Wiki Additions-Babiana, Hesperantha, Ixia
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:38:51 PST)

Hi,

When Joe wrote about Babiana ringens and I looked at Sheila Burrow's
pictures on the wiki I realized I had never added the habitat pictures we
had taken when we were in South Africa in 2006. We saw at least four
Babiana species in the Western Cape on a trip to Darling and it looks like
I didn't add any of them. I added two of them over the weekend, B. ringens
and Babiana rubrocyanea. I've tried to grow Babiana ringens more than once
without luck. We were thrilled to see it, but alas without any birds on the
perch. As you can see from the pictures it is growing in sand. B.
rubrocyanea I've had more success growing. The flowers of the latter are so
similar to some of the Geissorhiza species that grow in the same area that
you know they must share the same pollinators. You can access the new
pictures from the link below.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Hesperantha humilis has been blooming lately. It blooms for me in January
with the flowers opening on the days that the temperatures are warm enough.
I'm very fond of it, especially since it is one of the early bloomers. I
added some more pictures of it to the wiki, including one taken of the
back, a picture of the corms, and a habitat picture from Cameron McMaster
taken in one of the colder areas of winter rainfall parts of South Africa,
Sutherland.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

I also added some of Cameron McMaster's habitat pictures of Ixia trifolia
growing in the Komsberg.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers