Nowadays, we paste on everything ad everyone a sticker and it must be in a cubicle fit. In the past, children were busy, or they found it difficult to concentrate. Today we call this ADHD. ADHD is also sometimes used for the behavior of animals. If we have stickers going to paste in plants, we can label Ornithogalum sintesii as ADHD. I have never seen a plant that is so much in a hurry. I have the bulbs this year at the end of september planted. At that moment, the roots and the leaves had sterted to grow already. Now 14 days later the leaves have grown further and are visible above the surface of the soil. If we don't have a cold winter, the plants bloom on beautiful, sunny days from the beginning of February. With a cold winter, the flowering period is March.
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For the news of the past weeks,
click here.
Spain June 2015
South Africa 2013
South Africa 2006
In volume 55 of Herbertia, the annual of The International Bulb Society, an article of me about propagation of specialty bulbs has been published. Finally an article with detailled technical information about partitioning and scaling of specialty bulbs. The results show a lot of possibilities with these techniques. If you want to know more, let me know by sending me a message .
I don't sell bulbs, I'm just an enthousiastic amateur grower of these bulbs. On this site you can find some links to some suppliers.
This year we have visited the northeastern part of Spain for our Summer holiday. In June we have visited various places in the Pyrenees, starting in Bilbao/Hondarribia and ending at the Mediterranean coast. Where we have walked in national parcs and other beautiful green areas. Below a short photo impression.
Foz de Lumbier, Lumbier
Allium sphaerocephalum, Foz de Lumbier
Valle de Bujaruelo, Torla
Lilium pyrenaicum, Valle de Bujaruelo, Torla
Aquilegia vulgaris, Parc Nacional Ordesa y Monte Perdido, Torla
Rhododendron ferrugineum, Parc Nacional d'Aiguesortes i Estan y de Saint Maurici, Espot
Asphodelus albus, Parc Nacional d'Aiguesortes i Estan y de Saint Maurici, Espot
Narcissus poeticus, Plan de Beret, Baquerai
Plan de Beret, Baquerai
In the last week of January-first week of February I have visited together with two friends under guidance of Cameron McMaster a part of the province East Cape. With start and end in East London we have driven 1,600 kilometers by Morgan's Bay, Stutterheim area (Catchcart, Hogsback), Somerset East, Stutterheim area again and King William's Town.
Massonia depressa
Ledebouria cooperi
Veltheimia bracteata
The Indigenous Bulb Society of South Africa (IBSA) organised for the second time a Bulb and Corm Symposium at the Goudini Spa, near Worcester, which was heldfrom Monday 28 August to Friday 1 September 2006. The first two days of the Symposium consisted of lectures, slide shows and talks covering cultivation, morphology and identification of South African bulbs and corms. On the next three days there were visits around the Worcester area where it was be possible to see some of the exquisite bulbs and corms. Just like in 2003 I got the opportunity to visit the symposium. After the symposium I have spent some days in Nieuoudtville.
South Africa 2006 pictures 2
Terrain near Swellendam
Lachenalia orchioides
Boophone disticha
Book about specialty bulbs
In May 1999 the former publisher Balkema International Publishers published my 'Bulb book'. In this book bulbous plants are described which can be grown indoors or in a greenhouse. In a practical way I have explained which species can be grown and how they are tended. Up till now I have heard and read only positive reactions. Click 'here' for more information about this most interesting book.