Albuca concordiana and other summer experiements

I ordered some A. concordiana in the spring from Huntington Gardens and a summer experiment. I had never grown anything like these and heard they could be tricky. When I got them they looked like little white onions but I potted them up and misted them occasionally. They did get soaked in a couple torrential downpours even through they were in a protected location. I kept my fingers crossed the whole time that I would not kill them. Finally a couple days ago when I was checking them I saw green. So far two have started to put out leaves and the remaining 4 have visibly swollen :) Cant wait to see how they develop.

I also experimented with planting some succulents directly in ground. I had an assortment of un-potted extra haworthias and a euphorbia milii that has never done well for me so I decided to try them directly in ground. I also put a fokea and senecio directly in ground. So far they are doing great especially the euphorbia which is fully leafed out and has grown a lot. I plan to try a larger variety next year

Glad to hear they did well for you in ground. I am guessing you will be digging them up for winter?

Will the Albuca foliage remain evergreen or does it go dormant in summer? I have a couple of Lachenalia that only put on foliage and blooms in winter? Wondering if the Albuca is the same?

Yeah I will have to dig everything in the ground up for the winter hopefully they wont mind too much.

I am not sure about the Albuca concordianas being evergreen I cant seem to find much about them period. I am going to assume they loose their foliage since they came to me as white leafless bulbs. I do have some Albuca longipes which are evergreen. Not sure if they are supposed to be since the tag they came with said stop watering them after they lost their leaves and they never lost their leaves.

The remaining albucas have all started to put out foliage now and they are really taking off. Not sure if I have enough direct sun for maximum curling but I love them either way.

How did you order plants from Huntington Gardens? Thanks.

Every spring they offer some selected varieties of plants for sale through their International Succulent Introductions (ISI) program. You can see this year and previous years catalogs here http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/ISI2012/catalogintro.html

Is huntington in Calif? Do you take orders online and mail them to your home?
I was in Chicago this past weekend and went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Greenhouses were the best.

Huntington Gardens is in California but I dont recall where. They will mail the plants you order to your home... Here is the link to the ordering page http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/ISI2012/catalogorder.html

I love the Chicago Botanical Gardens I have been there several times and still have yet to see all of it. If you are in Chicago again make sure to visit the Garfield Park Conservatory their greenhouses are fantastic.

I was just at the Huntington on 1/26/13 at a special plant forum and sale for members of C&S groups that are affiliates of CSSA. I wanted an Albuca spiralis but they were keeping those for propagation, so I got an Albuca concordant instead. For those of us in So. Calif it's a winter grower and bloomer. Can't wait to see those beautiful flowers, if I don't kill it first.

Today I was looking it up and found this info from The Huntington and thought I'd pass it on: http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/ISI2012/isi/2012-10.html

The picture is straight on the computer but I've reloaded it three times and it's always sideways. You get the idea!

Thanks for the web site Annie. I have a number of Albuca and it says on this site not to water when flowering. I never knew that and will be more careful this year. I try not to overwater them anyway since they store water below ground. This one is Albuca polyphylla.

I got a little carried away at the Huntington sale and forgot that I also bought an Albuca namaquensis. Yesterday I was looking it up and found this website just on Albuca's: http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Albuca, with descriptions and photos of 34 varieties!

It seems to have great information, but now I'm a little confused about my A namaquensis. All the photos on the website show it with curled leaves, as are most of those shown in the DG photos, and it says they curl up when it gets dry. However, ALL of the leaves on mine are completely straight. I'd love to see the leaves curl but the plant has ten flower stalks getting ready to bloom, :~))) , and I don't want to stunt them. Guess I'll water it sparingly and see how it goes. I'm also surprised that they actually sold this one as it appears to have eight bulbs.

Podster it says most of them go dormant but a few are evergreen. Perhaps you'll be able to figure out which one you have from the photos, but many look very similar.

Got carried away at the Huntington sale? What other treasures did you find?

Thank you for the link and the information. I will search for an ID. Kristi

Annie - In some species of albuca leaf curl seems to be influenced by how much light the plant gets. This is definitely true for my A. concordiana and I have heard others with A. spiralis say the same thing.

One of my concordianas received intense light while the other received less light and the difference is quite obvious

I am searching for this plant...............or, actually my daughter wants it. Does anyone know if it can still be purchased? I will try to check out the huntington link........

Thanks!

A quick Google search. No knowledge about the source.

http://bulbsforsale.blogspot.com/2013/07/albuca-concordiana.html

Thanks! Not sure if they are still available there either, but I was hoping to locate an American source so that a couple of bulbs didn't cost so much...... but I might end up going that route if I can't find anything else. I had done my original search under the wrong scientific name so that sure didn't help!

Thank you!