Bomarea

i have checked and do not see any body growing any of the Bomarea http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Alstroemeriaceae/Bomarea/none/cultivar/0/
are they difficult ?
i have had some for a cpl years now but haven't seen any flowers yet
maybe i should let them see more sunlight ??

Dick

I have a couple of them, I had been keeping them in pots because I wasn't sure if they'd be hardy, and up until now they always sort of struggled (particularly in the summers), but now I know they're hardy here so I planted them in the ground to see what happens. One of them did bloom the first year I had it and it was pretty small at the time so I don't think they have to be a particular size/age in order to bloom. Mine get sun from about 3-4 PM until sunset. I think they might be happier with AM sun and PM shade, but I don't have much of anywhere with those conditions in my yard. How much sun are yours getting?

Liz
i have 4 in pots mostly in shade under the redwoods
they all made it thru this last winter outside and are growing again
one is already about 5 ft tall :-)
i think i will move them out into some morning sun & hope for flowers
if i get flowers i will have to look for a place to plant them in the ground
i don't have much in the way of sun here amongst the redwoods
i couldn't keep them alive in So.Calif.

Dick

Dick, sounds like yours are doing better than mine! I really don't think they're a huge fan of my summers. We don't get miserably hot like some other parts of CA but we have enough days over 90 I think that's why mine have struggled. Hopefully they'll do better in the ground where the moisture level will be a little more consistent.

I remember when I first fell in love with these, it was a vine I saw at the UC Berkeley Bot. garden, it was growing up a tree and looked like it probably got filtered sun for most of the day so they shouldn't need a ton of sun to bloom, so maybe there's some other trick too!

i think you'r correct Liz
they did OK in the winter here and i always lost them in the summer in SoCalif.
i suppose that means they do NOT like the heat
& i don't get up to 90 here but maybe a cpl days a year at most,
we are in the mid 50's during the day now and we get 70+" of rain per year
i will experiment and see what they like best
and hope i get some flowers
i was wondering if anybody had any success with them
and i guess you & i are it ???

thanks
Dick

UC Berkeley has a gorgeous specimen at their botanical garden so I know it does well there. Their summer temps are probably similar to yours but they get a lot less rain (I only get about 15 inches a year, and I don't think Berkeley would get too much more than that unless summer fog counts toward the total!) I don't know how much additional water they might give it though. That's where I first saw them and decided I had to have one. One of mine came from a plant sale there, another from a local community college hort dept plant sale, and one from Heronswood before they went to the dark side (one of the three is no longer with me but I can't remember which...I think it's the Heronswood one that bit the dust but I'm not positive). They're not widely available in nurseries which is probably why nobody else has turned up with one yet.

Hi,
Mine is in its second year and seems to be coming through ok again.
I have added it to plant files here http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/153602/
Its obviously hardy enough as its planted in the ground, although i have no flowers yet.

Mike

hi Mike
i have 4 plants that survived this last winter
(2) B. caldasii one is over 4 ft tall already 2nd is about 3 ft tall
(1) B. patacoensis maybe 2 to 3 ft tall
(1) B. sp1 from Annies Annuals trying very hard but only 6" so far
none have bloomed for me yet

Dick


This message was edited May 11, 2008 8:23 PM

Dick .....I also have a few Bomarea's growing here. Mine were young last year and I didn't want to loose them if they didn't have a good root system so I had them in the cold greenhouse over the winter. There was some heat but only enough to keep it from freezing. A couple of them did have a couple of blooms on them but not the showy big bunches. Two of them stayed evergreen as well. I was expecting them to disappear until spring but they didn't.
I also started a few this winter from seed. They take a lot of patience as seed. Minimun 3-4 months and some now are 5 months and just poping up. Once they germinate they grow quickly. I am going to put the taller ones into the ground this year as I am sure they are even hardy here 8b-9a.
These are one of my favorite vines but they sure are hard to find, even seed.

Bea

has anybody had any luck this year ?
all of mine are growing like vines now
but only vines no hint of flowers yet

Dick

So far so good all of mine are growing well. I put one of them in the ground mid summer last year and it is up and running too. It was a spring seedling and did fine.

