The royal group of spectacular flowering bulbs, the Haemanthus or blood lilies, forming one of the amaryllis family’s most colorful and aristocratic sections, shows a strong and steady upward trend toward greater popularity and appreciation in America.
European greenhouse growers have always beloved the Haemanthus, and a few outstanding hybrids have been reported from the continent in modern times, at least two of which are still available in the Holland bulb trade, “Xing Albert” and “Andromeda.”
In America, the Haemanthus has had to fight a long battle, almost unaided, to gain a place in the sun.
Cultivation of Haemanthus Species
There are half a dozen species in cultivation in the United States, and the most commonly grown are Haemanthus katharinae and H. multiflorus. Interestingly enough, the main growing regions of these two kinds are sharply divided.
Most of the H. multiflorus bulbs are found in Florida, where they have made themselves perfectly at home and have become treasured porch plants and tub specimens in old gardens and new.
Some 15 years ago, a retired Connecticut florist, the late R. E. Morrison of Tavares, Fla., showed the writer a colony of multiflorus in the negro section of Eustis, Fla., numbering more than 100 bulbs.
These were soon snapped up by willing purchasers at good prices. However, inquiry as to the origin of the bulbs revealed only the information.
“Grandma got a bulb of a sailor in St. Augustine” many years before, and the large supply represented the natural increase of the original bulb.
The late Dr. Henry Nehrling grew Haemanthus in his pioneer Florida garden, and today the H bulbs.
Multiflorus may be found in little collections of five to a dozen or more over the sunshine state, mostly in the hands of backyard garden growers. As far as I know, the only species grown commonly in Florida is H. multiflorus.
Haemanthus katharinae is grown utmost exclusively in California and in northern greenhouses and homes. It does not seem to thrive in Florida.
The bulbs may not like the acid soils and heavy summer rainfall, which suit H. multiflorus well. H. katharinae comes from South Africa; H. multiflorus comes from the more tropical parts of the dark continent, which may explain the situation.
Blood Lily Features
The blood lilies are among the showiest flowers of nature, both H. multiflorus and H. Katharinae producing large umbels of scarlet or orange-red flowers so thickly set atop a foot-tall scape that the resulting impression is a flaming ball of color.
There may be 100 or more flowers in the umbel of a vigorous, well-grown plant. The globe of “fire” may be 8″ to 10″ inches in diameter at the maximum. In India, the shape of the bloom suggested the popular name “Football Lily.”
The foliage appears simultaneously or just after the bloom scape in the case of H. multiflorus, while H. Katharinae usually blooms after the foliage is more advanced.
The leaves are ovate and rich green, spreading around the leafy stem, which forms a strong trunk several inches tall, spotted with dark red to a more or less degree.
Temperature and Soil
The multiflorous is deciduous, the leaves dying off completely in winter. The plants are purely tropical and should never be exposed to temperatures below 50° degrees Fahrenheit unless thoroughly dormant.
Winter storage at temperatures below that point is apt to injure the bulb. H. Katherinae goes dormant in late winter but retains its foliage longer than the other.
The Haemanthus likes a growing medium of leaf mold-type sandy loam with a little well-rotted manure or compost added.
Fertilization and Watering
A teaspoonful of a complete 5-7-5 commercial fertilizer may be added to the top of the pot three or four times during the growing season.
Watering should be sparing at first until the bulb grows vigorously; then, more water may be given, but drainage must always be good, or the roots will rot away.
Among other species of Haemanthus occasionally grown and offered in the United States are II. albiflos, a dainty little white-flowered rarity, II. puniceus, an old favorite, and II. coccineus.
Another classic of the group is the culture that goes back hundreds of years in Europe. Most of the species are interesting but do not have the sparkling beauty of multiflorus and Katharine.
Bulbs Of Multiflorus
H. multiflorus bulbs are like amaryllis with an enlarged base, and H. Katharine is similar. The dormant bulbs are usually planted with the growing tip just at the top of the soil in seven- or eight-inch pots or in gallon cans.
The bloom scapes arise at the side of the leafy stem. The bulbs have large, white, fleshy roots which must be protected carefully in winter to prevent shriveling, as in the case of Ismene, and to retain vitality.
The writer stores his bulbs in their pots in winter in a warm, dry place without watering or disturbing the soil until April 1st. Then the bulbs are repotted and watered to start the new growth cycle.
Haemanthus bulbs may be grown in the garden or open ground in the tropics and subtropics.
Purchasing Haemanthus Bulbs
It usually is considered too rare and costly for this risk of exposure to the ravages of grasshoppers and caterpillars, but a few species of these insects find them highly desirable.
Currently, the bulbs of both H. katharine and H. multiflorous may range up to five or ten dollars each.
With increased popularity and demand, it will be possible to propagate or import new stock and bring them within reach of the flower fan with a moderate purse.
Purchase of a Haemanthus bulb, if it lives and thrives, is a good financial investment and one rich in gardening pleasure, as many a Florida housewife makes a sizable contribution to her pin money with the sale of spare bulbs of her Haemanthus stock.
Naturalization
H. coccineus, which E. O. Orpet has reported finding naturalization on a ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif., has a European origin, being first reported by Ferrarius in the garden of the famous Renaissance patron of horticulture, Cardinal Barberini, in Rome.
Ferrarius presented two engravings of the plant in his 1033 works, De Florum Cultura, pages 137 and 139, extraordinary in their accuracy and realism for the time.
The various Haemanthus, especially H. multiflorus, were popular “stove plants” 75-100 or more years ago in Europe and were pictured and described in many of the classical works of botany and horticulture.
Origins Of Haemanthus Name
The name Haemanthus, or blood-flower, goes back to the venerable Hermann late in the 17th century and was accepted by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum in 1753.
Its popularity 150 years ago in the early English greenhouses may be judged from an account in the Botanical Magazine, 1800.
It says, “From the first establishment of a colony at Sierra I .come the bulbs of this beautiful flower (H. multiflorus) have been imported from thence, and it is rather common in our stoves.”
Planting Seeds
The brown coat of a cut-tail consists of densely crowded nutlets that look like minute seeds.
You must gather these seeds in summer, in blackberry time, if you wish to keep them for winter.
If you wait till October, the down within becoming restless will push aside the nutlets and pop out in fluffy cushions.
Each nutlet at the tip of a delicate, white plume, untold numbers of plumes are packed tightly in each spike. They puff out, loosen and sail off in the air, carrying nutlets along with them. — Nell McMukkay
Aluminum strips, 10″ long and 2″ inches wide, suspended over newly planted seeds or strawberries or around the taller growing small fruit kinds, will keep the birds away.
The noise and reflection of light also frighten birds and other garden pests. The aluminum strips are light and move at the slightest breeze.
44659 by Wyndham Hayward