Re: Thanks - Pats on Back - And A Question



Tim Longville wrote:
> 
> 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

Tim,   

I have a Chasmanthe clump that was sold (at an arboretum plant sale) as
C. aethiopicum, but I think isn't, since (according to Sunset Book), the
flowers should all come off one side of the scape.  This one has a
zig-zag to the stalk, with the flowers opening out in several
directions. Anyway, it is one of the first of the winter growing bulbs
to return from dormancy in the fall, and is blooming right now, having
been in the essentially unheated greenhouse (Lows about 35F-(I promise
to get a conversion table soon for posts to this excellently
international group)). The clump has always lived in a pot, which was
left outside for a couple of years between the old greenhouse coming
down and the new one being completed.  While outside, the leaves would
sprout and get cut down by frost. They would return only to be frosted
again. Flower stalks were inevitably ruined. The bulbs lived, but during
that period we had some pretty mild winters. I always move this clump,
and many other California and South African bulbs, (growing in
containers) to an area which will get no summer irrigation.  The fact
that this species, whatever it is, wants to grow so badly in the early
winter, might make it a difficult go for you.  I think they are
interesting flowers, but friends have made comments about what an ugly
flower they thought it was. It's just about the only thing blooming
right now though, along with Viola corsica and some weird Kalanchoes.

Gary Matson   Far northern California
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