Babiana--TOW

Who in the group grows Babiana? There must be some people who grow this
one. My Ortho book shows that it would do well in California and Oregon and
be possible in Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and most of
the South.

We know some of you grow it in Australia too. I was interested in Rachel's
comments about the trouble telling them apart. I have really struggled with
some of the ones I grow that were grown from seed and are presumably a
species. If I look in my books there are different descriptions for the
same thing.

I have found Babianas happier in the ground or a raised bed than in a
container even though you read that they can be grown in containers. Some
of them are a little too prolific however. On the other hand my Babiana
curviscapa is very slow to increase. Every year I hope it will bloom when
it isn't raining because I think it is so beautiful. Rain here sometimes
wipes out the blooms. Babiana villosa is another stunner, especially the
red one.

I've not had luck with some of them I have grown from seed. Germination
isn't the problem, but growing to blooming has been. The first time I grew
them from seed I am sure I got blooms within a year, but I've never been
able to duplicate that. I think they need deeper pots right away or maybe
to be planted out. Some of them I have tried may have wanted less rain as
well. In spite of that I have a number of them that bloom reliably every year.

I have added quite a few pictures to the wiki page:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Some of them are plants I grow in my garden and some are of plants we saw
in bloom in South Africa. There are also pictures there taken by Doug
Westfall, Sheila Burrow, Lyn Edwards, Dirk Wallace, and Mary Wise. Check
them out.

Rachel, I have had a plant for a long time which blooms reliably in winter
and smells like cinnamon and came to me as Babiana nana var. angustifolia.
I have a picture of it on the wiki. Is this name correct or is it something
else? There is a mention of it in Spring and Winter Flowering Bulbs of the
Cape, but I haven't seen it mentioned any other place.

I'd also like people to take a look at my species pictures on the wiki and
see if anyone could identify them. Or could they be B. stricta hybrids?
Also the plant I got as Babiana disticha doesn't have any yellow in it. One
of my books says it can be without yellow and others that describe it as
either yellow or marked with yellow. Does it look right?

Anyone have any tips for photographing Babiana angustifolia? They always
come out looking so dark and even if you lighten them the red that you can
see when looking at them doesn't show in the picture.

Thanks for any answers and I hope the others who grow Babiana will
contribute to this TOW.

Mary Sue
Between rain storms where the Moraeas (Homeria group) are adding masses of
color and where my first Calochortus venustus opened today and Geissorhiza
monanthos and Lapeirousia corymbosa have
been awesome and where I have five blooming pots of different Leucocorynes
(yea summer in the greenhouse to help them bloom). Brodiaeas,
Dichelostemmas, and Triteleias are also starting to bloom. Showers are
forecast through Friday however.