Here in the Bay Area, some interesting bulbs have come and gone. This year had been a fantastic year for Dierama. They bloomed prolifically and have already set seeds by this time. Species of Eucomis such as E. pole-evansii, E. autumnalis, and E. vandermerwei have just finished. Various summer-blooming Mediterranean Allium species are mid-way through. My Kniphofia thomsonii is sending up a third spike after being in the ground for only one year. And last but not least, my Ismene hybrids have just finished. As the summer wanes, autumn blooming bulbs appeared. This year is an early year, as many of you may have noticed. Haemanthus coccineus made a great appearance this year in both the UC Botanical Garden (UCBG) and the Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco. Amaryllis belladonna has finished blooming, but hybrids of the species continues on. Two giant specimens of Brunsvigia josephinae are in full bloom at the UCBG. Also currently in bloom at the UCBG are Nerine bowdenii, Brunsvigia sp., Acis trichophyllum, Cochicum autumnale, Pancratium maritimum, Habranthus tubispathus, Eriospermum sp., Cyclamen africanum, Cypella herbertii, and Oxalis articulata. I invite everyone to see the photos I have posted on my Flickr site of plants at the UCBG. http://flickr.com/photos/xerantheum/…. Many of these photos had also been posted on the wiki. Cheers to another wonderful geophytic season! Nhu On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 1:41 PM, Ken <kjblack@pacbell.net> wrote: > I just noticed yesterday, I have ONE Haemanthus coccineus flower just > beginning to push its way up through the bone dry soil. This is a winter > grower/fall bloomer for me. I decided to give it a drink in response to its > effort to bloom ... not sure if that is recommended or not. Last year's > bloom was not too impressive ... will hope for better in the next week,and > if so, post a link to a snapshot. I'm sure there must be other H. coccineus > coming up in CA ... there used to be a beautiful clump at Strybing/SF > Arboretum. > > I usually have Drimia (Urginea) maritima blooming now ... but so far, I > only had a few small spikes shoot up in July, which I previously thought > unworthy of mention. Also, waiting for my Sternbergia lutea too. > >