To all who have purchased bulbs from Longfield Gardens I would like to reassure all members that these are the real thing. I have been involved with this project for over 12 years to bring this wonderful plant into commercial reality,from buying seeds from a collector,to growing a flowering bulb,then multiplying by seeds germinated in agar, then Tissue Culture propagation and finally to be grown in the soil by a professional bulb exporter in Israel. It is a great plant and flower. The only downside can be occasional flower bud abortion during the dormant phase in which case the flower will not appear in the first year,but will in subsequent years.This is not common,but can occur as with many bulbs. Hugh ________________________________ From: Dee Foster <dee@deeandbill.com> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Sent: Tuesday, 23 September 2014, 23:28 Subject: [pbs] ScillaMadeirensis To all: I just received my bulbs from Longfield Gardens, and they are, disappointingly, beige bulbs, not the “amethyst purple” color advertised on their website. I spoke with their head horticulturist who explained that they had been grown in the ground in Israel, and that they would color up if grown above ground (which I thought was pretty much the only way they grew-above ground). Does anyone have experience with this bulb to know if this is true? I feel badly about this, as I was so amazed to see this bulb at such a reasonable price, that I posted about them to this website, to let others know. Now I feel bad that I may have led other members down this path? Hopefully they are the right bulb, but does anyone know if it’s likely that these very, very plain beige bulbs are going to color up when grown in the sun? It’s not that I’m upset about them not being a pretty color, it’s that I don’t see how they can be S. Madeirensis if they aren’t a deeply colored purple-ish bulb? Thanks, Dee Foster Newport Beach, CA Z10b --where I’m starting to think about how to save the bath water if they put us on rationing…. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/