I have established clumps, similar to those at Kew, and individual bulbs grown from seed. As young bulbs planted mostly below soil level they have, little colour, but pot grown when they clump up and push themselves above soil level they colour up strongly. The Kew photos maybe exagerate this because they have been inspected and well cleaned to minimise any mealy bug problems which they are prone to. The nice round young bulbs become quite scaly with age. Brian Whyer, England, zone ~8 _______________________________ >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/ >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list >pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/