What's Blooming Now--TOW
Mary Sue Ittner (Tue, 27 Apr 2004 21:36:31 PDT)

Hi All,

It is so interesting reading about so many different things in bloom in
different areas. I don't even know what some of the plants people listed
are just as some of you probably won't know the ones I grow either. I hope
Jim McKenney as he feels better will add pictures of some of the things he
grows to the wiki so I can see what they look like even if I probably can't
grow them.

My report is from Coastal Northern California. Like Cindi in Seattle we
have had an unusually warm spring with long periods without rain. That
meant that some bulbs did not bloom nearly as long as they usually do
(early tulips for one thing), but what it means now is that a lot of the
things that normally bloom in May and June are already in bud or flower so
I have more blooming right now than I normally would. If temperatures
remain warm the ones starting now may be fleeting as well. There is color
everywhere I look, sometimes a lot of different colors.

I still have South African winter growing bulbs in bloom. In the ground my
Moraeas (Homeria subgroup) are blooming everywhere in shades of yellow,
gold, apricot, and orange. Moraea bellendenii with its tall yellow flowers
and a late blooming M. sisyrinchium that I got from Fausto via my friend
Jana are also in bloom. This clone has darker purple flowers. Moraea
setifolia and cedarmontana are still blooming. Some other one is spiking in
one of my raised beds, possibly M. lurida which is one of the later ones.
Most of my species Babianas are finished, but in the ground are huge swaths
of color from the hybrids. They are very happy this year and have put on
quite a show. The hybrid Ixias in the ground are blooming too. I wish they
didn't fall over, but they are quite striking, white, yellow, magenta with
a darker center. The orange Ixia dubia (syn. I. frederickii) opened today
and I saw color on an Ixia viridiflora and some of the other late blooming
species will be opening soon and that Ixia monadelpha I wrote about earlier
is still blooming. Obviously it is better in a warmer dryer time. Ferraria
crispa norterii has been in bloom a long time.

Tritonias are also in bloom in various shades of orange: T. deusta, T.
securigera, T. crocata, and some labeled mixed colors from Kirstenbosch
seed. Since I started growing T. securigera under shelter with my
Lachenalias it looks a lot better and is really a lovely long blooming
flower. Julian Slade identified the plant from Silverhill seed that didn't
seem to fit Ixia pumillo as T. dubia and that seems to check out. It is
long gone, but I changed it on the wiki and have recently added some
pictures of some of the Tritonias that are blooming now (the mixed colored
ones and a new T. crocata that I got labeled as T. squalida which is orange
so must be T. crocata instead. I also added two pictures Bob took in South
Africa of T. karooica grown by Jim Holmes and Henry Pauw that I wish I
grew. Check it out Jennifer as it is an amazing orange yellow combination.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I have some low growing Watsonias in bloom and some others almost in bloom.
W. coccinea which may be my favorite is looking really nice this year. This
is my first year to have W. laccata in bloom from seed and W. alectroides
always blooms a very long time for me where it is planted in one of my
raised beds. There is also a tall purple hybrid in bloom.

The late blooming Lachenalias have been nice, but not lasting quite as long
as usual with the warmer temperatures. Blooming right now are L. comptonii,
L. contaminata, L. orthropetala, L. liliflora, L. unicolor, L. zeyheri, L.
purpureocaerulea, L. nervosa and L. violacea var. glauca. I've not had much
luck with the latter species before. It smells just like coconut. Also just
starting is L. campanulata, the evergreen one that I grew from seed from
Rhoda and Cameron.

Cyrtanthus brachyscaphus just recently started blooming after I thought
perhaps it needed to be divided since usually it blooms much sooner, but I
have a lot of nice orange flowers in two pots. My Ledebouria cooperii is
just starting to bloom. I need to check this one to see if that is still
what it is called. There only is one bloom this year, but I didn't repot
it. Still I like the leaves.

My Geissorhizas have been in bloom a long time, but are finishing now. G.
radians and monanthos with their amazingly intricate blooms still have a
few flowers and a new unknow sp. from Silverhill seed just started to
bloom. G. bracteata (white with red behind) is always one of the last ones
to flower. My Ornithogalum dubium is still looking quite nice and any day
now I'll have the first bloom on O. conicum. Gladiolus carneus is blooming
and some hybrid dark red one growing in the ground. There are spikes on
many of the late blooming ones, but they will probably bloom while I'm
gone. Aristea ecklonii is now blooming, but what is extremely exciting
given my poor luck with Aristeas no matter how many I keep trying from seed
is that there is a spike on A. bakeri (syn. A. confusa). I ended up with
two plants from that batch of seed and planted them out. One is going to
bloom. I so hope it blooms before I leave, but am not sure it will. There
is also a Tulbaghia in bloom (cominsii x violacea from Dave Fenwick seed.)
And there is one Oxalis obtusa still blooming.

