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RE:

I can't help with seed but don't be disapointed if they seem to grow a
little slow
I have a few in pots and they are three years old now and only have
three leaves, if you could call it a leaf!

They are very very slow  growers, at unveristy I was told they put on
about a meter in 1000 years and when you see these 5-6 meter monsters
out in the bush here it makes you wonder how they survived so long as
they are such fragile plants (fragile when you consider a bump from a
four wheel drive would knock them down).  Horses love to eat the tops
out of them and eventually kill them and the parrots as well for some
reason, 28's, pink and greys they just chew the crown growth right out!

Anyway have a go, seed quality can vary greatly but plant them into any
decent potting mix and keep moist
your summer would be fine temp wise, they normally germinate in our
winter.  Seed are very large and look a bit like a stretched out
sunflower seed, all black with ridges from tip to tip.  The flowering
spike can vary in length from a few feet to 5 or 6 feet long and is
covered in tiny white/cream flowers.  When the seed are set you can see
them as they stick out from the spike and the whole thing looks like
some kind of medieval weapon! 

The seedlings shouldn't need much in the way of nutients, don't let them
become waterlogged, free draining soil always, and keep the weeds away
as they can't cope with much in the way of weedy competition, you choice
of surrounding plants if going in the ground would need to be considered
as well.
They can usually tolerate frost pretty well as the leaves are not what
you would call tender! More like a four sided green spike, very easy to
snap though!

Cheers, Rod

Rod Randall
Weed Risk Assessment
Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia
Home Page  http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/Weedsci.htm

             "I weed..."

> ----------
> From: 	Valerie Dennison
> Reply To: 	kelbaert@iol.ie
> Sent: 	Saturday, 20 December 1997 6:31 PM
> To: 	medit-plants
> 
> I'm trying to locate a supplier of Xanthorrhoea australis (black boy)
> in the
> British Isles.Can anyone help me here? Also any advice on cultivation
> would
> be appreciated
> Jim Dennison in  foggy Limerick.
>
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