The ones in the pots have long vines and two have had flowers already too. I have had to wind them around my trellis a bit as it was too short for the height of the vine. They have seed pods forming so I hope that doesn't mean they will stop blooming if I let them go on to mature. Bomarea Hirtella was one that bloomed. Each cluster of flowers had more in the group than last year too. I read somewhere that as they mature the clusters can number up to 30 or 50 individual flowers when mature. I suppose that would also depend on which specie it is as some will never have that many.

I have one that I got from a friend in Oz last year. Ofcourse it is originally from South America, and it is supposed to have red and green flowers. I saw a photo of the blooms which was very interesting, it is different than any others I have seen. I recently potted it up to a larger pot and it hasn't sent out any new growth since but I am sure it will. Really looking forward to seeing it bloom. Fingers crossed for this summer sometime.

Dick ...... I have noticed that each year the stems of the vines are thicker and they tend to get longer. I assume that is because they are maturing. If you notice a difference in your vines it could mean you will have blooms this year. Please let us know what that one from Annie's ends up looking like.


Bea

I do have a bomara. I had them in pots, perhaps 4 of them for a few years. They seemed to struggle. I remembered the soil when I was in Peru where they were growing well, looked awful. A red clay looking soil. So I put mine in the ground where I had some soil that was ugly like that. It is in mostly sun in competition with a honeysuckle. It grew fast once put there and has bloomed every year. The vine itself is ugly, the flower exquisite. Works well with the honeysuckle as it hides the ugly vine. I totally forget about it till it blooms so the care I give it is none. Mine has been in the ground about 4 years, started blooming the year after I put in in the ground, never a bloom in the pot. I may have one in a pot somewhere struggling along. I will try and remember to look. It seems to do better with neglect. I think mine is a bomara caldasii. I got them from Telos Rare Bulbs, located in Ferndale, CA. I think they are mail order only. I apologize in advance to anyone who has an addiction to the rare and unusual, they got way cool stuff.

Bea
i will definitely take picts if i ever get blooms :-)

Rebecca
i'm not sure i have any ugly soil :-) i live amongst the redwoods
but i will put a cpl of them in the ground on the sunny side of the house where i neglect everything :-)
and where i am constantly ripping the honeysuckle out.
wonder what they would do in the ground in nice loamy soil in partial shade ? maybe too much like the potted soil ?
do you have any images of your flowers ?
i think i bought a cpl of mine from Telos also
she sure does have a lot of neat stuff

Dick
still planning on visiting you one day

Sounds good, visit anytime. I am in the middle of housecleaning out there. I collect too many things: (
I found I had lots of bulbs in the pots, perhaps spread them here and there, surely one will be happy. They also responded well to transplanting, seems they liked the roots to be disturbed. I will have to go out and look at mine, I have not looked at it since last year when it bloomed, late summer I think it was. I have not taken a picture. I will try and do that this year. Or when it blooms perhaps I will send you a dmail and you can come and see it yourself. If there are any seeds you are more than welcome to them as well.

Liz, is this the one you saw at Berk. Bot? I have spent hours today trying to ID it with no luck.

Such a beauty!

And in San Francisco where it loves the cool nights.

So pretty and full.

Hi Kell, I don't think that's the same one I saw there unless the flowers change with time--the ones I saw were solid reddish orange. Here's the pic of the one I saw. It was just labeled Bomarea sp. so I figured if they didn't know which one it was I'd never figure it out!

Kell
those are awesome images of a super bomarea
by the thickness of the vines they must be pretty old :-)

Liz
are those the vines in your image ?
also pretty thick
mine are still pretty small
less then a pencil more like a rose stem

Dick

Well I just bought one of these from Annie's but it seems like it will like my hot enviroment. I am going to try still and plant it amongst other vines where it will be shaded and only get some morning sun. I ahve to try at least once!!

It definitely prefers cool! Some shade may help.

Liz, I am in touch with an expert just today; I think he is, LOL. He just responded to my email. So I may get an ID on both. I saw the same one you did. So pretty!

Dick--I'm not sure if those are the vines you're seeing in the pic or the plants/trees that it was climbing up through. My pic's from back in 2005 so I don't remember back that far! (I'm just glad I remembered I had a pic of it at all!)

