On the start page of this website all kind of actual information is given on a regular base. If you want to read what has happened in the past weeks of this year, you can read it on this page.

The news of week 2 of 2010
We got the first snow on 20 December, the start of the winter with temperatures below zero. It's really winter now with more than two weeks frost. I really enjoy this weather. We normally have very little snow, this year we have 'a lot of snow'. Just like last year I have covered the lower part of my greenhouse with special fiolage. I have covered the plants with this foliage. I have inspected the pots in the greenhouse this morning and I saw almost no frost damage on the plants. I noticed that the soil in the greenhouse hasn't been frozen yet. Last year I experienced some frost damage with Arum nigrum and A. creticum. I have taken the plants bakc home and I will grow them inside until the end of the frost period.

The news of week 3 of 2010
Last time I wrote that I had taken the pots with Arum nigrum and A. creticum out of the greenhouse and placed them in one of the unheated rooms of my house. At first the plants recovered and it looked like there was no severe damage. But .... after a couple of days I noticed some frost damage, just like last year. I hoped I would be in time this year, but obviously I was too late. The frost damage with Arum nigrum is the most serious: allmost all leaves have died off. With A. creticum some leaves colour yellow.

Arum creticum with frost damage	Arum nigrum with frost damage	Greenhouse with plants covered with foliage

The news of week 4 of 2010
I had to wait for it for more than a month, but last week the first flower of Massonia depressa was open. The flower bud was already visible for several week and it grew each week a little bit more. My waiting was rewarded. Who I got this plant, that's a nice story. About ten years ago an acquaintance approached me. He had made a visit to South Africa and couldn't name some plants he had been taken pictures of. His question was if I could help hem naming the plants, which was of course possible. Later he sent me a picture of a flowering cultivated plant, originally from South Africa including growing place. It looked like a Massonia species, but it was different from pictures I knew from flowering Massonia species. So I sent the picture to Rachel and Rod Saunders in Cape Town (South Africa). First after a month I got a reaction from them. It had taken some time, because the didn't know which plant it was, so they sent it to John Manning. He was ethousiast about the flowering plant on the picture: a rare, unknow forma of Massonia depressa. It was aslo for him something new. Later I got from the Dutch acquaintance some seeds and flowers the first plant now.

Yesterday I have taken the foliage from the plants in the greenhouse. The day temperatures are now above zero and the foliage is not longer necessary. Leaving the foliage on the plants now, would have a negative on the plants: the air humidity would get to high and could lead to development of fungi and moss. I have also opened the window in the greenhouse to control the air humidity.

Massonia depressa

The news of week 7 of 2010
Three weeks ago I thought the winter was over and on a rainy Saturday morning I have taken the foliage of the plants in the greenhouse. After a couple of days the frost returned and I had to put back the fiolage. We now have day temperatures of 3-5 ^oC and people hope the frost period, of almost two months, has come to an end. Finally! I consider to remove the foliage of the plants next weekend. I have noticed already that seedlings of some Arum, Arisaema and Bellevalia species not seem to have have survived the frost period. From the heated greenhouse only good news: various winter growing specialty bulbs from South Africa will flowering within a few weeks: Veltheimia bracteata (a dark pink form), Ixia lutea and Lachenalia pallida. Massonia depressa was already flowering. I also have an Amorphophallus konjac which has produced an inflorescence. Of this Amorphophallus konjac I grow some corms in my greenhouse. Every year I hope to harvest a corm of a flowering size. Last Autumn I harvested a rather large corm, but I damaged it during harvesting. I have stored thhis corm seperately in order to able to inspect it regularly on possible rotting. This didn't happened and the wounds dried. The corm was stored at a temperature of 17 ^oC. About five weeks ago I saw that the bud started to grow. At first I thought a leaf woudl be produced, but a week ago I came to the conclusion it was an inflorescence. I have planted the corm and placed it in the greenhouse. All I have to do is to wait until the plant flowers. When it flowers, I will publish some pictures on this page. Below a picture of the flowering Veltheimia bracteata.

