A sawfish at the Dallas Aquarium (via oddharmonic's Flickr photostream).

I recently ran across an article about a man who cracked an egg hoping to prepare dinner, and instead of finding egg whites and yoke, he found a fully formed gecko. Unfortunately, I could relate to that man’s situation, since I cracked an egg at the cabin last week only to discover an unfamiliar, semi-solid goop inside… gross.

A fully formed gecko inside the membrane of a chicken egg (via The Daily Telegraph).

Last year I planted a row of what I thought were Crinum Ellen Bosanquet bulbs in the field, but I suspected some culprits of another variety might have sneaked into the row. Sure enough, when they bloomed last week I realized I had planted a mix of Ellen Bosanquets and the Crinum Walter Flory variety! The bulbs and foliage look nearly identical, but as you can see, the blooms are quite different, and the Walter Flory bloom much earlier than the Ellen Bosanquet. Walter Flory trumpets are more open and a softer pink, with gentle gradation toward the edges, while Ellen Bosanquets are a bright, bold magenta or burgundy, and the trumpets stay a little more closed.

Crinum Walter Flory blooms in the field. Though the bulbs and foliage resemble Crinum Ellen Bosanquets, the trumpets are quite distinct!

Crinum Ellen Bosanquet's spunky trumpets provide a beautiful pop of color on our farm, as well as in the home garden.

The trumpets of the Crinum Ellen Bosanquet remain narrowly open; a shyness that betrays her bold hue.

A random assortment of crinums in a bucket on the farm hint at the potential of these showstoppers in a flower arrangement.

Joining Mr. Flory and Ms. Bosanquet on the farm is Mrs. James Hendry, who has made an appearance next to my old truck.

A Crinum Mrs. James Hendry keeps my old truck company.

As I alluded toward the end of my last post, we hope to have Crinum Mrs. James Hendry available for sale very soon!

I’ll post more news from the farm before departing later this week for a bulb-hunting trip in Houston. Until then, I hope you’ll allow me to share some “housekeeping” updates. We have re-enabled the blog’s RSS feature, so those of you who would like to follow us in Google Reader or other feed readers may do so. Also, the comment function (next to the post title) has been restored, so please share your thoughts! I’ll look forward to reading them.

Labels: bulb, bulb-hunting, crinum, fish, planting

A haphazard congregation of oxblood lilies

The Pickens began telling me about a giant crinum blooming nearby. It turns out it was a Crinum Powellii "Roseum," which Southern Bulbs sells, along with the white Crinum Powellii “Album” variety. As I listened to Mary Anne share her hope of one day digging up the nearby crinum and making a home for it, I couldn’t help but think of the pile of broken shovels I have amassed trying to liberate several crinums whose roots have grown and strengthened to the point that extraction becomes impossible.

Another garden friend in Southeast Texas shared this photo of blooming Crinum Powellii "Album."

Reenergized by such a pleasant visit, I stopped and said "hello" to another gardening friend in the area, whose stunning Crinum Mrs. James Hendry supply was in full bloom. I was tempted to steal a few, but again, visions of the shovel graveyard danced in my head. We are working on having more of the Mrs. James Hendry variety available soon, once I invest in a double-reinforced titanium steel shovel.

A "glamour shot" of a Crinum Mrs. James Hendry

A Crinum Mrs. James Hendry in Southeast Texas. We're working to build up our inventory of this stunning bloom.

Expect more news from the farm soon, as I have just returned from a business trip to Mississippi where I stayed at a 1920s home a few miles outside of Monroe. The fireflies illuminated the dusk on Thursday night as this small town’s entire population filled the stands of a modest baseball field to cheer on the high school team.

A crow perched atop the old Mississippi home where I stayed

It was difficult to leave such a Rockwellian scene, but duty called. I returned to the farm to rebuild the cold frame that succumbed to an accidental fire last year and last seasons devastating winds.

Lucky for me, crinums are much easier to plant than they are to extract; I am spending the remainder of the week planting crinums in our field.

Labels: bulb, bulb-hunting, crinum, oxblood, planting