Whats blooming week of Aug 29 2011
Mary Sue Ittner (Thu, 01 Sep 2011 20:50:13 PDT)

Hi,

I finally took a trip around the garden to note
what was blooming in the ground or pots in
coastal Northern California. Still in bloom are
Zantedeschia 'Blaze', Eucomis bicolor, Eucomis
comosa, a hybrid tuberous Begonia, Milla biflora,
Scadoxus membraneceus, Acis autumnalis, the
Oxalis sp. from Uli and Ecuador, Cyrtanthus
elatus x montanus, and Cyclamen hederifolium. I
now have a Cyclamen cilicum pot in bloom and a
Cyclamen coum (I know it it is unusual for this
time of the year.) Another strange one in bloom
is Delphinium nudicaule. Most of my Delphiniums are still dormant.

New to last week or this are Acis rosea,
Cyrtanthus mackenii, and Cyrtanthus sanguineus.
I'm very excited about the latter after seeing it
in the wild and after many years of waiting for
the smaller bulbs not devastated by the Narcissus
bulb fly to get big enough to flower. Blooming
for the first time probably because I gave it one
more year or it was going to the BX is
Schizocarphus nervosa. It isn't nearly as lovely
as I remember seeing it in the Eastern Cape, but
maybe it will get better over time.

My first fall blooming Oxalis opened this week,
Oxalis MV 4674 which resembles Oxalis commutata I
think. And also appearing is Colchicum ×
agrippinum and the first flower of a cultivar
Amaryllis belladonna. The species have been in
bloom up and down the coast where I live for
weeks now. I have a lot of non blooming ones in
my too shady garden, but there are a couple that
get enough sun to bloom. Dietes grandiflora has been in bloom for awhile.

Mary Sue

Mary Sue Ittner
California's North Coast
Wet mild winters with occasional frost
Dry mild summers