Re: Triste
- Subject: Re: Triste
- From: maria guzman m*@3RIVERS.NET
- Date: Fri, 6 May 2005 09:30:58 -0600
>BlankHello - I wonder if anyone could give advice on propagating P.triste.
>
>Gwen
I've pasted below a couple of items I saved from several years ago (on
Fat-Plants I believe..). I grew two triste's for a year but discarded them
to concentrate on hybrids in my limited space. An interesting plant
however.
Maria
>Pelargonium triste was the first Pelargonium species introduced into
>cultivation. It has a very large branched tuber from which
>the annual flowering branches and leaves
are produced. It is native to the Western Cape
and Southern Cape areas of South Africa, growing in sandy soils.
It is a very variable species.
>A full grown plant is large, up to 1 meter 3 feet) across.
Leaves are carrot like, being quite finely divided, and very
hairy. Flowers are produced on branched stems, and
are variable from almost all yellow through yellow with
slight brownish patches on the lower petals. Easily propagated
from seed, but even easier by tuber divisions. This species
should be grown in a large container, as the tuberous root system
is very large, and a plant will never reach the beauty of a
mature plant in a small container.
Plants that are watered all year tend to struggle and
make very weak growth. They should be allowed dormancy
during summer.
-------------------------------------------------------
> P. pulverulentum and P. triste both grow from large tubers; the latter is
>generally included with the South African winter growers, however one
>school of thought considers them, along with many other seasonally-growing
>tuberous and caudiciform plants, as opportunists that take advantage of
>water whenever available. The wisest route is to observe and follow the
>plants' lead. When I received a mixed shipment of mostly "winter-growing"
>tubers including two of pulverulentum and two of triste in early June
>about half had no leaves, the rest were already pushing out new ones. I
>planted them all in a peat-based mix (they like a slightly acid soil with
>excellent drainage) with added sand and perlite, leaving the tuber tips
>exposed, and placed the dormant pots in our cool basement by a small
>window. Within the month more woke up. However it's now October and
>several other species while obviously alive have yet to begin growing. I
>expect this method is no different in principle from storing bulbs or
>tuberous begonias.
>Pulverulentum develops a very large tuber and produces annual stems from
>the top. It's native to the summer-rainfall tall-grassland areas of the
>Eastern Cape, Transkei and Natal. Although it is considered a summer
>grower, mine are both happily ignoring the season and leafing out
>vigorously. Leaves are rather large, blue-green, somewhat fleshy and vary
>widely. Leaves of certain forms have a powdery bloom, others are densely
>hairy with undulating margins. Small flowers on long branched stems appear
>later and are pale yellow usually with faint purple stripes on the
>petals.
>Triste was the first pelargonium species introduced into cultivation and
>hails from the winter-rainfall area of southwestern Cape Province. It too
>grows a very large tuber and is highly variable; there are literally
>dozens of forms of P.triste. One of my clones has feathery carrot-like
>leaves; the other almost resembles a deep green, leathery, highly
>segmented fern. Flowers also vary from yellow with faint maroon stripe to
>purple-brown petals with thin yellow border. Triste has produced fertile
>seed with pulverulentum pollen; however I don't know if a vice-versa
>cross has succeeded.
