The crowning moment in travels this spring was a trip to Jersey Island (hence the Jersey Cow in the picture), a channel island between England and France. This trip was for several reasons, which I will go into later, but it started off on the wrong foot. We all seem to have a problem around Southern Bulb, and that is remembering our passports. I was in Houston, ready to go, when I realized my passport was 5 hours away back at the farm. Therefore, I left Houston in the late afternoon, arrived back at the farm (and cleaned my fish aquarium), then headed to College Station where I met my ride to Houston at 3AM. My body was hinging on utter exhaustion, and the international travel did me in. Even with filtered coffee and espressos at every meal, I still couldn’t keep my eyes open, much less have time to blog in the evenings.
The bulbs are creating a good deal of excitement over there though. Just next week, Ann Swan’s artwork chronicling the heirloom bulbs will be displayed at the Chelsea Flower Show. She just finished the old Roman Hyacinth, and used as her example bulbs from two well known horticulturists in the South. The next will be the Byzantine gladiolus and the Lycoris radiata, both of which are spectacular. It was to my surprise on my last trip overseas to have a 10 minute interview with the BBC and a nice sit down conversation with the local paper. I plan to write more about these experiences, how they relate to the South and how the flower bulbs in your back yard (many of which are the “Adam and Eve” of modern hybrids) are making a splash around the world.

I traveled to North Carolina for a speech in New Bern at Tryon Palace. The talk was on Saturday and it was one of those that I really felt I did a good job on, and everybody else said so also. The day before, I did not feel like I did my best, and I find it funny how it can change from day to day. Tryon Palace (Lisa Wimpfeimer) were wonderful host and I enjoyed my visit in this historic North Carolina town. New Bern, believe it or not, claims to be THE PORT where Captain Roberts brought home the red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) from Japan, and many residents call it the New Bern lily! Lisa and I are going to continue to exchange information as we hunt down the facts surrounding this heirloom. Tryon Palace itself was very nice and is a historic site very much dedicated to the proper restoration of the gardens and structures according to the time period.
Now I am off to visit some Crinum growers. Two of the nation’s best Crinum breeders were at my speech on Friday, when I really got nervous and sped things up. It doesn’t help when you open up the wrong presentation and don’t realize until 5 minutes into your talk! Hopefully visit with another grower today. It is Crinum time all around the South. Many of the early hybrids and C. bulbispermum are coming up. Our C. bulbispermum have already bloomed and are sending up another stalk. This one below is a C. scabrum and C. bulbispermum cross and is quickly becoming one of our favorites.