Favorite Red Flowered Bulbs--TOW

Paul Tyerman ptyerman@ozemail.com.au
Sat, 19 Jun 2004 04:29:45 PDT
Howdy All,

A quick note on favourite red flowering bulbs......

One of my favourites would have to be some of the smaller varieties of
Cyclamen persicum.  I have a "miniature" (well compared to the florist
varieties it is anyway) red cyclamen in a pot on my back landing and it is
absolutely amazing when in full flower.  Thinking about red flowering bulbs
it is the very first thing that springs to mind, so it must have had an
impact on me <grin>.

Tulipa 'Queen of Sheba' is the most amazingly bright red/orange colour.  It
positively glows and you just plain cannot miss it when it is in flower.
Also worth mentioning is Tulipa 'Red Riding Hood' which is one of the
smaller rock garden varieties which has lovely red flowers with wonderful
dark red markings on the leaves as well, giving interest for so much longer
than just the flower.  The combination of the glowing red flower and the
marked leaves is definitely very eye-catching.

Cyrtanthus elatus (vallota lily) is beautiful when it flowers (which is
rarely).  I received from a friend last year a bulb of her plant which
seems to flower prolifically so here's hoping it does so for me as well.
The largest of the 3 bulbs she gave me (which was by no means full size
either) flowered for me this year already despite only being in for a
season, so it bodes well for it actually being a "clone" that might flower
a little more than the others I grow which have flowered for me once or
twice in the around 10 years I have had them. <sigh!>

For sheer impact I can't go past a glowing red Hippeastrum hybrid either.
Once that immediately springs to mind is Hippeastrum 'Cocktail' which is a
wonderfully bright red with a solid white centre.  VERY striking when in
flower, although a little too attractive to the darn snails for the flowers
to be perfect!! LOL

Lycoris radiata is stunning when in bloom.  Unfortunately it is a very rare
time that it actually bothers to flower for me these days.  It used to
flower regularly (and well) for me but stopped a few years ago.  Last
season I moved bits of the clump to various other parts of the garden to
try to emulate the conditions that that garden used to have before more
plants were added.  One flower resulted this year, but I'm hoping there'll
be a few more in coming years once the bulbs settle in to their new homes.
When in flower the head is just so intricate and such a lovely red.

I could go on about more red flowers that I grow (Nerines, Calostemma which
i love, etc) but I'll leave it at that.  One red flower I hope to add to my
collection one of these years is Fritillaria recurva as it looks so
striking in the pictures.  I was sent seed a few years ago by a wonderful
person but this year apparently the pot was empty when I checked it, but I
kept the soil in the pot and will leave it just in case there is a bulb in
there that I missed.  Here's hoping!!

Great to hear from other people about their favourite red flowers.  Keep
them coming!!

Cheers.

Paul Tyerman
Canberra, Australia.  USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9

Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus,
Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about
anything else that doesn't move!!!!!


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