I was greatly impressed with the tremendous range of colours in the Zantedescias on display – including what must be just about the blackest flowers in existance. Breeders have made rapid and great progress but unfortunatley the corms still require treatment with giberellic acid to induce flowering. Some Growers are now providing little sachets of crystals to dissolve for home treatment before planting.
Brian
Brian,
You photos are great; must be wonderful to see that show! Love the blacks too.
Phyllis Hess
‘Picasso’, the white and purple-throated variety, is as hardy as dirt in
Saint Louis. In fact, it makes fairly large clumps after about three
years. Most of the new varieties rot over the winter for us if we leave
them in the ground outside (otherwise, if dug and stored dormant
indoors, they’re perfectly happy), but ‘Picasso’ perists… and
persists. And the flowers are GORGEOUS! ‘Schwarzwalder’, also sold as
‘Black Forest’, is plant hardy for us, but it needs a mild winter to
flower profusely. It attains about 2.5′ of stem length when it does,
each flower lasting several weeks, and it steals the show.
Thanks for posting these, Brian.
Jason
Jason A. Delaney | North Gardens Supervisor and Bulb Collections
Specialist | Department of Horticulture | Missouri
Botanical Garden
Post Office Box 299 63166-0299 | 4344 Shaw Boulevard 63110
| Saint Louis | Missouri | United States of America
Telephone (011 + 1) 314.577.0234 ext. 7 | Facsimile (011 + 1)
314.577.9465 | http://www.mobot.org
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Brian,
What is giberellic acid? Is not having that the reason why I never can keep
these things? They do bloom, a little, for me.
Donna
Its a growth hormone, Donna. You can find lots of references if you do an Internet search. But the few I looked at didn’t specifically mention the use of it with daffodils.
Bill Lee
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That flower with the Union Jack on it is quite an accomplishment!
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Ref. Union Jack.
I should have said that the theme of the show this year was London – complete with wall paintings of various scenes from the city and including most impressive large scale models of Big Ben, (it authentically chimed out the hours!)Tower Bridge, a London Pub etc. and a real double decker bus etc. etc. All credit to the organisers, a committee of ‘young’ bulb growers from the Anna Paulownia district. I was told that the show costs about 600,000 euros to put on and that it has been going for 39 years, each year with a different theme designed by the same man Pete Hollander from the beginning.
It’s a Show really worth a visit. A 1 hour video of the Show is available for 12euros.
Brian