Re: Got the plant but my books can't help!

In a message dated 10/04/00 21:25:27 GMT Daylight Time, 
muddywellies@winsfordwalledgarden.freeserve.co.uk writes:

<< Can you please help with any cultivation info on the following plants as 
my books do not have them listed.  Of particular interest are the minimum 
tempertures.
 
 1.    Berzelia lanuginosa
 2.    Cassia obtusa
 3.    Furcrea longaeva
 4.    Hibbertia aspera
 5.    Raphiolepsis delacouri
 
 Please note that many Cassia's have been renamed under Senna.  However, my 
issue of Hilliers makes a special note that Cassia obtusa has been 'wrongly 
distributed in the past as C. corymbosa'.
  >>

Hello Michael,

The only plant on your list which I grow here is Furcraea longaeva. I bought 
it about 3 years ago from Architectural Plants in Sussex, who originally 
obtained their plants of it as bulbils from the plants in Tresco Abbey 
Gardens. Whether this provenance means that they are any more frost-tolerant 
than plants imported directly from Mexico, I don't know, but it has certainly 
survived temperatures of -3C the last two winters, with no apparent effects 
whatsoever. It's planted in a large copper container in the middle of the 
garden, so presumably the roots would be more prone to frost damage than if 
they were in the ground... the container isn't THAT big! It currently looks 
for all the world like a fair-sized yucca, and I understand that it takes 
quite a few years to build up enough steam to flower, after which the said 
bulbils are formed, and then the entire plant dies. Since it can be over 20 
feet high in flower, that's an awful lot of plant for the bin-men. Soil 
requirements are the usual: sharply-drained, and the more grit & sand, the 
better.

Jane Taylor, in her for-the-mediterranean-gardener-essential book 'The Milder 
Garden', lists Raphiolepis x delacourii as zone 9. She also says that in her 
opinion it's the most satisfactory member of the genus for the garden, and 
mentions 'Coates' Crimson' as a selection with deeper coloured flowers.

Berzelia lanuginosa is listed the Silverhill Seeds catalogue as zone 8. I've 
always found all members of the Bruniaceae a pig to germinate, although the 
by-now regulation smoke papers are said to give satisfying results. So if you 
ever manage to root a cutting...?

Hope this helps,

Einion Hughes, Rhyl,
Denbighshire, Wales.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index