Freesia laxa as annual?
pelarg@aol.com (Sat, 21 Nov 2015 07:02:31 PST)

Hi Martin,
No need to try and grow them as annuals, I dont know anyone doing that. F grandiflora is likely to be more tender than F laxa, the latter can survive against a wall here north of NYC, and it is small enough to be easy to manage under lights. Both like to seed around, the F laxa more so than grandiflora. Although F grandiflora only grows in summer rainfall areas, it seems to want to come up in fall and grow through winter, F laxa in its other than blue form (that one seems to be a winter grower) can come up and bloom any time it wants.
Ernie DeMarie

-----Original Message-----
From: Garak <garak@code-garak.de>
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sat, Nov 21, 2015 8:26 am
Subject: [pbs] Freesia laxa as annual?

Hi List!

Being in a highly experimental starting phase of my "bulbs from seed"
career, I started Freesia Laxa and F. grandiflora back around the 15th
of june - yes, I know, rather strange time for that. Right now, about 5
months later, I have the first open flower on F.laxa subsp. laxa, and
big buds on Joan Evans and F. Grandiflora, just in time for the first
freezing in my Zone 7 central Europe garden. They're still in pots, so I
think I'll shield them from the worst cold, but the extremely short time
to flower makes me wonder: does anyone cultivate them as pure annuals
in my or any colder climate? I imagine starting them indoor in March
together with the tomatoes could get them to flower in late August, if
they keep the timing. Or do I oversee something obvious?

--
Martin
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Southern Germany
Likely zone 7a