Boophone disticha

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Sat, 08 Apr 2006 12:14:33 PDT
Hi,

I'm growing some of these from seed. I don't know if I'll live longer 
enough to see them bloom. Someone asked awhile ago for long lived bulbs and 
I don't think anyone answered. My understanding from a conversation with 
Cameron and Rhoda in South Africa was that Boophone bulbs can be very long 
lived and get very large. I separated some in a communal pot I think it was 
late last summer. None of them died. It seemed to me that there were going 
to be set back whenever I did it and eventually would need more room so 
doing it when the roots weren't as tangled made sense to me. My still young 
plants haven't ever gone completely dormant. Since this species usually 
grows on a  summer growing cycle, but can grow on a winter cycle depending 
on when it gets rain in the wild,  I'm trying to convince mine that winter 
is when they want to grow so IF it ever stops raining, am going to withhold 
water and see what happens.

I purchased a bulb of Boophone haemanthoides from Telos Rare Bulbs (prices 
much more reasonable than Paul Christian and I know the grower is very 
careful) and it is definitely a winter grower that loses its leaves in 
summer. A couple of weeks ago when Nan asked about Boophone I found I had 
saved an introduction by Rhoda about this genus from another list. It has a 
lot of helpful information so anyone growing this genus who is interested 
in a copy please contact me privately and I will email it.

Mary Sue


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