nice but could not find the name

WOW! NO KIDDING. What a show...I would Love to see that in person!!

[Too Many Plants!]

I believe this is my first flowering for these Albuca Namaquensis.

A. namaquensis has threadlike leaves and usually only a rather small number of flowers per pedicel.

Well...Albuca is not a Genus I have really spent any time trying to familiarize myself with more thoroughly. I bought these as Namaquanensis, they have flat leaves that are tightly curled (I bought them for this unique look), so I guess they're wrong. I quickly browsed the wiki but didn't see anything that fits.

[Too Many Plants!]

Pic's 4072 and 4073 - B. purpureacyanea (spelling very likely wrong), or a hybrid that strongly favours that species.

Thanks CG100. I don't see this species you're mentioning, in the wiki...I see Purpurea but it doesn't look like the two tone flowers I posted.

[Robin Jangle]

@Too Many Plants! The red and blue Babiana is B. rubrocyanea.

@petershaw The pic of the last Watsonia is W. aletrioides. This is the pure species - as mentioned in a post many moons ago almost all the pics on the wiki are hybrids. In W. aletrioides the tepals barely flare - as can be seen in your picture. The pictures under W. aletrioides are almost all hybrids with W. laccata

[Carlos]

Hi, I am not really on Albuca, but this one is quite attractive. It does not seem to produce the dozens of bulbils seen on other species, does it?  Surely it is not spiralis?

I'd be willing to swap a few seeds. I also have dozens of bulbils of another unidentified species that I posted last year.

[Too Many Plants!]

@Too Many Plants! The red and blue Babiana is B. rubrocyanea.

Thanks Robin. I have three different groups of B. Rubrocyanea (pic w/reply) from different sources, the flowers I posted previously in this thread are quite different...what say you?

[Too Many Plants!]

Hi, I am not really on Albuca, but this one is quite attractive. It does not seem to produce the dozens of bulbils seen on other species, does it?  Surely it is not spiralis?

I'd be willing to swap a few seeds. I also have dozens of bulbils of another unidentified species that I posted last year.

Hi Carlos, if I get seed I'm happy to mail some to you. I bought these as 20mm+ bulbs. I've had one for a few years, and added 3 more last couple years. I guess I don't know for sure, but haven't seen signs of bulbils yet.

[CG100]

Apologies - B. rubrocyanea was where I was thinking....

So far as I am aware, various sources don't mention much if anything by way of variation in the species, so maybe some hybrid influence???

Most Albuca with spiral leaves that are at all common in cultivation have threadlike leaves but how twisted they are is influenced by cultivation conditions - how much water, how much sun. In fact, you can find comment about pretty much all contorted foliage species of bulbs in general, being similarly affected.

How about Fusifilum, or Trachyandra, or any of the other genera that get amalgamated and split from Albuca regularly?

[Uli]

Pictures 9303 and 9304 would fit with Albuca concordiana. It all of a sudden appeared on the succulent market for one or two seasons. I find it very susceptible to excess water during the winter growing season.
But what are the spheres in different colors next to the Albuca?