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

The news of week 32 of 2010
The Summer Holiday is behind me, and I have started working again. I can look back on a beautifyl holiday: three and a half week travelling troughout the USA, as well in the eastern part as well as in the west. I have seenlot of beautiful things, amongst others flowering flowerbulbs. Below some pictures of what I have seen.

Allium cernuum (Shenandoan National Park / Skyline Drive)	Lilium superbum (Shenandoan National Park / Skyline Drive)
Brodiaea elegans (Yosemite National Park)	Calochortus leichtlinii (Yosemite National Park)

The news of week 36 of 2010
I have the feeling that we are 'between two seasons'. The summer flowering plants, like Eucomis and Allium species, are still flowering or have just finished flowering. A couple of days ago I checked the spring flowering bulbs I have stored n my barn. I saw that the bulbs of Ornithogalum sintenissii have started to grow, so I have to plant them within one or two weeks Furthermore I have started preparations for the sowing of the seeds of the spring flowering specialty bulbs. I harvest all the seeds and I never trow seeds away. So, the sowing will take some time. Despite the early start of autumn, the summer has had a beautiful finale with flowering plants of Scadoxus membranaceous, Cyrtanthus sanguineus and Habranthus 'Mary'.

Scadoxus membranaceous	Cyrtanthus sanguineus

The news of week 38 of 2010
During Summer I grow tomato and eggplant plants in my greenhouse. The harvesting period is behind us and I have taken all the plants out off the greenhouse. I have placed the spring flowering specialty bulbs I grow in pots in the greenhouse. I know it's too warm in the greenhouse, but I had to make a choice: too warm or too wet and than a choice is easily made. After placing the pots inside I have planted the first bulbs outside: Ornithogalum sintenissii. The leaves already had started to grow. Within a couple of weeks the leaves will be visible above the surface of the soil. It's Autumn, so the focus is on Colchicum for a short period. Various species are flowering or will flower next weeks. 'Click here' for pictures of flowering Colchicums. In the greenhouse Nerine humulis is in full flower.

I repot the wintergrowing specialty bulbs every other year. During the past days I have repotted the plants. The Lachenalia species already had started to grow.

Colchicum pannonicum	Nerine humilis

The news of week 41 of 2010
One of the jobs I fear to do is the planting of the spring flowering flowerbulbs. I do't mind the physic labour of digging the plant veur, creating the sand layer, on my knees for planting the bulbs and finally placing the soil back. When all the bulbs are planted, I always look bakc with a good feeling. My problem, if you wan to call it a problem, has to do with the identification of the bulbs in storage. I store the bulbs in little net bags in my barn. In the bags I have placed the lable with on it the name of the bulbs. Every year it happens that during the transport or planting I have several bags with no name and in the crate name tags. If it's only one bag, than it's no problem. But in practice I'm confronted with at least two bags. What I do then, is quit simple. I plant the bulbs and when they flower next Spring, I plant the name tag.

Last year I wrote about the layer of sand in the plant veur. Check Week 40 in 'Old News' . Last year it was succesfull, so I have done it this year again. The succesfull part is in the harvesting of the bulbs. The bulbs are placed on top of the sand layer and the harvesting is restricted to this layer.

The news of week 45 of 2010
This time growing a different aspect of growing specialty bulbs: propagation. I really enjoy it to harvest all the produced seeds of my specialty bulbs. I also sow all the seeds myself. This is the best way to lose control over your hobby! On the other hand Mother Nature helps me in controlling the number of bulbs I grow. Every year a part of the bulbs gets lost, caused by draught, frost or rotting of the bulbs. A habit I have developed is to sow the seeds about a month after harvest. At first I only did this with the seeds of Habranthus and Zephyranthes seeds. I have noticed that the germination rate drops when you store the seeds for some months. Nowadays I sow the seeds of all bulbous plants soon after harvesting, which leads in general to (very) good results. This leads to a new discussion. Seeds of Muscari, Ornithogalum and Scilla species germinate in Autumn and the leaves don't dye off in Winter. It seems that the seeds don't need a cold period to germinate. This raises the question for me on the aspect of the need of a cold period for some specialty bulbs. Do the need cold? If the answer is yes, what is the minimal period of cold at what temperature?

The news of week 48 of 2010
Last year we had the first frost and snow in the week before Christmas. It's naow at the end of November and we have 'a real Winter', with during the day temperatures around zero and now and then some light snow fall. I wouldn't bother to have a long period with frost. I can stand the cold and I even like it. Due to the temperature the snow melts. It's not that cold that I have to take measures in the greenhouse to protect the plants against cold and frost. The foliage can remain in the shed.

On days like this with no sunshine everything outside looks gloomy. Well, not everything. In my back yard one bulbous plant is in flower: Schizostylis coccinea. Normally this plant from the southeastern part of South Africa flowers at the end of Septemebr till October. This year the plant is 'late': the first flowers opened during the second week of November. This South African can stand the cold.

