Veltheimia TOW
Bonsaigai37@aol.com (Mon, 26 Jan 2004 17:25:02 PST)

Hurray!

Finally!!! we get to Veltheimia. Can you quess it's one of my favorites? In
addition to Hippeastrum, Veltheimia are definitely on the "must" list... must
have, must grow, and so wonderful everyone must know about them... I happen
to enjoy other members of Hyacinthaceae too; Ledebouria, Bowiea, etc.... but
this is about Veltheimia. Yes?

One of the finest plants, I agree with Hardman, if only the leaves grew, it
would still be an asset to indoor horticulture. BUT IT BLOOMS. This is one of
the few easy plants to grow and provides satisfying flowers at a tiem of year
we all need color in our lives. I spoke with a grower a few years back and
he said it was never going to be a good cut flower because the public wants
vibrant color. With the recent crosses, and deeper color saturation, I believe
that soon this plant could easily enter the cut flower market with new life.

Easily grown from seed, this geophyte can bloom within three years from
sowing. I had to stop myself from wholesale propagation due to lack of space.
Having nearly 100 plants of Veltheimia alone, one must (there's that word again)
control one's self... Yeah whatever... I've never been good at self control
when it comes to plants.

While I have yet to see a good yellow - primrose yellow, without green... the
color range is lovely. From a soft apple blossom pink to deep, dusky rose
red, the single species alone provide great variation. (As we can see, a single
species of Galanthus can cause quite a stir...)

As the TOW intro suggested, provided with ample drainage, this plant grows
and blooms with alacrity. If only they all were so agreeable to cultivation...

In praise of Veltheimia,
Michael Loos
Honest Earth Consultation
in Cleveland... where it's an "all skate"