Re: Anomatheca laxa
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Anomatheca laxa
- From: i*@easynet.co.uk (Ian Black)
- Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 15:01:26 -0700 (MST)
Sharlyn Rocha wrote:
>Hello Fellow Iris Fans,
> On this month's San Diego and Imperial County Iris Society news letter, =
> our president, George Bange, sent a seed packet. I can't wait to get =
>these little wonders planted. They are labeled 15" African Irid- good =
>in border- coral/red flower. The monthly meeting isn't until the 12th =
>and I want these in the ground before then. Can anyone tell me how to =
>plant these seeds?
A. laxa is a great plant to start with if you have not grown any of the S.
African irids from seed before. Basically, it's very difficult to go wrong
with, and is one of the very few bulbs that you can get to flower in the
same year that you sowed it. Because of the ease of raising it, you could
try almost any reasonable method, but my recommendation would be to sow it
in a tray containing a compost with added grit. Cover the seeds, water and
keep at around a cool room temperature. When there seem to be no more
germinating, you can carefully transplant the seedlings to individual pots
containing a richer compost (plus grit) - this is not a trick I would
recommend with most other bulb seedlings. Grow in a warm spot, and
gradually increase the level of light till you can put them straight outside.
I think that a height of 15" sounds a bit generous to me - perhaps expect
leaves to about 9" and flowers to about 12" on average.
Besides the typical coral-coloured form, there are also available white,
white with a red spot ("albomaculata") and a much rarer blue one. This
plant is also called Lapeyrousia laxa, and just to compound the agony, has
just been renamed again as a Freesia!
Good luck!
Ian
P.S. - Since writing this, I have just downloaded David Victors's
informative post on this plant (hi David!) - sorry for any overlap.
*******************************
Ian Black ianblack@easynet.co.uk
Alton, Hampshire, UK mintemp -8C
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~ianblack/
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