Re: Transplanting Nerines

Ben,

I doubt whether it was me that suggested not pruning roses, as I am just not a fan of roses, period, unless they are climbers.  I have always had a life-long aversion to them, as my bias towards them is that they just aren't much to look at when not in bloom, and I am always getting snagged by the thorns when having to work around them, and resent the damage to work shirts over the years.  I tend to use roses as a basis for taking on a new design client; if they love them, I tell them I am the wrong designer for their garden.  It has little to do with not liking thorny plants, as I have no such resentments towards Agaves, Aloes, Dasylirions, Dyckias, Puyas and bromeliads in general.

As to the Nerine bowdenii, I have split them up and transplanted them at various times throughout the year, and they don't seem to mind.  On the other hand, dividing them can often make them stop blooming that year.  If you don't want to lose this fall's blooms, try to retain as much roots as possible, and don't divide them into too small of clumps.

In my garden, with more uniform drip irrigation in summer and cooler summer conditions, they remain evergreen all year round.  I find N. bowdenii the easiest Nerine for me to grow, I also grow N. sarniensis and N. masonorum, but some years these bloom well for me, others not at all, and I have sometimes lost both to rot.

---http://us.mc1802.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.partner=sbc&.gx=1&.tm=1272733483&.rand=efceoik5fhmuf#Text%20Color On Sat, 5/1/10, Ben Wiswall <benwiswall@pacbell.net> wrote:

From: Ben Wiswall <benwiswall@pacbell.net>
Subject: Transplanting Nerines
To: "medit plants forum" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Saturday, May 1, 2010, 8:29 AM

Hi All,
Just wondering when is the best time to move Nerine (I think N. bowdenii).  Right now in Spring they're a nice clump of foliage, they go sort of semi-dormant in Summer, and bloom in the Fall.

Also, last Winter I asked about pruning roses, and I think Joe Seals or maybe David Feix recommended not pruning them at all.  So, to report back on the results: 
 
The roses look good to me, but maybe wouldn't look good to a real rosaphile.
The shrubs are loose and rangy with sprays of blossoms, as opposed to dense and bushy and covered with blossoms.  I like my roses loose and lanky, though, because they make a nice contrast to most mediterranean plants' rounded, compact shapes.

-Ben Armentrout-Wiswall
Simi Valley, Inland Ventura County
Southern California
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