The Bulb Maven

Calostemma luteum

I am reorganizing the greenhouses, trying to make room for all the seed flats that are currently being sown. As I leaned over a bench to pick up pots of Calostemma purpureum, there, right in front of my eyes, was a beautiful umbel of Calostemma luteum.  I had almost give up.  This bulb was given to me about thirteen years ago.  It was a small bulb, and I also have pots of C. luteum grown from seed sown in 2003.  None had ever bloomed, while C. purpureum blooms very easily.  I thought maybe they needed more heat, but I have only two heated benches and there simply wasn't room for them.  This summer was much warmer than usual, and one bulb finally produced its lovely flower. 

Calostemma is a very small genus that is native to Australia.  This, in itself, is unusual, since there are very few bulbs native to Australia, and Calostemma is the only endemic species. It grows in the southeastern regions of Australia where it is widespread, and there is quite a bit of color variation.

I am hoping to propagate this solitary bulb since they produce rather interesting seeds that don't need pollination.  It is thought that they are not actually seeds, but bulbils that are clones of the parent plant, so we'll see what happens.  Now I am inspired to warm up my other pots and see what I get.

 

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The Morning Walkabout

It is a shock to realize that we are almost half way through August, and that summer is edging towards autumn.  In my previous post I commented that there wasn't a lot happening in the greenhouses, but yesterday I noticed buds emerging from the pink Rhodophiala bifida (left), and also Calostemma purpureum (right), Amaryllids that bloom in late summer, heralding the onset of the autumn display of most members of the Family Amaryllidaceae, such as Nerine and many other South African members.  Hymenocallis have been blooming off an on for some time, with the dainty umbels of H. leavenworthii seen here, a very rare member of the genus from Mexico, where it grows at some elevation.  Here it is to the right.

 Summer's progress is also marked by the birds' activities.  Their songs no longer awaken me at dawn, they are probably too busy to spend much time singing, frantically feeding the gaping mouths of their babies.  The swallows have already reared one brood, and are on their second, but the parents are still pestered by their adolescent babies that badger them for food.  They are a constact source of entertainment.

In the pasture next door there is an ever changing population of horses, apparently the owners rotating horses from their other ranch.  About a month ago there was a pure white one and an ebony black one, and watching them race each other around the five acres was delightful.  Now we have a mother and her baby.  She is not at all afraid of the dogs, and seems to want to play with them.

I have been having some work done on the garden.  I had put in a small informal herb garden, and wanted a focal point, so I had the basin of a fountain put in on a stone base.  I will plant a miniature water lily in it, since I would never run a fountain, and don't actually like the movement.  Here is the full work crew, the dogs having played a supervisory role, testing the mortar to make sure it was just right. 

We are having a very wonderful summer here in the Ferndale valley.  Although other parts of the state are parched, with our morning fog, things stay lush and green all year.  The fog clears by about 10:00am, rolling back in at night, keeping the temperatures pleasantly cool.  Last summer it was very cold and foggy, but there are no complaints this year.  The County Fair opens in a couple of days, and I can see the ferris wheel from my window.  My favorite agility trial is this coming weekend, and we have been training every day, hoping to bring back ribbons.  Even if we don't win, we always have a wonderful time, for, after all, the dogs know nothing of winning or ribbons, they do it for the joy of it.  And ... for the treats, of course!!

 

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Calostemma

There are not that many true bulbs native to Australia.  Mother Nature must have got bored by the time she got to that continent, deciding, from an evolutionary standpoint, to try something different.  The Duck Billed Platypus was her masterpiece, and kangaroos and wallabies are close seconds.

The enormous deserts of Australia needed plants that could withstand severe drought, so in their own independent Australian way, they developed a myriad of storage organs below ground that could store water, and get them through the hard times.  They take many forms, and I do grow just a few, but  since I mostly stick to bulbs, I will talk about one true bulb that is native to Australia, Calostemma purpureum.

This lovely bulb is widespread in Australia, and is usually purple, as seen above.  It is very easy to grow and flower, blooming at the end of summer, then producing its leaves throughout the winter, and going dormant in summer.  It can, I am told, tolerate summer water, although I let it go dry at that time.  I grow mine in five gallon pots, since they need to be planted deep.  They can take temperatures down to 24F, and could probably go lower if planted in the ground.  At one time my bulb collection was outside and unprotected, at which time I had problems with bulb fly in some members of the Family Amaryllidaceae, but Calostemma went through that period completely unscathed, maybe due to the depth of the bulbs.  They are vigorous and disease free, so I would strongly recommend them for California gardens, although I have never seen them growing anywhere.  Apparently, there are other colors in its native land, and I do have the yellow one, C. luteum (which some people think is just a color variation of C. purpureum), but after nine years since sowing the seed, I still haven't had a flower.  I was told they were slow from seed, but this is glacial.

The seeds themselves are interesting, since it is thought that they are not actually seeds at all but bulbils formed without the need of fertilization which are, therefore, genetically identical to the parent plant (this process, for the botanically minded, is called apomixis).  They are produced abundantly, and you can sow them, but then you wait, and wait, and wait some more.  Fortunately, the mature bulbs do offset.

I am really looking forward to the day when my yellow flowered Calostemmas will surprise me with a bud or two.  I know it will happen one day, and, when it does you will hear about it, rest assured.

www.telosrarebulbs.com