Recent Images on the Wiki #8 and a report
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 08 Apr 2004 07:48:30 PDT)

Dear All,

I don't believe I ever announced when I created the Cyanella page. I added
pictures to it of Cyanellas we photographed while in South Africa. Several
images were of that yellow Cyanella alba that I'd love to grow, but never
seems available anywhere, not even seed. These were photos of plants in
pots grown by IBSA members. Rachel has told me they never find seed of it
in the wild in the Biedouw Valley, a very dry area where it comes from.

Another picture was of an attractive Cyanella we saw at the Karoo gardens.
Julian Slade helped me identify it. Finally I added a picture of Cyanella
lutea we saw in the Little Karoo where it would get very little rain. In my
report to the group I wrote about our trip I said this:

"Seeing the Cyanella lutea it struck me that it was no wonder if wasn't
really very happy in an area where we often get 60 inches of rain during
our winter rainy season. The fact that I had one in a raised bed subjected
to the elements that bloomed for three years before it disappeared was more
surprising than the fact it disappeared."

When I redid the bed it was last seen in I saved some of the bulbs I wasn't
sure of and this year guess what has come up and is blooming in one of the
mystery bulbs containers? Perhaps it has been happier in this dryer year?
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Most of my Oxalis obtusa that was blooming well went dormant when we had
our heat spell. The only ones that didn't were located in cool spots were
they got less direct sunshine. But before it went dormant I photographed
another Oxalis obtusa Michael Vassar accession, 7087. It is a really nice
one and I added it to the wiki even though we have quite a lot of other
Oxalis obtusa pictures.

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

How you grow many of the Oxalis really determines how they look. I know
that is no doubt true for all we grow, but the form of the obtusas can be
so different. When I redid my raised beds I tried a couple of Oxalis in the
beds since I was then planting in containers and could contain them and
wanted to experimant. The Oxalis luteola did great. This same accession of
Oxalis obtusa (7087) planted in the raised beds was slow to emerge and then
the plants remained mat like, a much better form. They didn't bloom very
long however and the heat spell we had prevents me from being sure whether
it was the weather or the way they were planted. Michael Vassar preached
little organic matter and no fertilizer to keep the leaves low and
contained. But my informal experience has been that I get longer blooming
on my Oxalis plants when I fertilize them a little.

Mary Sue