The Bulb Maven

Placea ornata

There is a lot happening in the greenhouses right now, but the most exciting event for me (other than the blooming of Leontochir ovallei) is the blooming for the first time of Placea ornata.  I have grown these bulbs for some years, but since I have the annoying habit of selling my mature bulbs, I haven't had a flower until now.  I am getting much more stingy about letting mature bulbs go, since several sources of seed have disappeared, so now I have to depend on my own bulbs to produce the seed I need.

Placea is a genus native to northern Chile. There are six species, and I have only grown one other, P. arzae, which, unfortunately, I lost.  All grow in very dry conditions, and I found them very prone to fungal diseases if not grown dry.  I now grow them in pure pumice with careful attention to watering.  I have only one flowering stem so far, and I have pollinated it, hoping it will accept its own pollen and produce seeds. The flowers are deep cream with crimson stripes in the center and if you look carefully you can see there is a coronal cup that is deep crimson or purple.  My plant produced an umbel of four flowers.

 

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Leontochir ovallei

Leontochir ovallei is from northern Chile, where it grows in coastal regions that receive almost no rain.  It obtains most of its moisture from condensation from fog, and it is considered endangered.  I received some seeds four or five years ago, and finally saw a beautiful bud emerging.  As I was reaching for something else on the same bench, I broke off the stem!!  I almost cried, but put the stem in a tub of damp pumice, and it finally opened its buds.  It probably doesn't look quite as good as if it had matured naturally, but I will take what I can get.

In spite of Leontochir ovallei's natural environment, virtually no rainfall, and growing in very dry rocky conditions, I haven't found it that difficult to grow.  I grow it in pure pumice with no organic material added, and I fertilize occasionally while in growth and water about once a month, but my plants are on a bench that get sprinkled with rain coming through the greenhouse vents.  The thick fleshy stems emerge in winter and grow from a crown, with rounded tuber like storage organs attached to the roots.  My non-blooming plants are starting to die back.  

 

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