I also have a few South American bulbs in bloom. Gelasine uruguaiensis ssp
orientalis has started blooming this week. It looks like if I dead head it
I may get more blooms than last year. It closes early afternoon so the
flowers are really fleeting. I have two species of Phaedranassa in bloom.
The Pasithea still has a few flowers, but is nearing the end of its bloom.
Leucocoryne vittae is smashing at the moment. I don't seem to have as good
luck getting L. purpurea to bloom every year, but have a couple of flowers
open. A patch of Alstroemeria which is very happy in the ground and slowly
spreading is open as well too. I have a couple of Herbertias blooming. I've
had many from seed labeled different things. I think they might both be H.
lahue.

Australian plants in bloom are Orthrosanthus multiflorus and Arthropodium
strictum. There must be 40 or 50 buds on my Thysanotus patersonii (a Telos
purchase) which is climbing on a wire fence. Usually it gives out before it
blooms, but just maybe this year I'll see those purple flowers. Or maybe
they will shrivel in the heat.

My California native plants that generally bloom this time of the year have
been joined by some that bloom later. I have Sisyrinchium bellum and S.
californicum in bloom. The latter is interesting since I haven't seen it
for years, as generally it likes wet places (not likely in my garden in
summer), but there must have been some seed around that germinated this
year. Iris douglasiana and I. innominata (a lovely yellow one) are blooming
along with a few of my Pacific Coast hybrids. Dichelostemma capitatum,
ida-maia, and multiflorum are in bloom and Triteleia laxa, hyacinthina,
ixioides, hendersonii, bridgesii and the last of the T. lilacina. Even T.
ixioides ssp. anilina shows color. It is a mountain species and always the
last to come up and to bloom. Like Jane I grow quite a lot of different
forms of T. laxa so have them in various stages.

Brodiaea jolonensis has just started and there are good sized buds on B.
californica which is usually summer flowering. Odontostomun hartwegii which
most people aren't too excited about is blooming too. Allium crispum, A.
uniflorum, and A. peninsulare are blooming and A. haematochiton is still
blooming. It blooms for months and months. A lot of other native Alliums
will bloom soon. I still have some of the earlier Calochortus in bloom (C.
uniflorus, albus, amoenus, monophyllus, tolmieii), but much earlier than
usual I have Mariposas blooming: C. venustus and catalinae, and also C.
splendens. And C. amabilis opened today. I added some new pictures to the
wiki of Calochortus venustus and C. amoenus.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Growing in the shade of a Coast Redwood, my Clintonia andrewsiana has a lot
of blooms this year and Lilium martimum is really far along for this time
of the year, but not quite open. My Zigadenus fremontii is starting to
bloom too.

The warm weather is slowing down my Delphiniums, but I've really enjoyed
them as usual this year. I have been working on my Delphinium wiki page and
have a couple still to add, but most of the ones I grow are now pictured.
This year was the first year for D. decorum which is really gorgeous with
shiny leaves and blue flowers with purple tints. It is very short without
as many flowers as D. hesperium which is such a great plant. Also blooming
right now is D. parryi that Harold Koopowitz gave me seed of. It has a tall
spike with a lot of flowers on it and is also a really pretty color. I am
realizing how much they hybridize as I have some very strange looking ones
now. I now have the different species located in different parts of my
garden. I worry what some of you might get from the BX seed I donated in
the past. I've photographed a dark red D. nudicaule I grew from seed of one
I discovered in a local orange red wild population. I didn't see any other
species in bloom in that area so am not sure how it got that color, but
some of them were the same color from that seed. There is one that is
orange and yellow that is probably a cross between luteum and nudicaule.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I still have Cyclamen in bloom and a few Muscaris and my first bulbous
Corydalis (solida alba) from seed. My Bletilla is in bloom too and that
Oxalis that reseeds a lot (O. carnosa).

In my garden there are lots of shrubs, annuals, and perennials in bloom
too, but I'll save listing all of them as this post is already much too long.

Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers