Wednesday, 03 July 2007, 12:30 PM EDT - Crinum scabrun and Haemanthus humilis

Crinum scabrum is in bloom today. This is the first plant of C. scabrum I've ever had! I have heard that it is pretty tender, so I won't test this particular plant outdoors in the ground. My friend Al in Texas has kindly offered me another bulb just for cold hardy testing.

Crinum scabrum

Haemanthus humilis humilis is blooming again, for the second year. I raised these from seeds from Cameron and Rhoda McMasters' formerly the Croft Wild Bulb Nursery and now African Bulbs. I got the seeds in April, 2001. The first one (JES #1262.A) bloomed last year, 2006, after 5 years.

Haemanthus humilis humilis #1262.A

A second bulb (JES #1262.B) bloomed for the first time this summer. Note that the second bulb has a paler pink flower than the first one.

Haemanthus humilis humilis #1262.B

Out of ca. 100 seeds planted, after 5 years I still have ca. 20 bulbs, of which two have bloomed so far. It takes a lot of work to grow these from seeds in the Midwestern USA.

We also have some Hymenocallis blooming. I am quite fond of Hymenocallis durangoensis, native to Durango State in Mexico.

Hymenocallis durangoensis

Hymenocallis sonorensis is also starting to flower. This scape is taller than that of durangoensis. Sonorensis gets to be about 16-18 inches tall, while durangoensis is about 8-10 inches tall.

Hymenocallis sonorensis

I missed the flowering of Hymenocallis guerreroensis, since its pot was sitting out in back of the big greenhouse. Without any help from me, it produced 5 or 6 seeds, which I planted back into their mama's pot.

The Hymenocallis liriosme are blooming this week, and unfortunately the Japanese Beetles love to congregate on their flowers. I think it is mainly a courtship aggregation, but the wretched bugs also snack on the flowers! Love and food......

One of the Crinum firmfolium bloomed the first time the other day, but that first scape had the flowers somewhat distorted, and the Japanese Beetles soon wreaked the flowers anyway. I have another scape coming, so I'll have to guard those flowers until I can get some pictures taken.

My bulb of Ammocharis coranica is putting up a fourth scape! This is a fantastic plant. My friend George in South Africa suggested it might even be a different species from A. coranica. I'm so pleased with it!

Good gardening,

Jim

Tuesday, 10 July 2007, 10:30 PM EDT - Summer's Progession

The daylilies are still blooming, some of the Crinum have faded to swelling seedpods, and other Crinum are getting ready to bloom.

Crinum bulbispermum all seem to have finished. Crinum scabrum and C. 'Ellen Bosanquet' have finished blooming here, while C. 'Burgundy' has a scape up but no flowers open yet. C. [delagoense X acaule] has finished, while C. graminicola is getting ready to flower.

Crinum [delagoense x acaule]

This has a lot of nice maroon-red color to it. This is a plant from a farm in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where a hybrid swarm of interspecific hybrids between Crinum delagoense and C. acaule are found. This is the only one of my bulbs of this natural hybrid to have so far flowered for me. The plants are intermediate in size between the two parents, and have a variable number of flowers per umbel. Crinum acaule is a small plant and has but a single flower per scape. This plant has 4 flowers in the umbel. There is a bit more about C. delagoense and its close relatives at: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/amaryllids/Crinum.html on this same web site. Crinum graminicola has been confused with C. delagoense, and apparently the botanically correct name for delagoense should be Crinum stuhlmannii. Apparently very few use the name stuhlmannii for this species. Click on the "stuhlmannii" link for more information on this taxonomic jungle.

Correction: Most of the bulbispermum have finished flowering for now. The Louisiana naturalized bulbispermum are still flowering and putting up fresh scapes. These have long, narrow trumpet shaped flowers, with rather narrow faces. They are not as showy as some of the other bulbispermum strains, but they are very vigorous.