Veltheimia bracteata

The news of week 10 of 2010
After weeks of waiting and a daily check, it's finally flowers! Today the inflorescence of Amorphophallus konjac started today flowering. This is not only clearly to see, but you can also smell it. The inflorescence spreads an unpleasant fragrance, which can be compared with rotting meat. The fragrance was strong on the first day of flowering, when the spathe unfolded. The next days there was almost no fragrance. In the infloresence the male flowers are in the upper part and the females one in the bottom part. The flowers are not real, complete flowers, just the reproductive organs without perianth segments. The last two days the female flowers had opened. To have a good view on this, it was necessary to take a litle part from the spathe.

Besides large flowers, also 'small' ones flower: Lachenalia pallida.

Amorphophallus konjac	Amorphophallus konjac	Amorphophallus konjac
Amorphophallus konjac	Amorphophallus konjac	Lachenalia pallida

The news of week 13 of 2010
Within about a week the Hortus Bulborum in Limmen wil open its gates. The Hortus Bulborum in Limmen, a small town near Alkmaar, is open from 6 April until 16 May. You can see here a lot of 'antique'tulips as well as hyacinths and daffodils. De Hortus is open on Monday till Saterday from 10.00 till 17.00 hours and on Sunday from 12.00 till 17.00 hours. I can recommend a visit to this lovely Hortus. For more info check 'the information page of the Hortus Bulborum'. 'Click here' for some of the species and varieties that grow and flower in the Hortus.

In the greenhouse and outside various plants flower or wil flower within a week. Inside: Clivia's, Albuca circinata, Babiana stricta, Caliphuria korsakoffii, Lachenalia juncifolia and L. namaquensis. Outside: Scilla, Puschkinia and Muscari soorten, Bulbocodium vernum and off course Ornithogalum sintenissii. It's finally Spring.

Lachenalia juncifolia	Albuca circinata	Ornithogalum sintenissii
Chionodoxa rosea	Muscari aucheri	Scilla bifolia 'Alba'

The news of week 16 of 2010
When you look outside, it seems to be nice weather ouside. It's sunny. On the other hand it's still chilly. This doesn't harm the spring flowering bulbous plants: they grow and flower prosperously. Various plants are in flower or will flower within a couple of weeks. My Paeonia and Trillium species, Uvularia grandiflora and Dracunculus vulgaris survived the cold and humid growing circumstances on my garden and have started to grow.

The Hortus Bulborum in Limmen has opened its gates for a couple of weeks. The Hortus Bulborum is open from 6 April until 16 May. You can see here a lot of 'antique'tulips as well as hyacinths and daffodils. De Hortus is open on Monday till Saterday from 10.00 till 17.00 hours and on Sunday from 12.00 till 17.00 hours. I can recommend a visit to this lovely Hortus. For more info check 'the information page of the Hortus Bulborum'. 'Click here' for some of the species and varieties that grow and flower in the Hortus.

The news of week 22 of 2010
The technical problems with my computer have been solved, at least everything functions agains. I like the May month the best, as it concerns the flowering of specialty bulbs. In this month a lot of bulbous plants flower, like Allium, Scilla, Muscari and Ornithogalum. After 'all' spring flowering bulbs have long gone, there are some late flowering plants: Scilla verna and Allium crenulatum. The last one will be Iris latifolia at the end of June. Last years I have grown plants like Muscari pallens, Scilla verna and Ornithogalum tenuifolium in containers. I grow them in the open for the first time this year. The plants grow very well. I hope I will be able to harvest the small bulbs. Well, it's something I don't have to make a fuss about. That's something for next month.

Allium fistulosum	Arisarum proboscideum	Paeonia emodi
Allium falcifolium	Allium ochotense	Scilla litardieri
Iris babadagica	Ornithogalum tenuifolium	Muscari pallens