Tulbaghia flower fragrance

David Fenwick cf018a3312@blueyonder.co.uk
Sat, 27 Dec 2003 17:25:58 PST
>>>>>>Sorry to inadvertantly malign the genus Tulbaghia in passing, without
mentioning the other attributes of this fascinating little genus.  It is
also hoped that David's many new hybrids will become available one day, as
they're sure to become popular plants. At the very least, take a winter tour
through the Tulbaghia pages at:
http://theafricangarden.netfirms.com/page13.html

Hi Mark,
Sorry I thought you were reffering to flower scent. Yes I must agree they
can be quite musty things, but I must admit I don't go round sniffing the
pots too much.

Tulbaghia upset my wife here every November as I bring all the potted forms
inside our lean-to to get all the late ripening seed and to prepare all the
pots for their winter dormancy period, the house ends up smelling like a
dank garlic store for a few days.

Rather funnily, this summer I hurriedly left their preparation for an RHS
show until the last minute and decided to get the plants looking just right
on the day before the show and in the marque. Within minutes the whole
marque was smelling of garlic, and comments were being passed some 90 feet
away. This year I'll prepare them away from the venue, but when I get there
I'm going to cover them all with a blanket for a couple of hours before the
show opens and so that all the night scented species kick out their more
acceptable perfume as the show opens. 2003 was a great year here and people
were actually coming to my open days just to see the Tulbaghia, now that's a
new one on me, and makes a nice change from we've come to see your
Crocosmia.

The Tulbaghia pages can now be found at
http://www.theafricangarden.com/page42.html as I had to move them to a
different server as there were getting just too many images. I've just
uploaded pics of the true Tulbaghia alliacea Vosa242/9 from a plant
collected at Stellenbosch Botanical Reserve, it's flowering here for the
first time at the moment.

Mark, the most useful pics will be of all the species and because there's a
lot of problems with specie identification, if you want to upload any to the
wikki please do so.

Regarding hybrids there's a lot of breeding work still to be done, and I'm
just begining to see the possibilities here. Potentially the best hybrids
for landscape use will come from cominsii x violacea stock, and there's
quite a lot of scope as well, and due to the numerous forms of violacea that
are available. Tulbaghia are exceptionally easy to cross, and its well worth
having a go, as they are also very easy to raise from seed and flower within
18 months of sowing.

Best Wishes,
Dave

David Fenwick
The African Garden
96 Wasdale Gardens
Estover
Plymouth
Devon
England
PL6 8TW

01752 301402


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