PCI in Texas

Christie in Washington:  PCI are very easy to raise from seed.  What is 
harder is to get them to thrive.  Sometimes they act like short-lived perennials.  
The two that I want to register seem to be quite content here.  One I have 
grown for about 10 years and I grow it in several spots in my yard.  When I first 
started trying to grow them here I gave a third of the seedlings to two iris 
friends and kept a third for myself.  One friend died that spring so those 
seedlings disappeared.  Only one seedling survived and it later died but not 
before it dropped some seeds on the ground and produced a very hardy seedling.  
This is the one I have been watching for 10 years.  In the meantime I bought 
seed every year and some seedlings managed to live a few years but none seemed to 
withstand transplanting and all eventually died except for a second hardy 
seedling which I have had about 5 or 6 years but haven't tried transplanting yet. 
 Since retirement I bought a few from Joe Ghio and a few of them are still 
alive and have been able to use them in crosses to the two hardier plants.  I 
planted the seed a few weeks ago.  The reason I want to register the two is that 
I believe they may be good parents for PCI that will do well away from their 
native areas.  I live 90 miles west of Shreveport, LA and 90 miles east of 
Dallas, Texas but our microclimate is more like LA.  I grow lots of camelias so I 
have the acid soil.  I am growing the PCI in shaded areas.  I have never seen 
PCI except for the ones I have grown from seed so I have no way to compare 
the clumps or blooms but I am utterly fascinated with the little beauties.
Barbara Null
Tyler, TX

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