Babiana--TOW
Mary Sue Ittner (Sat, 26 Apr 2003 08:02:21 PDT)

Dear Paul,

Thanks for taking the time when you don't feel well to share your thoughts
on Babiana.

I hope people will always feel they can chime in after the fact on any
thread they missed while they were away or sick.

I think you could try some of your Babianas in the ground if you had space.
My experience with them is that they are really happy in the ground and
tolerant of wet or dry in summer. I am sure that isn't true of all the
species, but certainly worth trying for many of them. One thing that I
didn't mention though is that you have to cut off the dead foliage (which
persists longer than some Irids). You can't just give it a yank as the
whole corm sometimes comes out. Most of the ones I have tolerated
occasional colder temperatures than some of my other South African irids
(but many of those were in the ground which also add protection.)

Good luck with Babiana ringens. Looking at Sheila's pictures on the Wiki
has made me want to try again so I have new seed from Silverhill. We
searched for it in the wild and missed it until Rod and Rachel took us to a
place where they thought it might be. It was awesome (one of those things
that you come back with many pictures of). We never saw it with a bird on
the perch however.

Mary Sue