Favorite Orange Flowered Bulbs--TOW

The topic for this week is continuing our journey through the color
spectrum of favorite flowers to orange. Once again I suggest, but it isn't
mandatory, that people pick five favorites that they can grow successfully.
So it will be helpful for readers if posters have details about where they
garden in the body of their message or signature. Also I realize that there
may be some disagreement about what should be included in orange versus red
since there are some flowers that are probably in between these two colors
just as there were a couple of yellow votes some might have called orange.
I don't think we need to quibble about this. Something could make more than
one color list if the person who nominates it wants it to be considered
that color.

I am finding it extremely difficult to narrow down my choices to five
however. I suggested to my husband that he could nominate some of those
that almost made my list and he said that would be cheating. There are a
number of South African Irids I love with orange flowers, but many of them
don't bloom very long so the ones I am selecting last a bit longer. Here
goes but not in any particular order of preference:

1. Lachenalia aloides var. aurea--This one from wild collected seed near
Paarl doesn't have yellow flowers. They are orange and very striking and
the leaves have spots on them and are nice too.
2. Oxalis massoniana--I have a couple of Oxalis obtusa types with nice
orange flowers I like, but this species blooms in the fall when it is more
welcome since it doesn't have as much competition, has interesting leaves,
and can cover a pot with gorgeous blooms.
3. Homeria hybrids--I know these are Moraeas now but this is a way of
distinguishing them from the other subgroups. In my garden I have wonderful
orange Homerias that have hybridized and bloom for a very long time in spring.
4. Ornithogalum dubium--When it blooms, it has the most gorgeous flowers
and it stay in bloom for ages and ages. Paul Tyerman and I have complained
about how the bulbs often choose to stay under ground. Last year I bought
three different kinds and they bloomed nicely but are sitting out this
year. My pot of 4 that I've been growing for a number of years usually has
one that comes up, sometimes two. This year something bizarre has happened.
It looked like only one was going to make it up, but now it looks like it
has divided or something. There are 9 flowering stalks coming from this one
bulb. Probably it will bloom its heart out and that will be it. I've never
had more than one stalk before.
5. Sandersonia aurantiaca--A number of years ago Dirk Wallace gave a whole
lot of these to the IBS BX. I looked it up and decided I probably couldn't
grow it, but when Dell wrote the second time asking didn't anyone want it
as he still had some left I decided to give it a try. I think anyone could
grow this and treat it like a house plant. I have two pots each year and
start one several months after the other so I'll have a longer season. I
just love those orange bells.

Just one honorable mention please. I feel very disloyal picking only South
Africans. Last year for the first time I had Lilium pitkinense bloom for
the first time. It is a rare Lilium from Sonoma County California and I
thought it was really beautiful. Some people say it may be rolled into
Lilium pardalinum and if so then I could include that one at the same time
since it was another that almost made my list.

I hope we hear from a lot of you.

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