TOW Albuca

J.E. Shields jshields104@insightbb.com
Fri, 11 Jul 2003 05:01:00 PDT
Hi all,

Besides the Albuca cf. altissima I mentioned earlier, I have plenty of A. 
shawii, blooming now in a large pot and as weeds in a couple of small 
(non-Albuca) pots.  They set seed freely without my intervention, hence the 
odd shawii in the wrong pot occasionally.  A large pot full of shawii in 
bloom is fairly attractive on the patio or deck.

The A. shawii bulbs can tolerate laying around bare on a bench top for a 
month or so and will then start to grow as soon as planted in a pot.  I 
don't see why A. shawii could not be planted outdoors in late spring and 
dug in autumn.  I have not tried to grow it outdoors here, and certainly 
would not try it year round in my climate.

I also have odds and ends of unidentified Albuca/Ornithogalum like things, 
mostly dwarf in stature and none evergreen.  The flowers are white with 
prominent green stripes.  I've not had time to try to run any of their 
identities down yet.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana

At 09:28 PM 7/10/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Dear All,
>
>We've had a lot of Albuca questions for this topic, but not so many 
>answers. Where are our Albuca experts?
>
>Rhoda and Cameron used to sell seeds of Albuca aurea and nelsonii which 
>are evergreen and A. shawii and A. setosa which are summer growing. Albuca 
>shawii was on Julian's list of recommended ones and Ian grows it so 
>perhaps he could take a stab at seeing if it could be grown as Uli 
>suggested (suitable for pot culture or temporary cultivation in the open 
>soil in the garden? Could they be dug up and stored dormant in winter?)
>
>Silverhill Seeds also sells seed of a few summer growing species but some 
>of them I looked up were evergreen A. aurea, A. batteniana (that one looks 
>pretty and they describe it as lovely white flowers but also Zone 9), and 
>A. nelsonii.
>That left these:
>Albuca angolensis  "Green and gold albuca", to 1.3m, flat tapering leaves, 
>sweetly scented bright yellow fl with broad green stripe Sp-Su, med, 
>shade. Sow Sp. Zone 8. This one is pictured in the Eastern Cape field guide.
>Albuca setosa  40cm, leaves produced after fl, white fl with green to 
>greenish brown central stripe on back Sp. Sow Sp. Zone 7.
>
>Or maybe Uli you could talk Ian into some seed since he seems to be 
>growing the species that grow in summer and you both are on the same side 
>of the Atlantic.
>
>Mary Sue
>
>
>
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*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA
Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP


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