[PacificBulbSociety] Moraea (Homeria) type seed
Mary Sue Ittner (Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:43:54 PDT)

Dear All,

Apparently others feel like Jane or are already growing these because I
have had no requests for my seed and will go back to deadheading my plants
in the future. I am reminded though that a friend who had a wholesale
nursery mostly selling Australian plants told me that one year when she had
an open house so people could buy from her directly that she had an orange
Homeria in bloom and that was what everyone asked if they could buy! It was
of course not for sale.

I shared some of these in the past with family in Texas and they loved
them. They were however not long lived in both gardens. One was Houston and
it was either the humid wet summers or too much shade but they did bloom
for several years before disappearing. In Midland which is much more desert
like it was the cold that was a problem. A late freeze wiped them out a
couple times before they bloomed and eventually they just dwindled away.
That was my earlier point about their weediness. I expect most places they
would not be weeds.

And Marguerite you don't have to deadhead as you go to keep them blooming
although perhaps they might look more tidy. Each corm produces quite a lot
of flowers over a long time period regardless of whether you cut the pods
off. I've recorded blooms from March to July although probably the years
they started blooming earlier they finished earlier. In a warmer climate
most of the flowers only lasted a day instead of two, but they bloomed for
a long time. When I say I deadhead I mean I cut the pods off before seed
escapes in my garden, but after I think they are done blooming.

I don't usually grow hybrids but I have been fascinated by the combinations
that appeared in my garden. Like Cathy I love the fact that once they dry
off you can give them a little yank and effortlessly the dried stalk comes
out. If you wait, they just fall over and out on their own. It may be a
couple weeks to a month when they look unsightly, but it isn't too long.

Mary Sue