Further excitement
At this point, Clivias, or at least Clivia miniata cultivars like this, don't seem particularly exotic to me. Even growing by the sidewalk. But I grew up with a Clivia (eventually many, many Clivias) that my mother babied for years and years before blooming. So it's not something that I take for granted, even now. Especially since this bloom is on a potted specimen I just bought last year, not the plant in the ground.
The first Freesias opened recently, I'm not sure exactly when because I've been so preoccupied with the Calochortus that I didn't notice, until I was out hunting snails by flashlight, suddenly blinded by the reflection off these (those LED lights are bright!). F. alba seems to be very happy, as these are a lot bigger than last year.
*
But the most exciting news of the day is the reopening of Pacific Rim Nursery whose demise I lamented only a year ago. Now, if only I hadn't pauperized myself (and the dollar hadn't shit the bed) in the intervening year!
Seriously, though:
Paeonia cambessedesii or Paeonia mascula subsp. arietina?
Labels: Calchortus umbellatus, Clivia, Freesia, Hillkeep, Paeonia, peony, spring
posted by Anonymous at 5:24 PM
9 Comments:
I'd say the latter. Did you see the P. rockii?
That's what you said last time.
Hell yeah I saw P. rockii. That's how I got into this mess in the first place. I thought I determined I didn't get enough chill for it, though Pam Peirce just suggested otherwise last week...
If you keep asking the same question you're going to keep getting the same answer. Except that now I am voting for P. rockii. An expensive gamble, but that flower is worth it.
Really, I'm impressed by your consistency. I can't remember what I said last week.
Unfortunately, I won't be buying $90 peonies anytime soon.
LOOK at this form of P. rockii:
http://www.rizreyes.com/files/Paeonia_rockii_bloom.JPG>http://www.rizreyes.com/files/Paeonia_rockii_bloom.JPG
Stop, vile temptress!
Oooh, even better with stamens.
Hahaha. I couldn't resist.
I've seen a P. rockii in the flesh at Kew - or was it Edinburgh Botanic? - and, though the flowers are amazing, the overall look of the plant is rather disheveled. If I lived where you do, I could easily get over P. rockii by being able to have a protea.
I had a "cheap" tree peony in my first garden and they are especially hideous when out of leaf. They look like a bunch of misshapen, wish-bone shaped twigs gathered up from the forest floor and glued together by kindergarteners with paper-mache. Not very elegant, in other words.
Heh...I say buy them both and throw in a Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii. What a diverse selection they have! Luckily the prices are prohibitive for me, otherwise I could go broke on peonies like those.
Lisa, that's the problem, the prices are prohibitive for me too! (Compared to some of the named varieties, Pacific Rim's prices are quite reasonable, especially considering the kind of provenance info they supply.
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