Ferraria--PBS TOW
J.E. Shields (Tue, 21 Dec 2004 10:23:29 PST)

Hi all,

I have a few Ferraria in my greenhouse. We take it for granted that as
winter-growing African bulbs, they would never be able to grow outdoors in
our climate.

The only one that has bloomed so far is one accession of Ferraria
crispa. A picture of this one is on my web site
at: http://shieldsgardens.com/GLOVBulbs/… The
original bulbs came from the IBS BX, donated by Telos Rare Bulbs in October
1999.

We have seed-grown bulbs in abundance of the supposedly all-yellow flowered
form of F. crispa, but they have never bloomed so far. These seeds came
from the NARGS seed exchange in 1999. I repotted them this Fall in hope
that a few of them might try to flower. It is still too early in the
season to expect to see flowers anyway, of course, so there is still that
hope.....

The F. uncinata we have probably came from Mary Sue in July 1998. They
increased slowly but have never flowered. Maybe I should repot them? Do
they like to be crowded or to have plenty of root space?

All the Ferraria we have had tend to produce huge numbers of offsets. I am
not at all sure they are worth the greenhouse bench space they occupy. If
anyone can suggest how to get them to stop offsetting so much and instead
to bloom, I might reconsider.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in wintry central Indiana

*************************************************
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