Cyrtanthus falcatus
Mary Sue Ittner (Mon, 02 May 2011 12:12:29 PDT)

Hi,

Not too long ago Ina asked about how to care for her Cyrtanthus
plants and a number of us responded that it depended on the species.

This spring my Cyrtanthus falcatus bloomed for the first time. The
plants were dormant with no leaves showing and I had moved them under
a bench in my unheated greenhouse where they wouldn't be watered . I
was thrilled in February to see what looked like a bud appearing.
Indeed that was what it was and the leaves appeared later. This is my
third time trying to grow this plant. The first time a friend shared
one with me. The second time I purchased one from a reputable source.
Both of those were bulbs and although they looked fine when I got
them, neither survived over the long haul.

Then I got seeds from Rhoda and Cameron McMaster and sowed them
January 2005 so that's awhile ago. The flower didn't look at all like
what I expected and was very different from the photo taken by Rob
Hamilton that we had on the wiki but now that I've seen so many bulbs
blooming in the wild I understand the great diversity that is
possible when you grow plants from seed. I've added a photo of my
flower to the wiki and a photograph of one grown by Alan Horstmann in
South Africa and leaves of large bulbs we saw in the bulb house at
Kirstenbosch.
<http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…>

Mary Sue