Gloriosa superba

Does anyone have any experience with this? How hardy are we talking, can it be mulched and kept in the ground overwinter? I've got one just starting to flower now and would like some advice on overwintering etc.

 

Hi John
Quite a few of us on here have grown this , as you know its a tuber that dies down over the winter I have only over winter in the pot kept in the greenhouse but must be kept frost free at all times otherwise the plant will die and not left wet and soggy as the tuber will rot.

Roughly where do you live in the UK and where about in the garden are you wanting to grow it , it is tender and likes very well drained but moisture retentive soil

Be interesting what the others have to say ...

Spruce

 

Only grown G, rothschilidana.
But I treat that very carefully.
Dies at the drop of a hat.

I get the feeling John is not in the UK.
Its so easy to state your location I dont know why people dont.

 

@simbad grew amazing one last year I remember the photo

 

I live in Ellesmere Port, on the Mersey estuary. I think I'll treat it like a dahlia and lift it once the first frost comes and dry store in newspaper.

 

Grown G.superba for years.

Quoted as hardy down to -9°c, but that would be based on it being bone dry I think. Not hardy in the UK anyway, even in a mild winter.

Rothschildiana is just a selection of G.superba Pete.

Only if overwatered before coming into growth. The only thing that ever killed mine are the mice (?) that found the pot of them and bloody well ate most of them!

Well, you're stuck with that now if they're in the ground.
Here's a photo of what you'll lift..................


Each cluster is a "mother" with one or two "daughters". You need to lift them carefully as the chances of losing the family are significantly increased by snapping them. The mother will not grow again anyway (this is natural), and instead the daughters will become mothers next year (and so the cycle goes).
So I grow in pots. In the spring pot up if new, or repot if from last year in good,fresh and clean
MPC with added grit/sand for free draining. Water lightly from the bottom and place somewhere warm. When in growth water fairly freely, from the bottom if possible.
Mid to late September withdraw water and allow the plant to die back and the pot to dry out fully before winter storage.
Repot again the next spring and you're fit to go!

 

I don't think it is part of the registration form, so folk have to have the inclination to go find the Personal Details page and edit it. I'd like location to be a compulsory part of registration so that we don;t have to keep asking people to fill it in so we know if they are in the mild south, or the Arctic north!

 

I found them easy to grow from seed, I had a good potful for a few years. I used to keep the pot in the spare room overwinter but I'm not sure if this was necessary as I think they survived in the greenhouse for at least one winter. I think it was overwet that done for them, although Longk has raised the possibility that it might have been mice.

If yours are in the garden I think you'll have to lift them in the Autumn and overwinter in a pot of barely damp compost. They are late to shoot in spring and I think the barest dribble of moisture until you see some action is good advice.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, I am definitely going to have to lift it in autumn. So I'll probably be asking all sorts of question come then lol.

 

I would say definitely not hardy in our climate. I have grown them from seed - but can never get the large tubers that you can buy. In fact after a large, bought, tuber has flowered the next year's tubers are always smaller - ie they seem to be on a downward path. Has anyone managed to produce a really large tuber of their own - and if so how?

I think the tubers do rot fairly easily. I understand the secret is to pot the tuber up, water it once, put it in the shade, and then never water it again till you can see top growth.

Charlie Pridham http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk/ says
Littonia modesta
A climbing lily with all orange flowers in summer usually grows around 6 feet before flowering here, not as showy as Gloriosa perhaps but a lot easier to grow! From southern Africa, the tubers should not be watered when not in growth. (min temp; ground must not freeze, avoid damp sites)

L. modesta has now been reclassified as Gloriosa modesta.

 

Yes - see my post above!

I water them in from the bottom. My thinking is that capillary action will allow the medium to take enough moisture only.

First one has germinated here.
I also have G.carsonii and G.lutea growing too.

 

I grow mine giving it the extreme tender/tropical treatment.

One thing to be aware of is Gloriosa is very poisonous

 

True. And I hope that the mice (or whatever it was that ate almost all my stock) died a very slow and painful death!

 

Not sure how big the tubers in the photo are - no scale! Mine were certainly branched and about 8cm long AFAIR. They flowered well enough anyway.

 

The first ones I had I got from Anglia Bulbs. Thought they had to be planted vertically, and I had to cut the bottom out of a Rose pot and create a two-tier pot, using a second Rose pot as a 1/3rd, or more, "extension". Can't remember the length, but they must have been getting on for a foot I suppose?