Fig tree expansion

I've managed to find some properly labelled fig trees at the Starke Ayres garden centre in Cape Town.

I now at last have a real "Adams" fig tree, and a proper "Kadota", to replace the ones I bought at the Sunnyside nursery in Grahamstown. Comparing the trees, small as they are, it's obvious they're different, and the ones from Starke Ayres match other pictures from the web of the Adams and Kadota.

Additionally, assuming the labels are accurate, I got nice healthy specimens of "Deanna", "Parisian", "Black Mission", and "Tangier". Tangier is apparently a Smyrna fig variety that needs to be pollinated, so it might not be very successful.

The new arrivals survived the trip from Cape Town in the back of an open bakkie without suffering much wind damage and still have to be put into pots.

Together with the seven trees I already had, this makes thirteeen in pots in total, plus the old original planted in the ground. So, there are three of uncertain parentage -- the fake Kadota and Adams and the old original. Identifying these will be a challenge...

The older ones -- with labels from Sunnyside, so might be misleading -- are "White Genoa", "Cape Brown", "Cape White", "Avignon" and "Black Toulouse". The White Genoa is from 2015 or so, while the others are from late 2016 or early 2017.


In addition to all the above, I have a bird propagated fig seedling that I found in the garden and transplanted into a large black bag. It's doing well, but too young to fruit. The new Deanna is a very tall and sturdy whip, so it might be possible to prune it way back and try to propagate from the cut off bit.

Black Mission.... I messed up by trying to detach the sucker and half broke the main plants connection to the root mass. After transplanting, it's badly wilted.

Planted the sucker in small pot.

Kadota

.
Parisian

Adam... the real one.

Deanna

Tangier

Unusual Sparaxis, Tritonia and Babiana bulbs

On a recent trip to see our grandson (and his parents and aunt) in Cape Town, the mandatory shopping splurge at the Starke Ayres nursery in Observatory uncovered a whole lot of indigenous bulbs for sale.

I've often planted the "usual" Hadeco Sparaxis and Tritonia offerings, but this is the first time I've seen these:

Sparaxis bulbifera - about 13 tiny bulbs planted in a mix of acid compost, sand, and seedling mix.

Sparaxis multiflora variety multiflora - about 8 bulbs in a mix of sand and seedling mix.

Sparaxis villosa - about 6 bulbs in herb seedling mix.

Sparaxis elegans - 5 bulbs in seedling mix.

Sparaxis multiflora - 6 bulbs in seedling mix.

Tritonia deusta - 5 bulbs in herb seedling mix.

Tritonia crocata - 5 bulbs in seedling mix.

Babiana "Tulbagh" selection - 5 bulbs.

All of these bulbs need to be planted in autumn, so they're planted just in time. Most had already started sprouting and all looked healthy. Where there were more bulbs in the packet than advertised, the extras were comparatively small.

With luck, these will grow, and propagate.

F1 Ferrari Shallots

Should be planted by Michael Schumacher?

Seemingly these are a thing:

I have another two pots - need to find a diverse sort of place for them. More sun? Wetter? Drier?

Update 2017/02/20:

These all died off ages ago.

Update 2017/03/25:

No they didn't. All the tyres that contained shallots are showing signs of renewed life... and I nearly replanted.

Update 2017/04/30:

Doing well enough to transplant some into new tyres -- now got 2 with local type shallots, and 4 with the Cape Town version.

Hales Best sweet melon

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Never been successful with this sort of thing before, but after good results with squash in a tyre last season I'm giving them a go.

Planted 9 seeds, let's see if they come up in 10 to 15 days.

Update 2016/10/29

Update 2016/11/03:

Update 2016/11/29:

Update 2016/12/02:

Hybrid Squash Star 8080 - patty pan II?

Planted 3 seeds in open ground. Claims 50 days to harvest, so should be eating these by Xmas?

Update 2015/11/28:

They didn't germinate, so planted four more in a seed box this afternoon. Three seeds left in packet.

Update 2015/12/06:

Still no signs of germination. Mark this one down in the book of failure to do anything at all except waste time.

Update 2015/12/13:

One seedling. Let's see if more come up. Two weeks to germinate seems quite a long time.

Update 2015/12/20:

Two seedlings - at last - from the three seeds planted in open ground. That's five weeks to germinate?

Update 2016/01/28:

Flowering while still quite small - might be better suited to tyres?

Tillandsia blowout

Interesting to see what a nursery in a big town can provide (Starke Ayres Garden Centre, Rosebank):

So, who could resist that? Certainly not me! I bought a whole bunch:

I'll sort out the labelling of these later on. And also work out how to hang them up outside.

Here they are now:

Update 2015/11/29:

The hanging garden.

They all seem to be doing quite well, and there's traces of new leaves on most, and a flower bud on one.

Update 2016/11/19:

Here they are after hanging outside for a year with minimal attention...