Pleasure in Flowering Bulbs as a Hobby 
Most people are more contented and 
(shall we say) happy when their spare mo- 
ments are occupied by some thing of in- 
terest which we so often call their hobby. 
Apparently we hobbyists are all busy people; 
one person with photography, another wood 
work, or painting or writing, etc., and there 
are the flower lovers who make a hobby of 
growing Roses or Dahlias or Orchids, but to 
have the acquaintance of only one other per- 
son whose hobby is collecting flowering bulbs 
of all varieties; and here I use the word 
bulb in the nurseryman’s manner of speak- 
ing, of course botanically some are corms, 
some bulbs, while others are tubers. 
Recently I heard a talk by a retired man 
about his hobby. He started off by saying, 
“If a retired man has a hobby and is over 
enthusiastic about it he talks crazy; if a re- 
tired man has no hobby he goes crazy’. 
There is almost no end to the many hobbies 
and interests men and women can enjoy; 
and some can become quite profitable; but an 
interest in any variety of flowers makes a 
wonderful and healthy pastime. 
Finding the Right Flowers 
Some years ago I was greatly interested in 
Gladiolus and was hybridizing in the hopes of 
bringing forth a good blue flower; but the 
thrips seemed to make a sudden and force- 
ful attact on my garden of a few hundred 
Glads; the leaves turned white and the flow- 
ers withered. Not knowing how to handle 
the situation in those days, I was thoroughly 
disgusted and disposed of the whole collect- 
ion. I knew there were a few other kinds of 
bulbs such as Narcissus, Tulips, Hyacinths, 
Freesias, etc. which were listed in most 
catalogs but they didn’t seem of interest un- 
til passing a garden one day in which there 
was a bed of assorted Sparaxis and the bril- 
liant flowers with their combinations of col- 
ors caught my attention and at once I be- 
came interested in flowering bulbs. To my 
surprise I found there were many species and 
varieties besides the ones I had already 
known and as my collection grew, my inter- 
est grew also and now there are bulbs from 
many different countries gathered togeather 
in my garden. Still there are others to col- 
lect; one from Costa Rica, four form Peru 
and Ecuador, others in Natal, S. W. Africa, 
Australia, etc. Its a great hobby and full of 
interest yet it may cover too large a field for 
most people and in this case as is already be- 
ing done one can specialize in any one of 
the bulb group. 
Flowering Bulbs of Interest 
As mentioned before in this article there 
are flower lovers making a collection of the 
Narcissus, Gladiolus hybrids, Lilies, Iris, etc; 
a very fine collection of species and hybrids 
can be made from any one of the above, but 
for those who want something different there 
is the Arum family with flowers shaped like 
Calla lilies and in colors from white to deep- 
est red and sizes from seven or eight inches 
to the one and a half to two foot dark red 
Dracunculus. The Haementhus family has 
about thirty species and some are very fine; 
especially H. katherinea;; a fine species from 
Natal. The Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) an old 
time garden favorite nas become very popul- 
ar on account of the many new hybrids now 
available; some of the flowers are quite large 
and when not listed under fancy name, are 
known as Amaryllis Mammoth. They set 
seed readily and are easy to grow. My gard- 
en contains a pretty hybrid which the grower 
By W. E. WHITE 
claimed is a cross between Amaryllis and ~ 
Clivia giving it more of the Clivia color but 
the Amaryllis flower. There are few bulbs 
that will give the beginner a bigger show for 
his money. 
For the Smaller Garden 
For the ‘gardener who wants a small and 
inexpensive collection of very colorful bulb 
flowers there is the Sparaxis with its many 
hybirds; of course at once you think of S. 
tricolor which is usually listed in the many 
catalogs but there are two other species, 
grandiflora and bulbifera; the latter being 
likely most of them are hybrids. The flow- 
ers are charming all through their develop- 
ment. At first they are erect and cup-shap- 
ed. At night they close and remain closed 
on dark days looking some thing like oblong 
pieces of bright colored candy; as they grow 
Ider they open wider and become more star- 
shaped. As a cutflower they make quite a 
novel bouquet, especially when closed. 
There are flowering buibs native to almost 
every country but the largest assortment is 
found in the southern part of Africa; and to 
those people in South Africa who may read 
this article, I would suggest a most interest- 
This shows a part of the plantings of bulbs on our seed farm....Admiring them, is 
John Ireland, our most dependable employee. 
has now dug up all the bulbs you see in this picture! 
flowers is Ladd, our luxury horse; he is about as near as you can get to him! 
Mr. Ireland is 83 and still working. He 
In the back ground, admiring the 
All he 
has to do is a very little cultivating but more effort is expended in catching him than 
he is called upon to do when he is caught and that is always by some trick which only 
works once; we have only one of these ideas left in reserve now and probabiy we 
should hold this to get him up for the winter. 
Mr. Ireland often remarks, when he 
looks at this fellow, ‘My, how I would like to be a horse on this place” 
more of a tubular yellow flower; but the 
greatest pleasure is with the many hybrids 
and most of these are from a cross between 
Sparaxis and Straptanthera some times listed 
as Sparanthera. Here you get many colors 
and’ combinations of colors from white thr- 
ough rose, brick red, carmine, dark red to 
dark purple and many of them with that 
lovely violet center from its Streptanthera 
parentage. I recently saw a couple of very 
lovely hybrids, one in which the cream 
colored flowers had a medium sized pink 
stripe down the center of each petal which 
the grower smilingly called his ‘painted 
lady”. Another hybrid which caught my 
attention was a rich red flower with a short 
cream stripe on each petal at the center of 
the flower. This he had named Red Beauty. 
For a still smaller collection there is the 
Ixia with colors from white through yellow, 
burnt orange, pink, red to dark violet. 
There are a number of named varieties, and 
ing hobby would be a garden of native flower 
bulbs, and don’t let that word native confine 
you to the southern tip or Cape province for 
Natal has some wonderful bulbs; so has 
S. W. Africa and no doubt other parts of 
your country and the enjoyment of this 
hobby will be in finding each new flowering 
bulb to add to your garden. 
IRIS IN ALASKA 
You may be interested to know that while 
certain types of Iris do very well here, others 
are a loss each year. Alaska is quite fam- 
ous for its wild Iris of the fibrous rooted 
type, which grow in very swampy ground. 
(1 believe you have had some seed of this 
species collected by someone in Alaska). 
We have transplanted large clumps of these 
into our own yard and after the first year 
they put forth a fine display, never missing 
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