I am also constantly looking for a good source of this bulb as well as large specimens of Brunsvigia. The only source of mature bulbs that I have found is at RareExotics in Hollywood California. The only problem with this source is that he collects from the wild so his material is morally questionable. Which sources have you been most succesful with in the U.S. I have been desperately looking for some of the bulbs that you have listed above with very little luck.

I got many of mine from Guy Wrinkle who you know. However, I think it is a mistake to assume he collects all of his plants and here is why: I have been trying to arrange an export from Penroc Plants in South Africa and they are just horrible.....I mean after more than 3 months of trying to have them send me a list of rare plants for export and saying the order would be north of $1K they finally got back to me today and said that since they ship to Guy Wrinkle as a wholesaler they did not want to damage his business by selling to me directly. Of course, that means that he gets some of his stuff just like the rest of us, but it also means that the goofs at Penroc are not interested in selling only $1-2K of bulbs I guess. I told them that without the Boophane I had no interest in the other plants they offer since it was the Boophane that I originally contacted them about.....I had even gotten about 6 others on board so that we could place a really large order.....I e-mailed them back today and said basically they should stop wasting my time.

So, long and short, no good sources. OOA has some on occassion, but their prices are too high....I've never bought Boophane from them because of that.....a few other plants I did get from them.

Sorry :o) Dan

Have you been happy with the quality of plants you recieved from Guy Wrinkle? I have heard mixed reviews and rumors of very bad customer service, but these complaints may very well be coming from difficult customers. Would love to hear if you were satisfied with your orders. Good luck finding your Boophane.

Yep, the Boophane and other plants I have gotten from him have been first rate, grew well and were exactly as advertised!! I have heard that people complain if they are buying one of his small plants as they are clueless about what to expect. He also will NOT send you a pic of a plant, even if it is expensive for the most part. If you buy from his web site and can see the actual bulb being offered they are awesome in my opinion......you can see pics of some of mine either on this forum or if you e-mail me such that I can e-mail you back I can send you a link to my PhotoBucket site and you can see a few more of mine. Best of luck :o) Dan

Just got in the first box of a massive shipment coming from South Africa....this box had some lovely Boophane sp. 'Port Elizabeth' and the one I am keeping has roots emerging during shipment and a leaf popping out so I am quite excited to add this one to my collection.....I got a lot of massive (16-18 cm diameter) Ammocharis coranica coming and some huge (12.5 cm diameter) Ledebouria zebrina and many, many others coming as well.....can not wait till they get here :o) Dan

Does this happy post that you had success with Penroc or did you find another source? Congratulations. Doug

sorry for the typos! I forgot to proofread before sending!

it was meant to say "bulb sizes"..

have you been growing your boophane disticha for a long time? 6-8 inches in diamater seems huge compared to mine! (see earlier post I made about boophane in another thread)
do you have any pictures of them?
Pontus

Hi Pontus,

I have posted pics of my plants several times on various forums so will not bother again right now, but you can see the on GW with a simple search. I tend to import as places like Paul Christian are way, way too expensive. I have imported from a few different nurseries in SA, all of which are highly regarded in the plant community and have been around for a long time.

I have asked many times if people are interested in going in on orders with me at cost, but rarely get takers as people do not know me....I completely understand. I do not say what nurseries because I want to make sure they have the next batch of bulbs my friends and I are trying to acquire :o) Right now I have some Cyphostemma segmentatum on the way, some Brunsvigia radulosa some Tylecodon, etc. I'm sure I will do another order later this spring :o) dan

Hi Dan,

if you are ordering anything again, I wouldnt mind going in wih you on an order.

I have e mailed penroc for a list ages ago, and again last week, but they have never gotten back to me.

As you say, Paul Christian's south african bulbs tend to be far too expensive. recently he added to his website a number of rare gethyllis, which where on averege £ 88 per bulb! he also has a very nice form of brunsvigia radulosa, but again, its £ 54.50!.

Pontus

Hi Pontus, I have a large number of Brunsvigia radulosa now from 4 different accessions and some have adapted quite nicely to my summer so that is nice!!

I managed to get some Boophone ernesti-ruschii seed about 3 weeks ago and I am happy to say that most have their first leaves!! These were collected in Namibia and each seed was sort of expensive, but well worth it since they were freshly harvested, healthy seed!

I will likely not get anything else from South Africa until next year as I have too many things and need to take a break. Charles at Penroc can be tough to contact, but he has some amazing specimen size bulbs once you can get him :o) Dan

Hi Dan,

I managed to find some of your pics of boophanes and ammocharis here on garden web, have you also posted brunsvigia pics somewhere?

How big are your brunsvigia radulosa bulbs? Paul. C says his special form of radulosa bulbs are 5 cm across. he says this is flowering sized for this species...

However, I highly doubt that his supposedly flowering sized brunsvigia bosmaniae bulbs are flowering sized. he says they are 4.5cm across. That seems a bit too small for a bulb which produces such a massive flower ball and large, flat leaves, dont you think?

I was considering buying one of his specially selected, dark cerise coloured ammocharis, but I saw this morning that it was sold out. Which was perhaps just as good, since it spared my wallet a bit!!. (the bulb I was thinking of getting was £ 81.50!, which must be at least $160...)

how much do you pay in general for your ammocharis? I bet I can find some a bit cheaper somewhere...

would you by any chance know how big a flowering sized bulb of nerine huttoniae is meant to be?

hope your ernstii rusthii seedlings do well
Pontus

Hi Pontus,

Remember there are several accessions of most Brunsvigia, including radulosa. I have 3-4 accessions with some of them being as big as 12 cm in diameter and others being more like 5-6 cm in diameter so it is quite possible that his are just a smaller variant. My B. bosmaniae are small and are supposedly blooming size from Charles Craib, but they have not flowered so I can not be sure. I did post my B. radulosa pic somewhere, but no clue where I put them....likely on the Amaryllis forum.

You can buy a blooming size Ammocharis for around $30 from Out of Africa when they have them. I got my really big 7" diameter ones for $60 from South Africa, but the shipping is expensive as well.

My Nerine huttoniae have not bloomed for me......likely because my growing season is not nearly long enough......I imported them as blooming size 4 years ago and they were not that large to be honest......can't remember exactly how large though.

If I get some more stuff from South Africa I will try to let people know so they can go in on an order :o) Dan

Hi everyone,
I am a new comer, and we often buy some Gethyllis from Penroc, but they often run out of stock, and anyone could recommend some other supplier? thanks in advance.

I know of one good source in South Africa...website is www.d-oblong-nursery.com
And they recently have been offering good sized rescue bulbs of various species including Boophone, Brunsvigia, Haemanthus and LARGE Gethyllis bulbs...
And all at reasonable prices...

I am waiting for half of my paid order from d-oblong-nursery
over an year now
I send plenty of emails to Andrew
never a response
A few months ago he send me a list with rescue plants
I answered if it was possible to get my paid bulbs from last year first
again till now no reaction

Roland

Does anyone in this forum ever have boophone seeds to swap? Did d-oblong ever come through for you Roland? When it comes to species plants, I tend to look for seeds rather than plants ...just a thing with me. Feel free to email me.

Thanks!

--Rick/CT