It is true that if lilacs are cut, more flowers develop. There are plenty of lilacs here in my area, mostly leftover from another era in farmyards and in older neighborhoods... the plant most over-used in landscaping here is the poor yellow dwarf daylily! I had very good luck with a $4 dwarf lilac, Miss Kim... it has tripled in size in only a couple of years, and flowers very nicely. I couldn't take it with when we moved, so it was given to a friend, and she transplanted it to her garden where it thrives today... Liltika - I thank you for your offer of seeds... I just found out that my gardening partner ordered some agapanthus seeds from some company or other, along with a ton of other seeds, so I'll give these a try... thank you very much, though! I do appreciate the thought! The husband got the email up and running, and down I went with this sickness! I'm just now catching up on email and forum reading... all the while coughing and feeling chilled and then hot... but I am feeling better than I was! I still can't believe I lost a whole week!

As to the claims that the CFLs produce as much heat as a HID I respectfully disagree. I am as cynical as anybody regarding advertising and the like but I know MH and HPS bulbs get extremely hot and will send you to the ER if you are unfortunate enough to touch one while it is on. In my experience the CFL gets slightly warm near the ballast but the bulb could be touched and it won't burn you or your plants. I can keep tops of plants about 3"-5" away from the CFL but about 15" from HID due to heat scorching the plants. The 125 watt Vitalume which emits approximately 10,500 lumens (this is not the equivalent to a 125 watt incandescent which is actually only 42 watts and emits about 1750 lumens) works excellent for plant growth but as others stated it only covers an area of about 2' x 2' effectively. They work great in the hobby greenhouses especially if you line the inside with mylar or something similar. But HID offers most lumens per dollar. For example, 400 watt HPS with hortilux bulb about $275.00 for 58,000 lumens or a budget MH 400 watt with std MH bulb about $200.00 for about 30,000 lumens.

I assume that the Jacarandas are only a weed problem in the summer rainfall parts of South Africa? They didn't seem to be all that commonly planted in Capetown... Here in northern California/San Francisco Bay Area, we are at the northern limit of their adaptability, and they do not naturalize here for lack of summer rains. I also grew very fond of the flora of the western and southern cape on my only trip so far to South Africa, and would highly recommend it to anyone. We are able to grow many South African natives here, and I am especially fond of the fynbos and succulent flora. Here in San Francisco, I have Aloe succotrina, A. ferox, A. arborescens aurea, A. stiata and A. saponaria in bud or bloom, and the first of the Leucodendrons and Leucospermums are either budding up or changing colors for their winter bloom. Some of the bulbs in bloom at present include Nerine bowdenii, Moraea polystachya, Bulbine frutescens and Clivia nobilis and Veltheimia bracteata are in full bloom. Dombeya burguessiae is also putting on a good show, as is the virtually everblooming Polygala dalmasiana. The two forms of Cussonia, C. paniculata and C.spicata have both put on incredible growth spurts this year, and are approaching 10 feet tall after 5 years in the ground, but still no blooms or branching yet. Of course Strelitzia reginae is ubiquitous here in coastal California, and S. nicholai can get tree sized here, but does occasionally get frozen back to the ground in our zone 9 conditions. We can grow many more South African plants here, and the climatic conditions are sufficiently diverse to be able to grow a range of plants, Aloe polyphylla grows rather easily here, without any special efforts. I have recently become interested in some plants that I hadn't realized were represented in South Africa, such as Thamnocalamus tesselatus, which I am using for the first time in a newly planted garden as a clumping screen bamboo. I wish I had bought some Cyathea dreggei and Blechnum tabulare last year when I had the chance, as I admired both when I saw them growing at Kirstenbosch. Of course many succulents from South Africa do very well here as well, and the Cotyledons such as C. macrantha and C. orbiculata are already blooming, and combine so well with mass groundcover plantings of Senecio mandraliscae and Plectranthus neochilus, both still blooming in early winter here, as is the lovely lavender P. zuluensis, and the last of the P. ecklonii, which doesn't seem to be as dependable for bloom in our coastal conditions as the first two species. I like to combine these with other succulents from Mexico and the Canary Islands, such as Echeverias, Sedums and Aeoniums, to get an international mix of succulents! I would love to get back to see South Africa in the summer and fall, and explore the eastern Cape and the Drakensberg Mtns, and will be saving up for the next trip...

Hi! Welcome!! Is it growing a bulb or a flower stalk? Some of the hybrids will surprise you with an autumn bloom. Do you know what hybrid it is or the name? If it were mine, I'd bring it out and put it in a warm sunny window and enjoy the bloom! Some people grow their amaryllis as evergreens and this one seems to be one that would benefit this year! Enjoy!!