My Winter Enertainment Begins!





Now that we have had our first frosts, the outdoor blooming season is seriously slowing down, but, in our little greenhouse where our winter blooming Mediterranean climate bulbs live, things are just getting started. Some South African bulbs flower first for us. With Mediterranean and Californians coming later.

The first "Winter rainstorm" came on September 21st when I began watering for the growing season and now the first flowers are starting. We keep it set so the temperature stays just above freezing at night in the winter and we let everything go dry and dormant so we don't have to do any watering in the summer when we are busy outside!

Oxalis purpurea 'Ken Aslet' (S. Africa) -A gift from our friend Lee Raden. An early Octbober picture first followed bb one February picture so you can see how it just goes on blooming for months.















































Polyxena sp. 'Silver Hill 11157' (S. Africa) -From Silverhill seeds.





































































Massonia depressa (S. Africa) -According to the The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs (a very dangerous book for anyon who lies unusual plants) this is pollinated by Gerbils! It is in bud right now, with fowers in January and February. I find the large leaves which lie flat on the ground to be very exotic and intriguing.
























































Lachenalia pusilla -Last year is the first time it bloomed. In bud now this should be open in a few weeks. The inflorescence will be bigger this year.
This was also grown from Silverhill Seed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amerian Bells - Clematis section Viornae

Image
Our Friend Carol Lim has published a great web site about the North Amercan Species of Clematis in Section Viornae . Often called "Leather Flowers" or "Americal Bells" many species are of very restricted range so few people see these beautiful flowers in the wild although hybrids using the red genes from C.texensis are common in cultivation. We have several plants of, what I am pretty sure is, C. addisonii in our garden. I took these pictures in our graden the last week of May and the first week of June 2007. I think everyone should try to grow these plants when seed is available or nurseries sell plants . Carol has links to some nurseries on her web site. __________________________________ Update: Link to Larger version of my Pictures of Clematis addisonii.
Read more

A Male Rufous Hummingbird visited our garden for a few days

Image
We had a beautiful male Rufous Hummingbird show up at our house last Wed. afternoon, July 29, 2020. He spent his time guarding our nectar feeders and keeping away all of the local and migrant ruby-throats. According to Scott Weidensaul this was the earliest "Fall" record for this species in PA. Several close friends got a chance to see him and we were hoping more people would get a chance spread out over time, but he was only here He was here through Friday evening. On July 31 he left after being banded.  We invited Sandy Lockerman and her husband to come and try to trap him and band him because I think that it is a good thing to try to understand the changing migration patterns of hummingbirds from western North America like this species. I hope that he may be re-trapped sometime and contribute to our knowledge base about these wonderful creatures. Sandy tells me that hummingbirds usually stay after banding, but this one took off and hasn't been back, Mike Slater  
Read more

Nov. 21st Meeting - Local Ecologist to speak about new possibilities in biocontrol of invasive species .

Richard T. Gardner, "Non-native Invasive Plants."  Non-native invasive plants are a major problem throughout the world. This presentation will identify major local invasive plants, discuss their biocontrol and bioeradication and finish with new exciting local developments in the field which have the potential to radically change how non-native invaders are dealt with. 7 pm at the north museum:    See the newsletter for info about other programs -Newsletter link
Read more