What is blooming or emerging now

I don't have much blooming at the moment. Two different Polyxena are blooming, as are a variety of Oxalis; Gladiolus carmineus and Narcissus viridflorus are finishing up; and a couple of Nerine are going to town. Most of my Lachenalia are up, growing in full-ish sun; as are Moraea, most Babiana and Tritonia, some Watsonia and Galdiolus, and a few others. Surprising to see so much activity with my Ferraria and Albuca this year. I hardly had anything last year and thought a few were gone. Nope, just taking their own sweet time.

________________________________
From: M. Gastil-Buhl <gastil.buhl@gmail.com>
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2013 7:28 PM
Subject: [pbs] What is blooming or emerging now

The first Narcissus tazetta orientalis opened last week, ones I
watered starting in August. The Crocus goulimyi are just finishing.
And the fruit trees are losing their leaves just in time for the bulb
leaves to need the sun. So now it feels like autumn, except for the
lack of rain. Some bright magenta Nerine are blooming, perhaps Nerine
bowdenii but I do not have a tag for them as they have been growing in
that spot for 20 years. One DIerama, the odd one, is blooming. I do
not know its species. The Oxalis from last year's BX are mostly still
blooming and the pink Oxalis purpurea is just coming into its season
to show off at the front gate. I noticed today the leaves of the pink
variety are more blue-ish than the purple variety, which has not yet
begun to bloom.

Since this is a meager season for flowers, I will note what bulbs
leaves are now emerging. Some Narcissus are only just now emerging,
ones that were not dug up this year but did not receive water until
October. The Leucojum have just barely broken ground surface. The
Veltheimia have been growing their lush rosettes of leaves for about a
month now and one has a hint of a tip of a flower bud. (The leaves do
have a very slight hint of longitudinal veining.) The Scilla peruviana
and S. hyacinthoides are expanding their deep green and blue-ish green
stars of leaves, respectively, but these are still all curled and
pointed upwards. Only later in the winter when their leaves lengthen
do they flop over. My guess is this stage is designed to catch and
funnel water whereas the later umbrella-like arrangement channels
water away from the bulb. I was particularly happy to see the
Ammocharis longifolia has finally emerged with its torn-off appearing
leaves after a year of no above-ground growth. Several planting
baskets in the plunge bed have tiny leaves, some Babiana, Ixia, Moraea
and Gladiolus. One Gladiolus is forming a spike. The Lachenalia
species from the BX recently have emerged an inch above their pot in
part shade under the arbor. I am not sure how much sun these want.

Here are a few photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/…

- Gastil
Santa Barbara, California
Approximately 9b, maybe 10a, similar to Sunset zone 24 except with
frost December-February and usually rain by now