Thanks - Pats on Back - And A Question

On Thu, 4 Feb 1999 09:40:36 EST, you wrote:
Kurt: Thanks! Appreciated. Though it's true that I do sometimes feel
as though I'm in another ball-park playing a different game from most
of you, I can also echo Frances from NZ  in her introductory message
and say that this is a group where you do, indeed, feel as though
you're among friends - so if I sometimes get the rules wrong or ask
idiotic basic questions, I can rely on someone to tell me: but nicely!

Which seems a good lead-in to another question. Anyone out there grow
S. African chasmanthe spp? If so what do they think of their hardiness
levels, cultivation requirements, garden-worthiness? 

I've got young unflowered  plants of several spp. Those under glass
are doing fine. Those in the ground are not. They're alive, just, but
looking as though they wished they weren't. We've had a mild winter
but one if anything even wetter than usual, so despite my best
attempts at giving'em the sandiest and grittiest of soils to grow out
of and the sunniest and driest available spots to grow IN, I guess it
did not, after all, feel much like home.

Flowers in books look impressive (C. bicolor, particularly) and I seem
to remember Scott Ogden in 'Bulbs for Southern Gardens' recommends'em
but I've also heard or read a couple of folks mutter behind their
hands something to the effect of, 'Nothing but a big coars crocosmia.'

Can I do anything more for plants in the ground? Is it/are they worth
trying, even?! Any comments/suggestions/experiences, welcomed with the
gratitude of the ignorant-but-enthusiastic (house speciality).

Tim on the Solway Firth in Cumbria, UK, where - surprise, surprise -
the wind is howling and the rain is lashing down and all those
damnfool ducks who've winged their way back from Africa have their
heads down and are saying unrepeatable things in broad duck.


Tim Longville
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