Haemanthus

I'm glad to hear Mary Sue can grow Haemanthus now. I grow several species
here in Indiana, but my results are nothing beside what Doug can do in Long
Beach, California.

I grow both sorts of Haemanthus, the winter-growing species like barkerae,
coccineus, crispus, lanceifolius, namaquensis, all in our greenhouse
year-round; and we also grow some summer-growing species, including
albiflos, humilis humilis, humilis hirsutus, montanus, and pauculifolius
(spell?), all of which spend the winters inside the greenhouse but the
summer outdoors.

We have been getting mixed results. H. coccineus is very easy to grow
under our conditions, and tolerates the dry heat in the summer greenhouse
(up to 120 F) seemingly without trouble. My bulbs of this species run
around 9 years old and have gradually gotten fairly large. Their leaves
generally do not reach 12 inches by 9 inches, however. Repotting from
their present 1-gal. pots into 2-gal. pots might get them there, one
day. As they grow, they can use larger pots. They are very good
bloomers, flowering somewhere from late July to early October, depending on
the weather outside the greenhouse. Once they start to flower, they seem
quite reliable in following years.

H. barkerae do well in the greenhouse too, and we are getting good bloom
from them in late summer to early autumn. H. crispus seem to be growing
well, and I got one or two to bloom last year. H. lanceifolius has not so
far bloomed for me, nor have the H. namaquensis.

The H. montanus bloomed about a month ago, and those that have not died in
past seasons now seem happy enough here. H. humilis humilis is also
starting to bloom just now, but only two out of a couple dozen bulbs are
flowering. H. humilis hirsutus is problematic, many large bulbs and even
more small seedling bulbs having perished here over the years. I have had
this subspecies bloom here just twice, but I keep trying, begging my
friends for more seeds and more mature bulbs! Some of us have a hard time
learning from experience, I guess.

I got hybrid seeds from [hirsutus X coccineus] the second time it bloomed,
and I want to someday try to make [hirsutus X montanus]. I saved a little
of the montanus pollen, and I want to try making the cross [coccineus X
montanus] later this season when the coccineus bloom again.

Haemanthus species that have not done well here include nortieri, which is
quite a rarity; I have one bulb hanging on, but....... H. amarylloides
grows very slowly for me, and the seedlings just keep disappearing, a
couple each year. I'm also growing a couple subspecies of H. pubescens,
which are surviving but do not, so far, seem to increase in size; they
haven't flowered for me. H. sanguineus seems impossible for me to
grow. 9-year old seedling bulbs (the few I still have left) are barely 1/2
inch in diameter; sanguineus seems another lost cause here.

So welcome to the Haemanthus club, Mary Sue, and may you enjoy ever more
Haemanthus bulbs and flowers!

Jim Shields
in central Indiana (USA)

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA