[pbs] Haemanthus--TOW
J.E. Shields
jshields at indy.net
Mon Dec 6 13:22:57 EST 2004
Hi all,
I've been fascinated with Haemanthus for many years. However, until about
7 years ago, I grew only Haemanthus albiflos. This has proved itself to be
a vigorous plant, surviving in pots and increasing steadily over the
years. It sets seeds from self-pollination almost every year now.
H. deformis is surviving, as two bloom-size bulbs purchased as mature
bulbs. They do not offset, and their roots are much more sensitive to
excess moisture that is the case with albiflos.
We have raised a batch H. pauculifolius from seed. Most are growing well
and producing offsets, but none have bloomed so far. One or two clones are
so vigorous that I expect to be able to propagate them soon and eventually
offer for sale.
In 1997, Silverhill Seeds started to offer fresh seeds of Haemanthus
species from all over, and I bought some right away. It has been a long,
hard struggle to learn to grow them, and the floral results have been sparse.
Much of that sparseness has been due to my own inexperience growing
them. Transplanting Haemanthus seedlings before they are 4 years old is a
recipe for retardation. No matter how strong the temptation, I have
gradually learned not to disturb Haemanthus seedlings any earlier before
that. So be sure you plant any seeds you start in a pot where they can
stay undisturbed for the next 4 years, at least.
I also asked for the provenances of any seeds I bought, and I find that the
H. coccineus seeds from Gifberg have leaves that are elongated and well
marked with transverse striations on the outside of the leaves at the
bases. The seedlings of the Gifberg batch that were left alone for 5 years
are much bigger than those that were repotted after 2 or 3 years.
The H. coccineus seedlings from Bainskloof have broader, shorter leaves,
that have less well-marked striations underneath.
Finally, H. coccineus grown from seed from Richtersveld have the largest
leaves and the least basal striation.
None of these have bloomed.
H. barkerae is also here. I have plants from three batches of seeds,
planted in three different years. Accession #259 were planted in 1997 and
repotted after only 1 year. These are still small; they were truly stunted
by the premature repotting.
Accession #368, a small batch planted in 1998 and repotted in 2000 are the
biggest and most interesting of the H. barkerae batches. These bloomed
this summer for the second year. Of the four bulbs, two bloomed more or
less normally, while the other two tried to bloom but the inflorescences
aborted while still in the neck of the bulb. Three of the four are also
producing offsets.
Accession #936 were planted in 2000 and have not been repotted so
far. They are small and very slow growing.
I consider #368 to be a uniquely vigorous strain of H. barkerae and I have
plans to work with it further.
I have been growing (or trying to grow) several other species of Haemanthus
too. Maybe I will comment on the Haemanthus humilis group later.
Jim Shields
in central Indiana
*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA
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