What's blooming this week -20 September
J.E. Shields (Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:03:25 PDT)

Outdoors, many Colchicum are in bloom: cilicicum came first, then
byzantinum and now 'The Giant' and bornmuelleri. One lone Crinum
bulbispermum has sent up a last-of-the-season rebloom scape. It's quite
nice to see at this time of the year. A Scilla whose name I've forgotten
has naturalized itself all over one area, and is now showing a mass of
pinkish blooms.

In the greenhouses, many Haemanthus are still blooming, including
coccineus, crispus, and lanceifolius, as well as good old
albiflos. Cyclamen graecum, one of the few species of cyclamen that seems
to survive my harsh greenhouse conditions in summer, is
blooming. Zephyranthes longifolia and Z. minima are blooming as
well, They do amazingly well if one waters them occasionally.

In the orchard, the Carpathian (hardy English) walnuts are just about
finished and the Chinese Chestnuts are just getting started. The question
is, did we get the spraying timed right this summer, or are we going to
have piles of wormy chestnuts? Even the !@~#$%+?^&*! squirrels won't eat
the wormy nuts.

Jim S.

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Lat. 40° 02.8' N, Long. 086° 06.6' W