What's growing, flowering, survived!!!

Fred Biasella fbiasella@watertownsavings.com
Fri, 08 Sep 2006 11:39:17 PDT
Hello All,

 

I was extremely surprised and happy to see Rhodophiala Bifida (from a
previous PBX) flowering in my garden this morning. I planted it last fall,
mulched it for the winter and hoped for the best. I also planted two Eucomis
(locally available clones) last fall and they also flowered…with a
vengeance. I had them in pots for a few years and over wintered them in the
basement totally dry. After a discussion on the PBS last year, I decided to
plant them and see if they would come back…boy did they ever…they never
looked better. They seem to like being planted in the ground rather than in
pots even in my cold climate. Last summer I also planted two large bulbs of
Hippeastrum Johnsonii (from E-Bay – grower in Texas) and not only did it
flower nicely but the leaves are huge (about 2 ½ feet long!!!). I have two
Nerine Sarniensis hybrids (from Odyssey Bulbs) that survived the winter and
is now putting out strong leaf growth. The bulbs were rather small so I
think it may be a few years before they flower. There are three clumps of
Nerine Bowdenii that seem to be offsetting quite nicely and one of the
clumps have been around for many years (+15 years). Hopefully I’ll get a few
blooms this year before the frost lulls them to sleep. I planted three
Amaryllis Belladonna bulbs (also locally available clones) in the spring of
2005 in the sunniest possible spot of my garden. They actually made through
the winter to my wonderful surprise. This spring they put out very strong
leaf growth and as expected, the leaves died down in early summer but no
flowers (sigh). These were dormant dry (stressed out) bulbs so it may take
some time before they acclimatize and hopefully flower. Time will tell and
I’ll keep y’all posted.

 

Warm Regards,

Fred Biasella

Cambridge (Boston) MA 

USDA Zone 6b           


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