I've had overall bad luck with these in the heat--all of mine have died and since I've killed three of them I am no longer allowed to buy them (at least not until I can retire and move over to the coast somewhere!)

Hmmm maybe I will bring it inside then even though I am known for killing plants inside maybe this one stands a better chance in there for the next couple of months.

Wow... beautiful photos!

Kell I think the ones from the garden there have been grown for many many years already so they are older mature plants. The yellow and orange one is unidentified as far as I know but, it has been given the nickname "Fiesta"

Liz.... Bomareas definately like more shade and cool weather.. perfect up here and almost everywhere south to San Francisco I think. They grow in the understory of the forest of the Andes, some at low and others at higher elevations. The higher elevation ones are hardier. One thing they do not like is to ever dry out when in a pot. In the ground I think they are more forgiving.

I have bought mine from Telos Ca. , Cistus in Portland, and started many from seed. They can take a long time to sprout from seed so one has to be patient. The average for me has been 6 weeks to 4 months. I have had some sprout after a year. Fresh seed is key I think.

Bea

Here are a couple photos of the B. Hirtella that is blooming.

Bea

another one

one more

has anybody had better luck this year?
i moved mine into more sunlight and paid more attention to water needs
and they have grown a lot more but still no blooms

Dick

I bought a new one earlier this year and so far haven't killed it. But I'm going to need to keep it for longer if I want to see it bloom! Our summer has been way cooler than usual which I'm sure has really helped it.

i moved all of my bomarea into the greenhouse early fall
& they continue to grow - BUT still no blooms

you can see them climbing into the overhead

Which ones do you have, Dick?

I had a pot of soil I tossed some of these seeds end of last summer. Covered them with dirt and just left them. I also put some up in rockwool. The rockwool ones germinated very fast and shot up. I did move them to 6 packs but then let them languish there till they died.

The big pot outside has flourished with no help from me. This will be the second winter outside.

Have you been fertilizing them much? The ones I had (before I killed them) bloomed when they were pretty small so my first thought is maybe too much nitrogen fertilizer makes them grow a lot but not bloom. Or maybe mine were grown from cuttings and yours from seed--I don't know about Bomarea specifically, but there are a number of plants that will take a few years to bloom when they're grown from seed but from cuttings they'll bloom much faster.

it's looking like Bea in Canada is the only lucky one so far ?

hi Kell
i must of lost one of the caldasii, & i did add one last year, B. sp. 95-047 from Telos rare bulbs.
soooo i have (1) B. caldasii (1) B. patacoensis & (1) B. sp1 from Annies Annuals and (1) sp. 95-047 from Telos rare bulbs
and i potted them all up to 3 gal which i think also helped the growth a lot

and Liz yes i did start to fertilize them once i brought them into the greenhouse
and they shot up and still are :-) all were purchased as small plants ?
don't know if the larger pots or the fertilizer or both helped?
here is a decent shot of the one from Annies which has grown several feet this year and is looking VERY healthy


edited for correct inventory :-)

This message was edited Nov 11, 2010 10:14 PM

I never fertilized mine (although I didn't really have them long enough for them to really need it) and they bloomed without it. Your description of them shooting up makes it sound like they might have gotten more fertilizer than they really need. If you used a high nitrogen fertilizer I'd look for one with a bit less N, or if it wasn't super high in nitrogen then try fertilizing less often and/or with a smaller amount of fertilizer and see if that helps. Potting up into a larger pot will also temporarily distract them from blooming--they'll take time to grow some roots first.

How did everyone's bomareas do?

I have 4 of these I grew from seed this year. They are looking like they need to go into larger pots or perhaps in the ground. Thanks for all the info, I think I'll put one in my best morning sun position, another one somewhere it will have some good winter cover in case of freeze, and the other two in pots I can move around the garden and see if I can find a spot they really like. I've wanted this one for years but they get a real premium for it at the nursery. These grew good from seed and the seedlings are healthy looking.
I also have a California native pipe vine I bought from my local natives nursery, I'm glad to say it is 3' tall this year and growing beautifully on a fence in my backyard.