Re: Sprekelia formosissima
susannah@gladstone.uoregon.edu wrote:
>
> Is there any secret to getting this plant to bloom? I've grown the bulbs
> in pots for several years -- they make lots of leaves and new offshoots,
> but never any sign of a flower. Does it need more sun, or a dry winter?
>
> I learn so much from this list. Thank you all immensely, and I wish I
> could contribute more. Maybe after a few more decades of experience!
Susannah
It took me years to have success with this bulb here (which surprised me
as in Kenya where I came from it was one of those plants grown by people
who didn't really garden).
I tried it as you have in pots and also in the open garden, but as you
have also found the contained ones did not flower and the open ground
ones just disappeared. I finally came to the conclusion that my open
garden was just slightly too frosty (sometimes down to -3C) and probably
too winter wet for survival and put the next purchase of bulbs in a bed
on a west-facing wall under the house eaves. This gets almost no natural
rain in winter, but a reasonable amount during spring and early summer,
because of the different prevailing winds and in any case I supplement
this with summer watering because of other things growing in the bed.
Because of the shelter it also gets virtually no frost at all. Result a
lovely flower from each bulb each year.
I am not sure of your local conditions, but I understand from one old
but very reliable NZ book that you can take up the bulbs once dormant
and replant in spring which would take care of winter wet or cold.
Just one other point, like most South American bulbs it seems to like
being planted with its neck just above the ground.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata,
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
