Xeronema again plus ramblings

Just when I thought that I knew every plant that my nurseryman pal
stocked, today I noticed several large clumps of Xeronema callistemon
in big pots sitting in one of the cold greenhouses.  Apparently he's
had them for some years, but how I've wondered past them before is a
mystery.  Great hulking things they were too and a far cry from the
rather weedy seedlings I've seen offered and have so far managed to
ignore.  Considering the species is often treated with a degree of awe
in terms of its reluctance to flourish, I was surprised to learn that
he has found it fairly easy to propagate from divisions.  I'm now the
proud possessor of one of those larger divisions which has 6 very
stout growths around 28" high.  I'll wait until late spring before
planting it out in gravelly soil together with a good pile of seaweed.
I wonder what the chances are of it flowering soon.  

Here in the South west, winter has been a pretty gentle affair so far
and although it has been somewhat chilly on occasions, there have been
no hard frosts and damage has been so light as to be almost non
existent.  I hope this will continue since clumps of Lachenalias are
now just showing buds, Ixia viridiflora are pushing through well and a
big clump of Chasmanthe biflora is well over 2 feet high and rapidly
in need of subtle staking.  

I drove down through town and along the sea front this morning and
both Acacias baileyana and dealbata are a mass of brilliant yellow,
the cliff gardens along the front were a mass of violet Iris stylosa
and the cliff faces were studded with 20 foot long cascades of golden
yellow stars from Jasminum nudiflorum.  Camellias everywhere are
breaking bud with the earliest japonicas fully out and with every hint
of sunshine, there is a feeling of impending spring.  Winter only has
a couple of weeks to go here, so fingers crossed!

Dave Poole
TORQUAY   UK
http://www.ilsham.demon.co.uk/gardenviews.html
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