Worsleya Procera in Tasmania
degrees F, and will expand its flowers fully at day temperatures of about 60 degrees F. In its natural habitat the temperatures of this period vary between 55 and 75 degrees F. The flowering period in the Organ Mountains is January and February (high summer) corresponding to our July and August. March is the close of the flowering period (our September).
Bulbs which I bought to Isleworth flowered with me in March the year after introduction, but three years later they began flowering in August.
The cultivation of Hippeastrum procerum is full of difficulty. To succeed one should construct a house in which an almost saturated atmosphere could be maintained , combined with a briskly moving air. This could only be accomplished by the use of air fans. Winter temperatures ranging from 40 to 50 degress F, should be arranged for, and, for summer some 12 degrees higher.
No shading should be allowed excepting about midsummer, when it would sometimes be found necessary to prevent the sun from rushing the temperature above 80 degrees F.
The big bulbs can be supported at an angle of about 45 degrees with the horizonal until they have obtained a firm root hold on rock. With me they did fairly well in nine inch drain pipes filled with rock and charcol and chippings of stone, covered with a little Oak-leaf compost and bits of live moss ( not Spagnum). Owing to the exposure of the roots a constant war must be waged on wood lice. Any bulb planted in earth will certainly die in a year or so. Arthington Worsley.
Days later the phone rang gently and Errol told me I could have two plants.
The fun and games are only just beginning, as you shall all surely see in Part Two.
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