Gethyllis--TOW

Robert Hamilton roberth6@mac.com
Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:39:47 PDT
Hi  Mary Sue and  others,

I  too  am  fascinated by this  Genus and although my  experience  is 
limited  to a  few  seedlings  for  a  short  time I  want to  share 
this  experience.  When  referring to  months please remember I am a  
southern hemisphere  grower.

I  obtained  seeds of  three  species  from  Silverhillseeds  in June  
2002 -  they  were  Gethyllis sp Namaqualand,  verticillata (?)  and 
villosa   and  all  germinated within a  month or  so  and  grew on 
until  late  spring.

The Namaqualand  species  and  villosa  returned in June  2003 . They  
continued  to  grow through  summer  where  I  was growing them  under  
cover  after  reading Gordon Summerfield's  advise.  My  dry area  is  
covered  with   shaded  Laserlight    and  much  to my  surprise these 
seedlings  stayed  green through  summer  and  autumn until  May  2004  
when they  withered  as  new  3rd  season leaves  appeared. The  3rd  
leaves  have  started  to  take on some  mature  characteristics with  
sp Namaqualand  forming a  spiral  and  villosa  covering iutself  with 
fine  hairs although not  yet  twisting  as I  have  seen in some 
images. I  watered them  from below about once  monthly  during this  
time.

The  Gethyllis verticillata (?)  reappeared   in  early  winter  2004  
after a  rest  of  18 months which  was a  really pleasant  surprise.  
So  far  just  2  seedlings  with  straight  bright  green leaves.

I  now  grow  my Gethyllis  under  permanent  cover  watering  from  
below.

Cheers,

Rob

Dr R F Hamilton
7 Beach Road
Snug  7054
Tasmania
Australia
Temperate Marine  Climate
USDA Zone 9 equivalent


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