Lachenalia from Don Journet
Mary Sue Ittner (Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:54:21 PST)

Dear All,

In 2000 I organized topics of the week for the IBS list. One of the topics
was Lachenalia. Since the majority of the members of this list weren't on
the IBS list when I was doing the topics I emailed Don Journet who lives in
Australia and asked him if I could share his remarks with this group and he
said yes. He also wrote on article on Lachenalia in BULBS that he is
willing to share so I'm including information from both. Don has a
Lachenalia collection registered by the Ornamental Plants
Conservation Association of Australia (OPCAA). There is a lot of
information to absorb so I'm going to send it in three parts so that no
message is too long. This first will be background information and how to
grow them.

Lachenalia Jacq. f. Murray. Liliaceae (Hyacinthaceae). This tells us that
the name Lachenalia was first used by Joseph Franz Jacquin but was actually
first published by J. A. Murray. For many years Lachenalia was included in
the Family Liliaceae but has relatively recently been placed in a new
family Hyacinthaceae. Jacquin used the name Lachenalia in honour of Werner
de Lachenal an eminent Swiss botanist and a professor at Basel in
Switzerland. It has been represented in Australian gardens for many years,
although relatively few species and hybrids have been available even from
specialists. I imagine that a similar lack of variety in general
cultivation exists almost universally. The most readily available have been
those sold as "Soldier Boys". The commonly available bulbs include
Lachenalia aloides 'Quadricolor', L. aloides 'Aurea', L. bulbifera (syn. L
pendula), L. contaminata (often wrongly called L. bachmannii), L. mutabilis
and L. pallida. A few other species have been sometimes available from bulb
nurseries and specialists. I am aware of two other collections the major
one being that at the National Botanic Gardens of South Africa under the
care of the eminent horticulturist Graham Duncan and the other was that of
Trevor S. Crosby in England. One of the specialist nurseries from whence a
good number of my plants originated was The Botanist Nursery in Sydney
owned and run by Bruce Knight. I also obtained seed from the now closed
Rust-en-Vrede Nursery in South Africa.

Lachenalia occur predominantly in the winter-rainfall districts of southern
Africa, with the majority of species coming from western and south-western
Cape. Recently, a number of new species have been found in the southern
Namaqualand area. Other species occur as far afield as the Transkei,
south-western Orange Free State and across the southern parts of Namibia to
the north. The primary flower colour of different species ranges from white
through yellows, oranges, reds, purples and violets to blue. In many
flowers the colour combinations are quite complex, making descriptions
difficult. Some have very strongly contrasting colours such as yellow with
purple tips or white with magenta tips. Others are delicate shades of
pink, yellow, lilac, green or magenta.

In their native southern Africa Lachenalia are to be found growing in a
range of climatic conditions and soils from almost pure sand to heavy clay;
from humus rich to mineral rich; and from dry to seasonally inundated.
Fortunately they seem to be quite accommodating provided certain rules are
observed. Those that grow in dry sandy areas do not like to be kept very
wet and those from heavy moist soils do not like to find themselves
completely dry out mid season. The answer seems to be to maintain a happy
medium and perhaps to give one or two species special attention. If a
well-drained growing medium is used and regular watering carried out during
the growing season most species will reward the grower with delightful
flowers and either seed or small bulbs or both.

As I have a collection of some 90 different species, hybrids, cultivars and
variations I find it necessary to keep the majority in pots. This enables
me to keep the bulbs dry in summer when other plants need watering and to
be placed in suitably protected areas of the garden in winter when they
require good growing conditions. I live in south-eastern Australia in the
state of Victoria about 32 miles (50km) west of Melbourne at the base of
the Great Dividing Range. The grid reference is 144 25 E and 37 40 S and
the USDA hardiness rating would be probably closest to 9b. We occasionally
get winter temperatures down to -5C (23F) and summer temperatures can
exceed 40C (104F) for several consecutive days. I must emphasise that the
minimum temperature is only sustained for a short period usually just
before dawn but we can get sub zero temperatures for the best part of the
night. We certainly do not suffer from frozen ground and the ice on puddles
lasts for a short time only as the temperature soon rises above freezing.
To protect my Lachenalia I position them under the north-eastern and
northern overhang of Eucalyptus trees where they will get full winter
sunlight but ice crystals formed in the air will not fall on their leaves.
There is no question that the plants experience temperatures below freezing
but they all seem to survive. I do try to avoid watering the pots in the
evening when there is a forecast of frost.

The growing medium that I use for mature bulbs is based upon a soil-less
potting mix obtained locally consisting of aged ground pine bark to which
has been added course sand. To 6 parts of the basic mix I add 6 parts of
course sand, 2 parts of clay loam and 2 parts of well-rotted cow manure. A
small quantity, about one quarter of a part each of dolomite and blood and
bone are added. The intention here is to add material that will tend to
stop the mixture becoming too acid that is keep the pH figure up and add
slow release fertilizer to sustain healthy growth over the long season. For
species that require better drainage I double or in some cases treble the
amount of course sand. Another technique I have used for bulbs that seem
prone to rotting is to place the bulbs in pure sand above the regular
potting mix. The roots find their way through the sand and into the more
nutrient rich mix below. This way the proportion of air around the bulbs is
increased and risk of rotting reduced. A potentially serious problem
arising after the dormant period is the difficulty experienced rewetting
the soil-less potting mixes. The clay loam is added in an attempt to buffer
the mix against low pH values and to enable the potting mix to rewet after
the dormant period. In particularly dry years I am suspicious that I have
lost collection material simply because the bulbs have never received
enough moisture to begin growth or sustain growth for a long enough period.