Re: x Ruthyrospolia 'Phyllis van Heerden.'
Tim wrote oodles of mouth watering stuff about :
>I posted a message a while ago about this bi-generic hybrid (a member
>of the Acanthaceae) between Ruthya ovata and Ruspolia
>hypercraterfolia,
>I suppose it has to be a conservatory shrub for the UK (though, Dave,
>if you're listening, a cutting is yours if you'd like to give it a try
>in the tropics of Torquay)
Well if it is on the same level of hardiness as say Isoplexus
canariensis (I didn't pick up on the brief discussion about it
earlier), then it will be a very prized addition and you have me
already grovelling in utter gratitude! Remember what I said earlier,
anything you see - let me know and realms of possibility permitting,
it is yours.
Finding room may be a slight problem, because the warm wet weather is
now producing an explosion of growth I can barely contain, but it will
be a little while before I have to worry about that. Musa velutina
which was small, miserly and struggling is now whacking out leaves
with 3 - 4 foot long blades and is threatening to knock everything
aside, similarly a seedling of Ensete ventricosum which has gone from
2" to 3ft in 2 months and Ipomoea indica (learii) is swamping
everything with a mass of buds and flower. We have a full eclipse of
the sun whizzing overhead at around mid-day this coming Wednesday and
it will be interesting to see the effect on flowers such as Ipomoea,
that open at dawn and close at dusk for one day only. Barely
controlled chaos exists out there and I'm almost envious of recent
talk of maintenance free gardening.
We had a night of torrential rain, plus a teeny baby twister which ran
amok and flattened a 9 foot high Fuchsia fulgens, spun a huge
Brugmansia sideways, as well as shredding the latest leaf on a 12 foot
Musa basjoo and lacerating all the others. Today it is calm, sunny,
very warm and excessively humid again. Snails and slugs are descending
like the hordes of Genghis Khan, but the exuberance of growth is
confounding even them! I need half a dozen extra acres!
Dave Poole
