Recent Images on the Wiki #9
Mary Sue Ittner (Fri, 09 Apr 2004 07:53:07 PDT)

Dear All,

Some weeks ago I added a picture of Gladiolus gracilis to the South African
Gladiolus page. This bloomed in March. Gladiolus caeruleus often blooms for
me in January or occasionally February and almost always when it is raining
so it is a gamble every year. The flowers on G. gracilis are smaller, but
it the ones I have bloom later, it may work better for me. More recently I
have added a picture of Gladiolus caryophyllaceus which has naturalized in
Western Australia, but hasn't increased at all for me. I tried to
photograph where it is blooming in a raised bed, but couldn't get it in
focus until I placed something solid behind it. Blooming for me this year
for the first time from seed was Gladiolus quadrangularis. I had this once
before from purchased bulbs, but they never bloomed again after the first
year. The flowers from before were orange and this species is described as
orange to red. Mine grown from seed were yellow and kind of a light
apricot-orange. The shape seems right, but not the color. Perhaps they are
hybrids.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Another genus page I have added several pictures to is Hesperantha. I added
a picture of a sp. that has troubled me for a number of years since it came
as Geissorhiza seed. I went through the whole Geissorhiza monograph and
couldn't figure it out. After my lesson from Rhoda about telling
Geissorhiza and Hesperantha apart, I am now sure it is a Hesperantha. I
finally threw out the corms (I thought) since it has small flowers that
only open very late in the day (if it is warm enough) and close shortly
afterwards. As I was repotting this year I came across a lot of
unidentified corms (that looked like Geissorhizas.) Not wanting to throw
out something that could be special I potted them up. Most didn't come up,
but the ones that did appear to be the Hesperantha I thought was gone. I
plan to toss it again unless someone writes me privately and wants them.

Two other Hesperanthas blooming right now that are more exciting are H.
pauciflora and H. pilosa. I saw H. pauciflora in mass in South Africa in a
wet year which was very impressive. Some day I'll dig out that slide and
scan it. I just have the single flower in bloom making its name seem more
appropriate, but this has opened every day for almost a week and is very
pretty. Blooming for the first time from seed this year was H. pilosa. I
know a lot of these pink Hesperanthas look alike, but this one looked
different on the back. It also is a day time bloomer.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Mary Sue

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