South African plants in my garden

[DoomsDave]

There’s a lot actually 

Here’s a couple of Erythrina humeana from the Big SA from seed so graciously sent by a fellow Palm Talker (they can out themselves if they wish)

[DoomsDave]

And of course some of the infamous Bauhinia galpinii

 

 

[DoomsDave]

Don't be afraid to show off some of yours!

[Darold Petty]

Don't forget Clivia, Dave !

[DoomsDave]

A

12 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

Don't forget Clivia, Dave !

Among much else.

Oh yeah.

So, Darold, don't be shy . . . .

[greysrigging]

There is always a Grinch on the Forum....
Yes we love Sowth Effricain ( listen to the accent... lol....even Aussies think they talk funny... and yes, we have a massive rivalry sports wise, cricket and rugby union ) plants, except many of them are 'weedy' in Australia ( similar latitudes and climate ). Of course their plants grow here, but not having natural predators/insects/biological controls to keep them in check, some species have escaped the garden into the bush and have become pests.
Similar climates in south Western Australia and Victoria has promoted a Protea cut flower market ( my Uncle grew Proteas  ( commercially ) successfully along the Murray River in Northern Victoria.
Some of the South African weedy species date back to the turn of the 20th Century with Australian Troops returning from the Boer War.
https://www.google.com/search?q=+African+weed+species+in+Australia&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwidvPipkb3qAhXQQH0KHbgQDBQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=+African+weed+species+in+Australia&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQDFD_UFiaWmDecGgAcAB4AIAB1gKIAewKkgEFMi00LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=GHYFX53QGdCB9QO4obCgAQ&bih=576&biw=1366&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU865AU865

[DoomsDave]

Note the Aoneums and Encephalartos ferox in the first picture.

[Darold Petty]

Dave, I don't keep any photos of my Clivia flowers, but I grow many plants.  I have 5 different yellow cultivars, ranging from mediocre to superb, and also a 'red'' form, and several with variegated foliage.  I highly value these plants because the foliage is beautiful all year round, snails and chewing insects never bother the foliage, and the plants are low maintenance.  I have several Clivias in the same 5-gallon pots for 10 years. 

The genus is named in honor of Lady Charlotte Clive, Duchess of Northumberland, born 1787.  The correct pronunciation is thus, "KLIVE-ee-ah"

The best book about this genus is 'Clivias' by Harold Koopowitz, Timber Press, 2002.   I believe since its publication one new species, C. robusta,  has been published in addition to the four discussed in his book.

[DoomsDave]

And, agapanthus are EVERYWHERE out here, they're coming to take me awayyyy ha ha.

[DoomsDave]

4 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

Dave, I don't keep any photos of my Clivia flowers, but I grow many plants.  I have 5 different yellow cultivars, ranging from mediocre to superb, and also a 'red'' form, and several with variegated foliage.  I highly value these plants because the foliage is beautiful all year round, snails and chewing insects never bother the foliage, and the plants are low maintenance.  I have several Clivias in the same 5-gallon pots for 10 years. 

The genus is named in honor of Lady Charlotte Clive, Duchess of Northumberland, born 1787.  The correct pronunciation is thus, "KLIVE-ee-ah"

The best book about this genus is 'Clivias' by Harold Koopowitz, Timber Press, 2002.   I believe since its publication one new species, C. robusta,  has been published in addition to the four discussed in his book.

To aid in pronunciation, I'll say "Clivia - no Jive-ee-ah."

[Tracy]

So I won't post all the South African Encephalartos species I'm growing but there are a bunch.  Instead I'll offer a genus that I was introduced to seeing at both Quail (San Diego) Botanical Gardens and our local Zoo here in San Diego, both the main Zoo in Balboa Park and at the one in San Pasqual Valley that I still only recall the old name for "The Wild Animal Park".  The genus is Haemanthus, and I started with small bulbs a couple of years go of H. coccinius, H. deformis, H paucalifolius, H. sanguineus and H. unifoliatus.   Mine are still too young to be flowering but the strap leaves of some look like Clivia on steroids.  Pictured below are my pair of Haemanthus deformis while pushing out new leaves in late winter.  I look forward to getting some size on all mine so that I can put them in the ground eventually in combination with the other more common South African bulb plant already in my garden, "Naked Lady's" or Amaryllis belladonna.  The foliage bare A. belladonna's are just now pushing out pink blooms in my front garden.

[tropicbreeze]

Gonatopus bovinii, Giraffe's Knees, only just makes it as a South African plant as it occurs in KwaZulu-Natal. Mainly native to countries further north in Africa. It's the swellings on the petioles that give them their common name.

[greysrigging]

Clivia sp do very well in the southern states of Australia. They thrived on neglect, at the foot of huge eucalyptus trees in my parents yard for years, before I transplanted them to their new home in a retirement village. In deep shade and in horrible clay soils and still thriving !
Agapanthus ( the 'Special Forces' of the plant world... very tough and hardy  ) are used down south in mass median strip, verge and roundabout plantings. Also tends to 'escape' into the bush and in coastal Victoria is regarded as a weed, having colonised coastal sand dunes.
Ox Tongue lilies ( Haemanthus Coccineus ).... my mother's specimens are 90 years and were originally grown by her grandmother prior to WW2.
Belladonna (aka 'Naked Ladies' ) Lilies  (Amaryllis Belladonna) are a common bulb in the southern states. It is a 'sleeper' plant, often appearing out in the middle of a barren paddock or around an old abandoned farmhouse. They stand out with their habit of pushing out a lonely flower stalk before the leaves appear. 
Here's the thing.... not one of the above species will grow on Darwin, and believe me, I have tried, with lots of samples making the 2500 mile trip north to my garden. Even the tough as old boots Agapanthus wont handle our savage wet/dry and year round heat climate.
My theory is that any bulbs that have those thick, fat, fleshy roots ( as all of the above have ) simply don't like having wet feet and 6' of rain in 6 months tends to rot them away.....
http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/254.htm?fbclid=IwAR3DR3DT181Imo4x1GZqPDOy4vt8d2wMLpKVrAEexgJSZidDLG7bPW6KZV0
Clivia and Aggies for sale, Camden, NSW. Those Clivias are expensive !

Belladonna ( Naked Ladies )


Scadoxus multiflorus

[DoomsDave]

Pant pant pant

Keep 'em coming you all!

[Silas_Sancona]

3 hours ago, greysrigging said:

Clivia sp do very well in the southern states of Australia. They thrived on neglect, at the foot of huge eucalyptus trees in my parents yard for years, before I transplanted them to their new home in a retirement village. In deep shade and in horrible clay soils and still thriving !
Agapanthus ( the 'Special Forces' of the plant world... very tough and hardy  ) are used down south in mass median strip, verge and roundabout plantings. Also tends to 'escape' into the bush and in coastal Victoria is regarded as a weed, having colonised coastal sand dunes.
Ox Tongue lilies ( Haemanthus Coccineus ).... my mother's specimens are 90 years and were originally grown by her grandmother prior to WW2.
Belladonna (aka 'Naked Ladies' ) Lilies  (Amaryllis Belladonna) are a common bulb in the southern states. It is a 'sleeper' plant, often appearing out in the middle of a barren paddock or around an old abandoned farmhouse. They stand out with their habit of pushing out a lonely flower stalk before the leaves appear. 
Here's the thing.... not one of the above species will grow on Darwin, and believe me, I have tried, with lots of samples making the 2500 mile trip north to my garden. Even the tough as old boots Agapanthus wont handle our savage wet/dry and year round heat climate.
My theory is that any bulbs that have those thick, fat, fleshy roots ( as all of the above have ) simply don't like having wet feet and 6' of rain in 6 months tends to rot them away.....
http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/254.htm?fbclid=IwAR3DR3DT181Imo4x1GZqPDOy4vt8d2wMLpKVrAEexgJSZidDLG7bPW6KZV0
Clivia and Aggies for sale, Camden, NSW. Those Clivias are expensive !

Belladonna ( Naked Ladies )


Scadoxus multiflorus

Amaryllis belladonna is an interesting species.. and a reliable mid-late summer/ early fall flowering bulb where it can be found growing in California..  Appears as though "Super Blooms" of the species may be influenced/ stimulated by fire.  Pacific bulb Society has several pictures submitted by a member showing such an event that occurred after a fire burnt down a restaurant and subsequent vegetation on a nearby slope somewhere in Nor. Cal.. A year later,  when winter rains spurred a heavy crop of annual grasses/ various wildflowers, flowers were far more scattered with many bulbs skipping flowering entirely. 

A tip for anyone wishing to add some to their garden, even big bulbs will sit for 1-2 years before flowering after being planted. Learned this when i relocated several clumps for a relative years ago.

As far as Agapanthus, absolute favorite is the pendant, dark blue- flowered A. inapertus ssp. pendulus. Rarely see these in landscapes, but perfectly at home in CA.

When it comes to S. African Bulbs, it's a shame more aren't cultivated widely.. Most people know Agapanthus, Clivia, Freesia, Gladiolus, ..Crinum and the common Fortnight Lily, Dietes bicolor ( Used to be lumped in w/ the Moraea ) but there are wayyy more exotic looking Genus and species out there.. Moraea itself contains some of the wildest-colored flowered plants on the planet ( look up M. gigandra, M. lurida,  M. tulbaghensis  and a Moraea cross called " Zoe " ).. Many cross easily, creating even crazier colored flowers. There's someone up in Northern California that has been doing his own crosses for several years.

When i first researched bulbs from that region, couldn't take my eyes off the genus Geissorhiza. and the flowers of Lapeirousia oreogena.. And that is just a couple examples. Many ( many ) others.

 

[msporty]

Boophane distichas blooming a month ago. (Aloe ramosissima above and left and a baby E. horridus above and right).

 

[necturus]

This bed is pretty weedy right now but shows a lot of South African aloes. The Hercules requires protection in our coldest winters (I know from first hand experience, unfortunately), but many of the others shown here are survivors of a bad freeze a few years ago. I honestly have better luck with aloes in this decomposed granite berm than cactus and think they should be more widely grown here.

[Darold Petty]

Very nice !!  

[mulungu]

 

Peltophorum africanum (Weeping Wattle)

 

Ficus trichopoda (Hippo Fig)

 

 

Eucomis pallidiflora subsp. pole-evansii (Giant Pineapple Lily)

 

Sclerocarya birrea (Marula)

 

Calodendrum capense (Cape Chestnut)

 

Bolusanthus speciosus (African Tree Wisteria)

 

Calpurnia aurea (Natal Laburnum)

 

Erythrina zeyheri (Ploughbreaker)

 

 

Three South African natives: 

top left: Gloriosa superba (Gloriosa lily)

bottom left: Erythria latissima (Broad-leaved Coral Tree)

top right in the plastic cage: Erythrina caffra (South African Coast Coral Tree), trying to come back after a bad freeze its 1st winter in the ground

[Silas_Sancona]

15 minutes ago, mulungu said:

 

Peltophorum africanum (Weeping Wattle)

 

Ficus trichopoda (Hippo Fig)

 

 

Eucomis pallidiflora subsp. pole-evansii (Giant Pineapple Lily)

 

Sclerocarya birrea (Marula)

 

Calodendrum capense (Cape Chestnut)

 

Bolusanthus speciosus (African Tree Wisteria)

 

Calpurnia aurea (Natal Laburnum)

 

Erythrina zeyheri (Ploughbreaker)

 

 

Three South African natives: 

top left: Gloriosa superba (Gloriosa lily)

bottom left: Erythria latissima (Broad-leaved Coral Tree)

top right in the plastic cage: Erythrina caffra (South African Coast Coral Tree), trying to come back after a bad freeze its 1st winter in the ground

Excellent choices, esp. for Central TX.

[mulungu]

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Excellent choices, esp. for Central TX.

Thanks, Nathan!

[Paradise Found]

don't forget Melianthus major, good for snake bites, foliage is cool and has a fragrance of peanut butter. Very popular up here.  Common name is honey bush. 

Photo is from Linda Cochran's garden. 

[Paradise Found]

Red hot pokers blooming now in part shade. There a Kniphofia for every season. 

[Paradise Found]

Aloe aristata very hardy. 

[DoomsDave]

Here’s those Erythrina humeana from before 

pant with lust

[metalfan]

I have An unusual African aroid. From Kenya and Tanzania. Calliopsis volkensii. 

[mulungu]

23 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

Here’s those Erythrina humeana from before 

pant with lust

I cant get over how quickly they grew.  And those flowers--  * chef's kiss *  Awesome

[mulungu]

On 7/26/2021 at 12:50 PM, Paradise Found said:

Red hot pokers blooming now in part shade. There a Kniphofia for every season. 

Wow, this positively glows-- beautiful.   A curiosity I have... do hummingbirds show interest in natively sunbird-pollinated flowers like this when grown in New World gardens?

Edited July 27, 2021 by mulungu

[Paradise Found]

Yes, the hummers love this one too.  It was grown from seed along with a few other ones.  In person they are very bright and colourful, blooms last a long time. 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Paradise Found