The news of week 49 of 2010
This morning I have driven through the snow to check the spring flowering bulbs in my non heated greenhouse. In previous years I placed foliage along the glass of the greenhouse. This wasn't possible this year, due that the greenhouse is completely full with pots with specialty bulbs. So, I had to think of an alternative to protect the plants from the frost. I have placed the foliage direct on the pots. As far as I could see it, the plants do well. After the frost period and when the plants start to grow in February, I can come to definitive findings.

In the heated greenhouse the temperature is 13-15 ^oC and the winter growing specialty bulbs grow prosperously. In the Veltheimia bracteata plants, grown from seeds obtained from David Brundell, flowerstems are visible. In my Massonia depressa just above the leaves a flowerbud is visible. The bud is bigger than last year, I hope more flowers will appear than last year.

The year 2010 in retrospective
People have the habit to look back at the end of the year: what has brought the almost past year and what are highlights to look back at. Now at the end of 2010, I want to look back for the first time.

The year 2010 ended as it started: cold and the land covered with snow. The Summer in Holland didn't bring what we expected after a real Winter: warm and sunny. I grow the major part of the spring flowering specialty bulbs in pots. In October I place the pots in the greenhouse. As soon as the temperatures drop below zero I cover the pots with foliage to protect them against the frost. In February I have removed the foliage, so I was able to check whether plants have suffered from the frost. There was damage! The leaves of Arum creticum and Arum nigrum had almost completely died off. Later I found out that also the corms had died off. It's a pitty, but on the other hand we still have the pictures. With the other plants I saw no frost damage. Remarkable was the bulbs that the bulbs Albuca humulis grew normally, after been stored in the greenhouse.

In January the land was covered with snow and only by the poles you could see where the bulbs were planted. In the heated greenhouse the plants grew prosperously. Various plants flowered for the first time: Massonia pustulata, the red form of Veltheimia bracteata and various Lachenalia species. During Winter I stored a damaged corm of Amorphophallus konjac knol in my study. The bud on this corm started to grow in January. At first I thought a leaf would be formed, but soon it turned out an inflorescence grew out. It took the plant until March before the it actually flowered. A beautiful sight. It may sound strange, but I missed something the moments the flowers opened: a fragrance. There was almost no fragrance.

The leaves of Ornithogalum sintenissii start to grow in October. The leaves survive our wet or cold winters and flower in March. I harvest the bulbs each year in June to replant them at the beginning of October. I was surprised this year beacuse at the moment of planting the bulbs had only 50% the size when I harvested them. When has caused this? Almost the same time Ornithogalum sintenissii flowers otside in the heated greenhouse Clivias, Albuca circinata, Babiana stricta, Caliphuria korsakoffii, Lachenalia juncifolia and L. namaquensis flower. Within a couple of weeks various outdoor grown specialty bulns will flower: Scilla, Puschkinia and Muscari species and Bulbocodium vernum. One of the early flowering Scilla species is Scilla vincentina in March and as latest Scilla litardieri. differences in moment of flowering: Muscari aucheri in March and at the end of May Muscari pallens.

Amorphophallus konjac	Lachenalia juncifolium	Lilium superbum (Shenandoan National Park/Skyline Drive)
Muscari pallens	Scilla litardieri	Calochortus leichtlinii (Yosemite National Park)

The soil in my garden is mostly humid, caused by the high water level, just 30 cm below the surface of teh soil. Despite this Uvularia grandiflora and Dracunculus vulgaris grow prosporously and flower each year. The Dracunculus causes each year some excitement during flowering. The day of flowering the inflorescence spreads a strong, penatrating smell of rotting meat. Ik have been asked whether I had seen the dead pheasant or hare. They didn't smell a dead animal, but my Dracunculus vulgaris .

In the Summer of 2010 I have visited the USA with my family. We started at the east coast and we have driven a part of the Skyline Drive gereden and we have visited some national parks. We have seen a lot of beautiful things, like wild turkeys, bears and some flowering bulbous plants like Allium cernuum and Lilium superbum. After our drive from Washington DC to Atalanta we flew California, mostly to relax there. One of the activities was a visit to Yosemite National Park. A lot of beautiful things sen there, but I was surprised who many people visit teh park in Summer. On the meadow in The Village dozens Brodiea elegans plants flowered and near Lake Luken Calochortus leichtlinii flowered.

In 2010 various interesting books on bulbs have been published. I name two, which I think of are very interesting. First 'Alpines from Mountain to Garden' written by R. Wilford. Wilford describes who has discovered various alpine plants, what alpine plants are and how they can be grown by looking at their habitat. The second book is' A Field Guide to the Bulbs of Greece', written by C. Gery-Wilsonis and published by The Alpine Garden Society.