July Newsletter - 0804
Greetings from the Garden
August,2004 - winter/early
spring, in Barnawartha, Victoria, Australia.
1. What's happening in the garden this month?
2. We now have FREE postage with
EVERY order.
3. Site updates.
Above - Romulea sabulosa
1. What's happening in the garden this month?
With the coming warmer weather, many of
the summer growing bulbs are now starting to show the first signs of
foliage up through the ground. Crinum macowanii, pictured below, is
one such Crinum species responding to the warmth of the early spring
sun. These bulbs survived really well with continued rain
through out the winter season. I highly recommend this Crinum
species as hardy to be sure! A week ago, there was no sign of these
bulbs at all.
News this month includes a visit from
Cameron McMaster, owner and manager of Africa Bulbs in South Africa.
Cameron came over to Australia to continue his work in Dohne Sheep
Breeding. An interesting field of endeavour, I was captivated by his
stories about the breeders here in Australia. Cameron remarked that
he is continually amazed at Australians ability to adapt to new
ideas and then improve on them! This particular breed of sheep has
not been in Australia that long and we have already made some
significant contributions to Dohne sheep breeding efforts around the
globe. Interesting hey!
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Frost, Frost, Frost! Darn frost nearly
wiped out my Clivia collection this winter. I am really eager to get
an new green house built after this heart breaking event. I am
continuing to obtain the odd Clivia seed here and there from other
enthusiasts so I am gong to persist with them until I have the new
grouse built. I am pretty sure I can frost-proof the area, time will
tell.
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The front paddock is absolutely covered
with Romulea rosea var. australis this year. Pictured below, this
small robust Aussie covers out entire district this time of year.
There are some very nice colour forms
of this little treasure. Keep in mind though, unlike Romulea
sabulosa, which is up to 2.5 inches across, Romulea rosea var.
australis flowers are only 0.5 inches across and not terribly
significant. They look great en masse in bloom for about two weeks
each year. I'll see if I can get an image later on next month.
The bulbs are that think in some of the
summer bed, it looks like they need a serious hair cut. I think the
Romulea foliage would be a good insulator against heavy frost fro
some of the Amaryllid seedlings. They don't seem to mind having
1000's of Romulea in the same growing space as they are. I am amazed
how bulbs live together, side by side by the hundreds.
Above - Romulea rosea var. australis
Other beautiful flowers we have seen this month
in the garden include:
Bulbinella latifolia var.
latifolia (right) and Bulbinella latifolia var. doleretica,
pictured below. The flowers on both these bulbs is quite showy, and
ease of cultivation is an attractive quality too. These grow in beds
of pure sand on clay and require no water during their dormant
months.
 
Left,
Hermodactylus tuberosa, the snake's-head iris found it's way
into the early spring sun this week. This is a curious and
interesting bulb. The foliage is stiff, green, flat sided and
lies along the ground. The flowers are green with black falls. This
easy to grow bulb survive very low temperatures and is a good bulb
for the beginner enthusiast.
Right - Romulea monticola.
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Do you have seeds
to trade or sell? We buy and trade all kinds of seeds from the
garden. Email me if you do. |
These two images show Romulea sabulosa growing in the winter beds
here at Barnawartha. This easy to grow bulb survives our hot summers
and wet winters.
Growing
in pure sand on a clay base between the rock, this stunning little
flowers appears in early spring.
2. We now have FREE postage with EVERY
order.
This month saw the decision of free postage/shipping being
introduced at Mainly Amaryllids Garden. With this gesture,
disseminating rare and endangered bulbous species becomes even
easier for the bulb enthusiast. I hope this entices you to
build your bulb collection further!
3. Site updates.
Next month I will be revising all the bulb prices. All of the prices
listed will be reduced. Year ago, when I first started growing bulb
I promised my customers that when I had more room to grow, bulb
prices would come down. This is due to the ease of growing in such a
large area. Having so much room also allows me to buy larger lots of
seeds, thus making it cheaper to provide the bulbs to the
enthusiast.
This revision will include all
future lists from Mainly Amaryllids Garden. (Summer List, Winter
List & Other List)
That's about all for this month. I hope yours was a
beauty! Talk to you next month.
Happy Gardening, Dash.
Ps. As usual I have included a few gifs I found on
the web :-)
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