Hi Jim W. et al., My bulbispermum growing next to the greenhouse wall have had volunteers seedlings come up and bloom right up against the wall. They are definitely getting heat through the greenhouse wall (concrete block) in winter. Tony Avent is making the selection from a batch of seedlings or seeds of [variabile x bulbispermum] that I sent him some years back. We'll see what he selects when they get into his catalog. He sent me a couple pictures that I really liked! Variabile opens pale pink but darkens quickly to have broad red band on the tepals. The umbel in full bloom has both pale pink and deep red coloration, for a really nice bicolor effect from a distance. Variabile blooms in August-October, long after bulbispermum has usually finished flowering. If I can get organized in September, I'll pollinate my Crinum variabile plants and send some seed to the PBS BX. (That is still a sizeable "if.") I think that variabile is actually hardier to cold than bulbispermum or x-powellii. Pictures of Crinum variabile at: http://shieldsgardens.com/amaryllids/Crinum.html/ but the flower pictured is not the reddest of my plants. C. variabile is a lower-growing plant than bulbispermum, so I don't expect the [variabile x bulbispermum] plants to get as big as bulbispermum can. To cross variabile with bulbispermum, you'll have to store the pollen of one of the parents till the other one blooms. See: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/info/Pollen.html Jim Shields At 09:17 AM 6/5/2010 -0500, you wrote: >Dear All, > David and Jim S make two good points. > > Planting depth - My comments about hardy Crinum refer JUST >to these two major types - x powellii and bulbispermum. The genus is >large and has an array of cultivation needs. I have seen plenty of >tropical Crinums grow with their bulbs fully exposed on the ground, >but these do not grow in MO or other cold climates. > > Jim S. emphasized my point that young (small) bulbispermum >seedlings do not do survive winter without protection. Give them two >winters care and then plant out. I start mine in 4-6 inch community >pots and gradually advance to single plants in deep pots about 5 in >across and up to one foot deep. These are wintered in a frost free >greenhouse. > > In the garden C. bulbispermum produces copious seed, but I >cannot recall ever seeing a self sown seedling. The winter simply >kills them off. > > Now a Q for Jim S. Since I've never tried any of these >bulbispermum x varaible or straight variable, can you name a few you >like best? I could be tempted ( pictures?) and there's always more >room to squeeze in a 6 foot plant !! Yikes, what am I thinking? > > But to emphasize - plant deep, give them summer heat and sun, >protect young plants. > > Enjoy Jim W. > > > >ps I just look at the PBS wiki and there's no picture of C. variable >in flower and no note about hardiness. > > >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… > > We need to add some tempting pix!! > > and the Crinum hybrid page has no mention of variable hybrids >to tempt either. > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… > > > I urge readers to check them all out. There's nice pix of xpowellii alba > > >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… > > and typical x powellii > > >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… > > and many bulbispermum > > >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… >-- >Dr. James W. Waddick >8871 NW Brostrom Rd. >Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 >USA >Ph. 816-746-1949 >Zone 5 Record low -23F > Summer 100F + > >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ ************************************************* 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