What's in Bloom in Pots
Matt Mattus (Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:54:11 PDT)

It's been hot here in New England too, and I keep many of my potted bulbs on
a gravel walk which receives full sun from early in the morning, until 4:00
in the afternoon when the house shades it.

First, I have dilemma, I can't identify a Nerine species which is finally
going to bloom: It is here: (The grassy foliage image) I thought at first
that it was N. masoniorum, but now not sure. The flowers are just opening,
and they are about 1" in dia.

http://flickr.com/photos/exploraculture/…

Also, I need to post image of a mystery bulb too either a Phaedranassa or
Stenomesson ( lots of foliage, but not sure what I have - another lost tag),
but I know that it is one or the other.

In bloom now in pots is a Nerine falcata, , two young Agapanthus inapertus,
which I believe were tissue cultured ; one the true species A. inapertus ssp
inapertus, and one named cross. These are the first buds ever, and I was
surprised to see them come in the fall, is this normal? Both plants are
immature.

My Nerine sariniensis are still under glass, and not showing buds just yet.
I may put some out to get rain from the Hurricane this weekend.

A few Cyclamen graecum and C. hederifolium are in bloom already, so I moved
the pots outside. The rest of the collection is still dormant on a sand bed
in the greenhouse.

I repotted two very large Brunsvigia josephinae and a very large B.
bosmaniae into upgraded pots this weekend, the bulbs are so large that I
felt that they needed 30 inch pots. For soil, I used garden clay and gravel,
which I did not sterilize, mixed with large perlite and 50% sand ( just
experimenting, and garden loam which was sterilized is what I normally use,
with sand). The large pots were moved onto the gravel bed to see if the heat
and expected rain and cool weather might help bring them into bloom. I
topped off each pot with 4 inches of large granite gravel, and the bulb
noses are exposed. Yes, I will break my back come October, but I really want
these to bloom.

Lastly, a pot of Allium callimischon which I rather stupidly thought had
dried stems from last spring, are now starting to show flowers from the
dried stems. After seeing John Lonsdale's photos on the PBS Wiki, I now feel
silly, since I read that this species forms these flowering stems just
before going into dormancy, and then they bloom in the autumn. I just don't
remember them two years ago when this pot bloomed. I think this is
fascinating, and now I want to fill the pot with bulbs, to achieve a more
attractive display.

Matt Mattus
Worcester, MA
USA
Zone 5
http://www.growingwithplants.com/

On 8/31/10 12:39 PM, "J.E. Shields" <jshields104@comcast.net> wrote: