The forum has been a little quiet of late, so here are some pictures from yesterday. I was cutting down / pulling stalks from this year's "Fusion" when this offset - with its own offset - got pulled up too. The bulb is very similar to L. pardalinum, one of Fusion's parents.
The second photo shows one of my L. speciosum var. gloriosoides (Taiwan form) seedlings emerging. (And I'm in the northern hemisphere!) With me these have a very short dormancy - just 3 to 4 months during the summer - and start into growth in the autumn, grow through the winter, and then flower in late-spring/early-summer. This is why I have to keep them in the greenhouse over the winter. I wonder whether this growth is a consequence of the Taiwanese subtropical & monsoon climate. It is common for the spring and autumn to be sunnier than the summer months becuse of the summer monsoon and heavier rains. Winters are cooler (but not cold) and also generally sunnier than summer. This could promote a growing cycle where much of the active growth happens in the autumn through spring (in frost-free conditions) with the summer months being when the pods ripen. I intend to move all my gloriosoides into large terracotta pots this autumn, but with them coming into growth so soon it looks as if I will have to move-up my plans to do this! Hope this is of interest to you all. Steve
