Mine does nor bloom but keeps coming back every year. It is planted in my rock garden. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Sue Ittner" <msittner@mcn.org> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 11:48 PM Subject: [pbs] Babiana--TOW > Dear All, > > 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. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php