New pictures on the wiki-Kniphofia and Tritonia
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 13 Sep 2004 09:30:39 PDT)

Dear All,

It's funny that Rogan would write about the plants he can't grow when I
just added a couple of pictures of plants to the wiki that have species
close to where he lives.

Kniphofia is really wide spread in Africa and many people grow it in
coastal California and it has naturalized in a number of spots. I've never
been very successful in my attempts to grow it and suspect the ones I've
tried just needed more summer water than I gave them. I've never tried any
of the winter rainfall species. The pictures I added to the wiki are
hybrids, one growing in the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens and another
in one of my favorite private local gardens where it really is a dramatic
beautiful accent plant.

I came across a couple of slides of a winter rainfall species (when I was
looking for Pelargonium pictures) we saw the first day we were in South
Africa in August 2001 in a very wet year, K. sarmentosa. I added pictures
of it as well. There is room for lots more Kniphofia pictures to be added
to this wiki page if we have Kniphofia growers out there.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Blooming right now in my garden is Tritonia disticha, which is from the
Eastern Cape into KwaZulu-Natal I think. It is taller with smaller flowers
than the winter rainfall species I grow. I think it would probably be
happier in a garden with year round rainfall. It's dormant in winter and I
have no idea how hardy it might be. The picture I added we took earlier
this summer, also in the Mendocino Gardens. They water the perennial garden
regularly this time of the year and the Tritonia was a nice contrast to the
Agapanthus behind it. Most of the pictures with the digital camera did not
focus on the flowers, but we got one that worked.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Rogan, do you grow this Tritonia? I know there are two subspecies, but I
don't know how they are different.

Mary Sue