Re: Carpenteria californica, the Tree-Anemone

sluggo wrote:
> 
> I love Carpenteria californica and have noticed how its gorgeous white
> flowers with yellow stamens often seduce gardeners into planting them.
> Beware that it's one of those California natives that often dies or
> languishes in gardens. Its highly restricted natural range makes it
> special but it is not a native for the beginning gardener. Be sure to
> read up on its needs and scrutinize your garden for possible niches
> before buying one.

 Ernie

Your observation that this Californian native plant often languishes and
dies in gardens makes me wonder if it relies in the wild on partnership
with a specific mycorrhizal fungus to allow it to adapt to difficult
soil conditions.

I attended an interesting lecture recently on the reestablishment of
areas of our native NZ bush following such locally disruptive operations
as strip mining.

Two of the findings seem relevant to me. The first was that in general
the greatest success in replanting the local flora came where the
tophamper was carefully removed and ultimately replaced keeping its
natural sequence of topsoil/subsoil as far as possible intact, whereas
if the material was simply all mixed up together, the results were far
poorer. One can presume, I think, in the former case a much greater part
of the soil's flora and fauna manged to survive, including fungi
specifically associated with the natural plants of the area.

The other most interesting observation was that natural seedlings,
lifted from the surrounding bush with some local soil around the roots,
succeeded far more often than nursery-raised plants grown in ordinary
potting soil.

I do wonder if the patchy success of (presumably nursery grown)
Carpentaria in gardens is due to plants having to try and cope with
whatever soil conditions their roots are given without the necessary
mediating fungus. 

Perhaps if one could find and lift a small natural seedling, or even
take some soil from close to the roots of a healthy wild plant to
inoculate one of nusery origin, one might have a better chance of
success in the garden, especially where ground conditions are not ideal
for the comfort of the plant.

Moira

- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand. (on the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
Lat. 41:16S Long. 174:58E. Climate: Mediterranean/Temperate
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