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Re: Solanum aviculare and others

On Sun, 21 Dec 1997 Tim Longville wrote:

>Interesting that your plants come from Oz seed. My plants of both  S.
>a. l. and S. laciniatum derive from NZ seed. I'd always thought seed
>of NZ provenance would be likely to be hardier in UK conditions.
>Possible contributing factor to the plants' survival this far north??

I dare say this is the reason - particularly if the seed is from
plants which originated on South Island or the cooler, upland areas of
North Island.  I'm a great believer in provenance and will often take
immense risks if I can get material from plants at the extremes of
their ranges.  I have a couple of young plants of Gardenia floribunda,
kindly sent to me by a friend who is a member of this list and lives
in N. Spain.  These plants have to endure pretty chilly conditions in
winter - in fact not that much warmer than here in Torquay.  They are
being overwintered in a 'cold frame' at the moment, but will be
permantly planted in the spring.  

Gardenia thunbergii is capable of withstanding a few degrees on frost,
but G. floribunda ... well I do know of at least one person living in
Australia, who has plants which are regularly subjected to light
frosts and apparently, they come through as though nothing has
happened.  We'll have to see whether the same applies here.   I'd be
interested to hear if anyone on this list has Gardenias growing in
less than optimum conditions.  

>Interesting, too, the notion of STANDARDS of S.a. That is, the
[snip]
>attempts ended up looking more punk than standard!

That's the great thing about S. aviculare!  It grows so d'ned fast
that a patience quotient is totally unnecessary.  Just run a seedling
up a can for a metre or so, if it forms an apical panicle of flower,
pinch these out and take the strongest leader to train up.  Pinch out
the top at the desired height and Voila!  This takes about half a
growing season down here and you can then spend the rest of the time,
shaping up the 'head'.  

I never though much of Anisodontea capensis until I grew it in a very
large, shallow container on an exposed flat roof area where it had to
contend with weeks of bitter, easterly winds last winter.  It was
'pushed in' as an after thought and laziness prevented me from pulling
it out at the end of the season.  It flowered throughout the winter
and was pruned down to 3 x 3ft in the spring.  It is now twice that
size and has produced flowers by the thousand this year.  I'm growing
a few 'standards' of that too, but I'm patiently waiting for some
seedlings of A. julii to do their 'stuff'.  The the fate of A.
capensis will depend on how well this last species performs. 'Jullii'
is a larger flowered, altogether more attractive plant and apparently,
somewhat hardier than A. capensis (which is bone hardy with me
anyway).

>Diascias tend to fade here, too, apart from the tougher (rather than
[snip]
>extended his empire even further). Is he the friend you mention?

His sister Christine is a main driving force and a friend of Hector
Harrison who has done 99% of the pioneering work in breeding these
little (an in some cases, not so little) gems.  I'm surprised to see
that Diascias do not appear to have caught the attention of
medit-plants, since many fall within the broad requirements of plants
grown by this group. The Boulbys lost their stock of true D. cordata
last winter (it can be an awkward cuss and will die out for no
apparent reason) and luckily my plants, which came from them
originally, survived so I was able to send them some rooted cuttings.
Ironically, a very hot humid spell in early August (constant light
rain & temps at around 80+ for several days) brought about an
explosion of fusarium, which wiped out many of my  Diascias including
D. cordata.  I will have to go cap in hand to them in the spring.
Those plants will end up having a piece of elastic permanently tied to
them.  

The one diascia which does astonishingly well with me is supposedly
one of the most tender - Diascia patens.  I claim to have the largest,
single, specimen that is grown permanently out-of-doors in the UK.  It
is currently (after a massive amount of pruning in October) over 2
metres high, three metres across and 1 metre thick.  It grows against
a S.E. facing fence and flowers from February until June and again in
mid August until late September.

David Poole
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