Fred - are you saying you keep them outside year-round here in Mass ? That's impossible! ______________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you want to receive my plant newsletters via email? santoury@aol.com The Silent Seed - Rare and Unusual Plants ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Fred Biasella <fbiasella@watertownsavings.com> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Tue, Oct 25, 2011 6:32 am Subject: Re: [pbs] Veltheimia Hi Mary Sue and Doug, My Veltheimia (Bracteata) never really went dormant this summer and I have a few pots of them all started from seed from different sources. I keep them outside under the outer fringes of the grape vine and in almost full sun. They very briefly lost their leaves but in no time they started a new flush of leaves. About a month ago I noticed the inflorescence poking out from the very center, just like they did last year and will probably flower in January or February. I really don't give them any special attention other than watering them when they get dry (with rain water from my rain barrel) and pick off the ratty looking leaves in late spring/early summer. Warm Regards, Fred Biasella Cambridge (Boston) MA USDA Zone 6b -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Mary Sue Ittner Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 10:08 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: [pbs] Veltheimia Hi, I'm really curious about Doug Westfall's recent post about the status of his Veltheimia >There are flower spikes on most of them My Veltheimia bracteata has just broken dormancy this month. Most of the plants haven't had leaves since early summer. Are these new flower spikes? My plants usually bloom sometime from March to May. This is another example of how plants grow really differently in Southern California than in Northern California. Many years ago when we discussed Veltheimia some people reported their plants never went dormant, probably because of the difference in how much moisture they got in summer. When the leaves on mine start dying back, I stop watering them. The ones I planted in the ground dwindled away I expect because it was too dry for them in summer since in South Africa they would have rainfall in summer. In large containers in the shade in our relatively cool summers the soil probably doesn't dry out so much. How do you treat yours Doug? Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers