HELP! I found a new plant, ID please anyone.

Hello out there. kk, ww and chrissy , are you there. I found a large lily looking plant in the garden. It was actually half hidden under a tree and some weeds that had escaped my eagle eye.
The clump is about the size of a good size agapanthus , approx 1 metre x 1 metre
The leaves are nice and green and strappy .
I probably noticed it and thought ,just another aggie as it is in a bit of the garden where the trees sort of take over and I don't plant there.
I saw flowers today which is what caught my eye. They are not right out yet but are odd looking. The petals are thick and look a bit fake and waxy. There is a green spot on each petal.
It must be something left from when hubby had 1st wife many moons ago.
Do I have something common or unusual ?
I will dig it up and move to a civilised part of the garden where it can be seen. To exist where it is and look so healthy, it must be hardy.
thanks for any help. Jean.

Jean it looks like an Albuca to me. Try Albuca nelsonii http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/75655/

Thank you Alistair. I had a look at the one in plant files and it does look exactly the same. I will add a pic to plant files when it comes out fully.
It is a most unusual flower and worth moving to a new position where it can be seen. Have a great day.

Hi everyone! ...wow it has been a very busy time for us ...and everyone else by the look of it :)

77 that plant of yours is African and the good news is that it sets black seeds ...also like most lillies it has offsets ...my garden bible also says that the flowers have a light fragrance.Great little guest you have there.
We had a delightful Christmas ...only 62 F ...and I was beautifully spoilt having not cooked a thing under strict instructions from the family, a wonderful full baked dinner ...lamb pork ...chicken with
gravy and mint sauce! ...lots of baked veggies (my favourite!) and a huge trifle for afters.Then I was taken out the back to see what little treasure that was to be joining me in my secret garden ...I love it but I think it may have to go out the front in the most sheltered position I can find ...it is a magnolia grandiflora "Exmouth"
just as well I am on acres, has anyone seen the huge
Bullbay Magnolia's in the botanical gardens?
I love the big white citrus fragranced flowers ...I think this one is somewhere between that and "Little Gem"
I hope you are enjoying the Christmas break everyone ...I have been all over including the hospital thing for my brothers eyes.
Well better go look around in the forums while I have about an hour.
Happy gardening!
Look my new darling :)

While the panel is doing Lilly ID, Can we try this one please.

Description only. Have no camera

I have had these bulbs about 20 years and originaly put them on a rockery area in semi shade. (Size large onion) Each year they put out two huge opposing leaves from the top of the bulb stem. They look like two big green leathery floppy rabbit ears about 12 cm long. This year after being put into a pot a couple of years ago they got quiet a bit of sun and I have a flower. The leaves were there in spring and have died off about a months ago as they do every year. Now in the middle of summer I have a flower that came directly out of the top of the bulb and each day the stem under it grows like an amaryllis stem. BUT the flower is in full bloom. It has small rounded outer leaves each one about two thumbnails wide. I think it is 5 may be 4. They are thick and leathery like almost artifical. In the middle a lovely ring of pollen (stigma and pistils) That is about 2 centimeters in diameter.

I wonder if this rings a bell with any one. It is not a lilly flower and looks more like a giant sized burn't orange buttercup.

Gecki

Hello gecki. Your plant sounds a bit like my Haemanthus Coccineus , think I have the spelling right. Some people call them blood lilies but usually they are called elephant ears. I have a large patch of them and they have never been watered.
Yours may be different though as mine grow their large leaves , about 12" - 15" long and about 8" wide after the flower has come up first in late Summer to early Autumn then died off.
The flowers on my Haemanthus get to around 12" high and the actual flower head is about 4" across. Yours sound really nice too. Maybe the same family.
Just consulted my Botanica and there are about 20 species from South Africa originally. some now classified under Scadoxus. Hope this is of some help, as I'm no expert Jean

This sounds more than I have found out in 20+ yrs will ge back

Ta
Liz

YES thats it well done. Here I am being so careful in semi shade lots of water blah blah blah and it is a perfect bulb for dry hot climate.

http://fernkloof.com/species2.mv?Haemanthus%20coccineus

This message was edited Feb 2, 2008 1:38 AM

Glad I could help Liz. They are just right for a hot dry garden. You can divide the bulbs by just moving any babies or you can split the bulb as long as you keep some of the basal root on each piece. I have accidently chopped some with the shovel when moving them and they have still grown on. I admit they are not much at first but when you get a large patch in flower they are quite pretty. You can move them anytime and nothing seems to bother them.
Keep an eye out for the white. It would make a nice contrast. I am looking myself as I saw one on ebay once.
For such a common and easy growing bulb, I am amazed at what nurseries etc charge for one.
I showed hubby one a few years ago in a pot at a nursery for $30.00.
Some people will pay this thinking they are getting some rare plant and not really knowing what the plant is.
Hope yours go well.
Jean.

Jean I can honestly say I have never seen it before these that I aquired from an old garden. Or since for that matter. No one has ever knowen what they were. I am going to keep my eyes open now. I am really in love with it. Sort of prehistoric.

Liz

Hello Liz and anyone else on. I had not seen any of these plants either until I was given one and found how easy they are to grow and multiply. After I married and moved here I found Hubby had them here for years. I liked the flower so moved them out where I could see them . There is a large bed of them at the Portland gardens and quite a few as a border in Hamilton gardens. It certainly is a surprise when these flowers start coming up from a bare patch.
I divided mine again last year and put some out in a few places where they can be seen and nothing much else grows there.
I was surprised to see the white one on ebay last year . It went for quite a price so I am still looking.
Still warm here with no sign of rain.
have a great day, Jean.

I too have the Haemanthus coccineus and would very much like to source the other species in the genus. They are expensive mostly because they do not propagate easily until they are quite large, and the alternative is to grow them from seeds, which is also very slow. I have a two year old seedling which is only about as thick as my thumb - it will be quite a while before that one flowers. Once they are established they grow much more quickly as big clumps can form many offsets each year, it just takes time to get them to that stage, and most commercial bulb growers are not interested in putting in the time it takes to get a saleable crop. It's different of course if you are a hobby grower, or you are lucky enough to inherit a big clump in an old garden. They are very beautiful plants but I doubt they will ever be common or cheap in the way that daffodils and freesias are grown for the bulb market.

Ciao, KK.

Another plant I don't know the name of. Again one from old lady who died. She had it inside and it was limp and leggy so I cut it right back . Last year it flowered with a pretty small blue flower all over. I trim it now in the winter as the cold seems to make it die back anyway. It lives on the front veranda now. . The stems are not really round but not as square as plectranthus. There is a scent from the leaves that is not unpleasant.
Jean.