Lachenalia for one.

They certainly have similar leaves... And they're both from the Hyacinth family. Hmm.

Does it work with Hyacinths?

See the link below for two "hyacinth's" that it's supposed to work with.

Not really worth your knowing that H. candicans (syn Galtonia candicans) does this, given your trouble in growing it, I suppose. But, if H.orientalis is still the same beast, it might be worth a try if you got tired of scooping & scoring. I wonder whether the yield would compare though?

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-9618(194010)67%3A7%3C602%3APOHBLC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0

Funny you should mention that, kayman. The Galtonias grow lushly - they just don't flower and I'm still working on the problem.

However, I went up-garden and took a healthy-looking leaf and I'm watching with interest.

I've recovered a few bought-in Hyacinths that had grubs in the middle: cleaned out the creature, perched the bulb on top of sharp grit and kept the mix damp - to get lots of daughter bulbs for growing on. It'll be a few years yet before they're ready to flower, but I can wait (sort of!)

Thanks for the extra info.