Re: Haemanthus albiflos
>Just to confound you guys in California, I grow Haemanthus albiflos
>out of doors here in the UK! By all logical reasoning it should fail
>abysmally, but it has come through several winters here perfectly
>well. It looks a total mess by March when all of the leaves rot way
>to mush, but a quick clean up reveals good sturdy growths and 'bulbs'
>which get going quickly with the return of warm weather. Here it
>normally flowers in May/June, but this year, it continued to produce
>flowers right through the summer.
>
>I agree that it is difficult to place amongst other plants and like
>most people, have resorted to keeping it in a big pot. I repot every
>other year, using a loam based, very free draining compost and it is
>topped off with a couple of inches of stone chippings to deter any
>hungry slug or snail.
>
>It isn't the most beautiful plant in the world, but those broad,
>rounded leaves and quaint, 'squashed-brush' heads of flowers do have
>their attraction.
>
>I also grow the related, Scadoxus multiflora in pots out of doors and
>provided it gets the message to die down in winter, usually produces
>masses of football sized heads of flower each year. I've recently
>grown a few seedlings of Haemanthus montana which is reputed to be the
>hardiest of the family. We shall see!
>
>Dave Poole
>TORQUAY UK
+++++-----------------
Hi Dave, I agree this isn't the most startling plant I've
ever seen. The discussion so far makes me feel a little guilty. I don 't
know where I got mine but I just dumped in the ground on the north side of
redwood fence. It's reasonably bright but if it gets more than a half hour
of sun I would be surprised. It's in dirt, nothing special and I don't feed
it or give it much water. But it sits there and does its thing.
Maybe if I fed it and watered it it would be m ore specatular.
Maybe next season???
---Chas---
******************************************************************
It's possible to disagree without being disagreeable.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles E. Dills 1371 Avalon San Luis Obispo CA 93405
[Mac] cdills@charter.net 805-544-1731 cdills@fix.net
http://www.charlies-web.com No size limit.
Eudora 1.5.4 Netscape Navigator 3.0 Pagemaker 6.5
Photoshop 5.0 Microsoft Word (Mac) 6.01 System 8.1
I can be forgetful. If I fail to do something I promised, tell me!
******************************************************************
