Hello Mary Sue, It sounds like your climate is very similar to mine! (except I'm in the southern hemisphere) do you get snow/frost?. I don't (maybe 1 frost a year). But in Albany it is always drizzly rain. But sunny today, sometimes misty in winter - we are heading into winter now. I have some seeds of hosta ventricosa and mirabilis jalapa ( marvel of peru) to give away. I will send via PBS, if ok to send to the USA, also some bulbs of hippeastrum. Watsonias are a noxious weed here! Angela Albany in Western Australia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Sue Ittner" <msittner@mcn.org> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 10:31 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] What Else is Blooming.... > Hi all, > > Here in Northern California it finally stopped raining. It's looking like > this may be it until next fall. When I am out hiking or even driving there > are so many hillsides that are naked from the slides and you pass sections > of the road where there was room for the highway department to deposit all > the soil that came down onto the road that are piled high with dirt. After > some much welcome sunshine we are now into our coastal pattern of morning > fog. I was amused to see the weather channel on television describe San > Francisco as one of the sunniest cities in the United States. I would have > loved to know how they measured this. Perhaps it was days with sunshine? So > if even a few minutes in a day the sun is out, it counts? > > A lot of my bulbs from South Africa did not appreciate the excessive > continuous rain we had this year, but now that it has stopped my garden is > a blaze of color as those late blooming species are putting on a show and > my native bulbs are starting. This is the time of year that I have masses > of Homerias, Ixias, Babianas, and also some Tritonias in bloom. I keep > digging out Babianas to share and you can't tell it from looking at any of > those spots where there are hundreds of flowers and solid color. A couple > of years ago I dug Babianas and cleaned them off and sent them to the BX. > They were not all claimed and Dell had them left over for the sale. I'm not > sure why they were so unpopular, but it makes me reluctant to sort any I > divide again since it was so much work. I guess they just don't grow for > many of you in different climates. Some of the later blooming > species/hybrids do so well in the ground here. I have some that are planted > next to Camissonia ovata (which I have been tempted to add to a wiki page > since it behaves like a geophyte dying back in our dry summer). It is a > short plant with bright yellow flowers so looks really pretty with the > purple Babianas. Moraea bellendenii must have liked all that rain because > it is blooming everywhere this year. Some years I hardly see it. And even > Scilla peruviana (Oncostema peruviana) has been blooming. It often skips a > year or two here too even with a dry period in summer. I have some orange > Homerias growing alongside a Felicia that I grew from seed and the orange > and purple combination is also very pleasing. My Iris douglasiana is > blooming all over my garden and some of the Pacific Coast hybrids are > blooming too and some Sparaxis. Where all these things come together in one > spot it is quite inspiring even if a bit wild. I tried for a couple of > years to dig out all the Sparaxis I could find after learning some of them > were virused, but it seems like a lost cause as they keep coming back. I > have some amazing colorful hybrids. And there are a few of the late > blooming Lachenalias that have pretty flowers although their leaves are a > bit weather stressed. Some of the later Gladiolus species are spiking and > Watsonias are blooming too. I have some planted next to one of my South > African Ericas that is blooming at the moment and the combination is very > appealing. Jane's Anemone palmata is still blooming. What a treasure. My > Delphiniums have been blooming for months. I have found a number that > return planted in the ground, but some only survive in containers. The > snails, slugs, and birds decimate some of the species, but other species > survive. So far D. nudicaule, D. luteum, D. hesperium, D. hansenii, and D. > patens are returning in the ground. > > I put a large pot of Erythronium californicum in another pot in the ground > and it has been gorgeous this year. The wild populations were a site to > behold. > > My Calochortus are looking a bit sad although the C. uniflorus have had a > good run and finally starting late C. umbellatus as well. I have spikes on > some of the Mariposas, but they definitely did not respond well to months > of almost daily rain. I think I should just give up on most of those > species from dry climates. On the other hand my Dichelostemma capitatum is > much better than usual and D. multiflorum is just starting and D. ida-maia > has a lot of buds. D. volubile that I grew from seed years ago and also got > from the BX has never bloomed so there must be something about my > conditions it doesn't like. I have a lot of Triteleias in bloom and they > were unfazed by our weather. (T. ixioides, T. bridgesii, T. laxa, T. > montana, T. lilacina, T. dudleyi). There is one population of T. laxa from > Ron Ratko seed that I am wondering if it could be a hybrid with T. > bridgesii. The stamens are attached at two levels, but the flowers have a > translucent shiny throat. I had to recheck my key and it doesn't quite fit > either one. The Brodiaeas are budding. Allium hyalinum has been blooming > since December, but most of my other native Alliums are just starting. I'm > sure there's more I have forgotten, but these are the ones that spring to > mind. > > With flowering shrubs in bloom too, progress in the garden is slow. I just > want to take it all in and also take more photographs even if I already > have some from previous years. > > Mary Sue > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php