Re: Kew-eries
Tim Longville wrote:
>
> I slipped in a quick visit to Kew on Sunday as part of a few days in
> London and, as usual, came away with a notebook full of scribbles
> about desirable plants. Most of them turned out to be New Zealanders
> or Tasmanians so I wondered if our down-under members might be able to
> provide some more info about them (or Calif members, if any of them
> have found their way there).
>
> First a general question. Why are plants from Lord Howe Island only
> possible (and then only barely) in the most mild UK gardens? Is it
> purely a matter of winter temperatures? Or is it also a question of
> summer heat? And/or soil conditions??
Hi Tim
Well, my guess would be mainly its relatively high winter temperatures,
but it could be fairly hot in summer too. After all it is about a
thousand miles nearer the equator than any part of NZ. I don't know the
island at all apart from its name and that it is a staging post for
light aircraft flying between NZ and Australia, but island soils are
most often pretty sandy or very rocky and consequently generally well
drained.
>
> Tasmanians are normally better bets for us in the UK, certainly for
> gardeners on the west coast. Why, then, is the splendid Doryanthes
> palmeri so marginal? (Dave Poole will almost inevitably be growing it
> in Torquay of course! Ha!) Does it come from very low down and so from
> a virtually frost-free environments? Or is there some other necessity
> we're by and large failing to provide, apart from frost-free-ness?
Ah but, Tim, no Doryanthes is native to Tassie. D excelsa comes from New
South Wales and D palmeri from NSW and Queensland. One would expect D
excelsa on the strength of its geographic distribution to be marginally
hardier, but the only one I have seen growing around here was actually a
huge clump of D palmeri which grew in a garden I once serviced in Lower
Hutt. This was near enough to the sea to be virtually frost-free, but
from time to time it would have suffered the odd cold night down to
maybe -2 or even -3 C. The owner is long dead and the clump has now been
removed. I guess it was somewhat overwhelming in that small suburban
garden and could look pretty untidy and messy when not bearing its
magnificent flower spikes.
>
> And one for the New Zealanders proper. I'm very fond of pittosporums
> and P. fairchildii looked a distinctly pretty one, a shapely big bush
> with elegant little evergreen leaves. So why don't we grow it over
> here? Is it a North Islander which won't stand a whisper of frost? Or?
Actually it comes from the Three Kings Islands, but is said to be hardy
as far south as Christchurch which I would say would certainly make it
hardy enough for you. However my NZ guru says it is very close to the
much commoner P crassifolium, from which it is mainly distinguished by
the leaves being glabrous beneath, and I get the impression P
fairchildii is consequently scarcely in cutivation.. P crassifolium, the
popular species, is a plant of choice for shelter and hedging in exposed
seaside gardens. It will bear any amount of exposure to strong
salt-laden winds and grows naturally around the coast and on sea
islands. The foliage is quite reminiscent of Metrosoderos and in young
plants this can cause confusion. There is also a very attractive
variegated form, but I gather this is hard to propagate. The flowers are
a fascinating dark reddish brown and, if I remember correctly, scented.
I once had a small tree of the plain green form, but it suddenly upped
and died on me for no apparent reason and at the time I was unable to
get another and replaced it with something else. I should imagine this
species might be obtainable in Britain, but if not I could possibly find
you some seed of the green form later in the year if you are interested.
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
