Colchicum Are Starting
J.E. Shields (Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:54:43 PDT)

Hi all,

My colchicums are starting to bloom, so summer is pretty much over
here. The first up were a few of 'The Giant' by one of the greenhouses,
then scattered clumps of C. cilicium and C. byzantinum started to pop
up. The last to bloom will probably be the C. speciosum naturalized in the
front lawn.

The Lycoris caldwellii are still in bloom, and they are the very last of
my Lycoris to bloom. L. 'Sky Over Sky' is also in bloom, and looks much
like the caldwellii. Jim Waddick, do you have any idea what the parent of
'Sky Over Sky' might have been?

I think next summer I will have to separate the clump of 'Sky Over
Sky' and some of the caldwellii clumps and line them out. They are too
nice to keep all to myself.

A couple weeks ago, I got my first bloom on Brunsvigia litoralis. I
planted the seeds, received from Sliverhill Seeds, in 1999. Only one other
bulb from that batch survives, and it has not bloomed yet. B. litoralis is
not the most impressive flower I ever saw! A picture will be in my
re-activated blog at

http://shieldsgardens.com/Blogs/Garden/…

if anyone is interested. The entry should be posted by this evening.

My only bulb of Haemanthus dasyphyllus is trying to bloom, but I'm afraid
the scape will not elongate out of the bulb. One of my Haemanthus
[barkerae X coccineus] also had a failed first bloom attempt this
season. That particular clone looks promising in any case, as it is much
larger than its siblings.

Jim Shields
in Westfield, 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