Crinum firmifolium is an unusual and uncommon plant from Madagascar, in subgenus Crinum. My seedlings are offspring of plants collected there by Dr. Dave Lehmiller several years ago. Although their flowers have a superficial resemblance to the American species of Crinum, the New World species are in a separate clade within the genus Crinum.

I have had good survival of C. firmifolium here, stored dry in a heated shed (ca. 50°F) in winter. Its close relative, C. ligulatum, did not survive storage last winter for me.

Some Hymenocallis are still blooming, including my various pots of H. liriosme. Another one that bloomed last week was Hymenocallis riparia, one of the Mexican group.

This one blooms at almost the same time as some of my H. sonorensis plants, but the scape is a bit taller in riparia than in sonorensis, and the tepels segments (the petals and sepals) droop in riparia be remain relatively erect in sonorensis flowers.

My pot of Hymenocallis durangoensis, mentioned previously, has put on a wonderful display this summer. It is a nice patio or deck plant, in a one-gallon (7-inch) pot.

I missed photographing my Hymenocallis glauca when it flowered this year, and I missed the blooming of my pot of H. guerreroensis entirely this year. When my wife, Irma, claims that I am a bit over-extended, especially in horticultural matters, she might possibly have some slight justification......

Good gardening,

Jim

Wednesday, 18 July 2007, 12:30 PM EDT - Flowers in the City

This is a drastic departure from the recent discussion of rare or unusual bulbs flowering. I think a change of pace is appropriate. We leave for two weeks in Switzerland in about a week, and there may be some interesting comparisons to be made between American and European cities, where flowers are concerned. In this respect, I'm particularly interested in display of flowers in public places like city parks and city streets.

Carmel, Indiana, is a suburb abounding the City of Indianapolis directly on the north. In this determinedly Republican county it has a purely Republican city council and mayor. They must be the most progressive city administrations in Indiana and among the most progressive in the whole country.

One small sign of this is the way the two main city streets have been remodelled over the past few years. A mishmash of street light poles have been replaced with a uniform set of 1900s-style street light standards. These standards have a cross bar just below the lights themselves, where penants, flags, and other decorations could be hung. In summer, the city places hanging backets of colorful summer flowers on these cross bars. The period style street light standards are to be found on the central stretches of the principal east-west street, Main Street, and on the main north-south street, Rangeline Road. These standards are found where the two streets cross, and for several blocks out from that intersection.

Carmel Streets (c) copyright 2007 by Shields Gardens Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sidewalk with hanging flower baskets along Main Street in Carmel, Indiana

The Monon trail, a reclaimed railroad right of way, crosses Main Street near here. More flowers are along the street but not along the trail.

Carmel Streets at Bub's Burgers (c) copyright 2007 by Shields Gardens Ltd. All rights reserved.
Where the Monon trail crosses Main Street in Carmel, Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream offers walkers a respite and a meal.

These flower baskets this season seem to be mainly petunias, but there are other varietes as well, perhaps verbena? I couldn't get close enough to see for sure what all were in the baskets. In any case, they are well-matched in colors and they survive the summers. The Carmel street department sends a truck around most days to individually water each basket with a long wand.

Flower Baskets along Main Street (c) copyright 2007 by Shields Gardens Ltd. All rights reserved.
Petunia and other flowers that last the whole summer.

Just west of Bub's, there is an intersection with a brand new traffic circle, or "round-about." These have become very popular in Hamilton county and especially so in the City of Carmel. All are well landscaped. This one even has a fountain, which was not running on the morning I took this picture:

Carmel Traffic Circle (c) copyright 2007 by Shields Gardens Ltd. All rights reserved.
New traffic circle on Main Street in Carmel, with fountain and flowers.

What does your city look like? Any flowers growing in public places? I'd like to post a few examples from other cities and towns, along with yourt comments on the pictures.

Let's see what I can find to show you from Switzerland in a few weeks.

Good gardening,

Jim