Re: Knightia excelsa and other Matters

david feix wrote:

> Moira,
> I saw a large Knightia for the first time at UC Santa
> Cruz on the same visit, and was at first stumped as to
> what it could be.  It was in full bloom, and looking
> rather formal, but the flowers were not noticeable
> from a distance, and even close up seemed to remain
> virtually hidden by the foliage.  I always wonder what
> benefit it is to the plant to not show off its own
> flowers for pollinators? 

Hi David
Sorry not to have replied earlier, but I have managed very little time
at the computer this week!

I think maybe the Rewarewa probaly doesn't need to flaunt its goodies,
as the two birds which like the nectar are ones which spend a good deal
of time deep in the foliage anyway.  Perhaps the particular shape of the
tree (which we are agreed is quite distinctive) alerts them to the
possibilities. 

I have watched the tuis around our neighbourhood and while we don't have
a Rewarewa in our garden we do have a Kowhai (sophora tetraptera) which
is a spring favourite with these birds. They actually seem to keep an
eye on the tree once the blossoms are nearly due to open, coming
regularly each day to check on it. When the Kowhai is finished they then
move to a big NZ flax bush across the road. I am not sure where the
Knightia fits into their rounds, but there are several in the adjacent
bush and no doubt they are checked regularly at the appropriate time of
year.

As a matter of fact they don't have it all their own way with the
Kowhai, as it is also a spring favourite with the native pigeon, which
doesn't wait for the buds to open, preferring to scoff them early as a
nice spring salad - a habit viewed with some dismay by both the tuis and
me. On one occasion I saw a pigeon sitting up in the branches and on
another bough a tui which was violenty scolding at the top of its voice
( very loud anyway) while the pigeon continued to sit peacefully
completely ignoring the racket!

t  I also saw my first Xeronema
> callistemon while visiting the New Zealand section at
> UC Berkeley's Botanic Garden, looking a little worse
> for the wear from the recent bout of frost, but still
> with one bloom holding up.
> 
> This sighting reminded me to ask about the
> availability of Xeronema at a local wholesale nursery.
>  Nevin Smith said that he dumped this as a commercial
> crop after receiving plants or seed, (I'm not clear
> which), from Duncan and Davies, and not being able to
> get it to bloom.  As it is, there is just the
> tantalizing suggestion of it having been commercially
> available for a brief moment, and now only available
> in California to those willing to grow it from seed.

I can well imagine a nurseryman abandoning the wait for flowering
especially if starting from seed, which according to a local expert on
the plant can take up to twenty years (!).

Here plants not in flower are freely available in garden centres but are
presumably offsets which might be expected to flower reasonably quickly.
If you want to try one I should certainly try for an offset if I were
you.

My expert says "It grows best in a large container having perfect
drainage and situate in a warm spot. the ideal is against the wall of a
house where it receives reflected warmth and protection from frost.
Mostly morning sun is to be preferred as the plant can suffer from
sunburn... Coddling and glasshouse conditions will rapidly cause its
demise. It will stand any amount of rain as long as drainage is perfect
and it doesn't mind wind. In dry summers weekly watering is beneficial".

The mix needs ro be very lean she suggests an orchid mix fortified with
a little leafmould. In its a natural haunt it grows on rocks with little
but rotted seaweed to support it, but it also gradually builds up a
fibrous mass from its own dead leaf bases, however fallen leaves and
debris must not be allowed to lodge in the fans, nor leafmould come in
contact with the green leaves. 

One thing my expert discoverd by chance, was the beneficial effect of
seaweed in stimulating flowering. She happened to have to dispose of the
washings from a red seaweed being prepared for making agar and threw
these over a well-
estblished plant with dramatic results on its flower production. She
recommends seaweed water particularly for encouraging reluctant plants
to start flowering. Whether  a liquid feed prepared from commercial kelp
powder would work as well I can't say.

Having said all that I did a few years ago see a magnificent specimen in
full flower (about seven spikes I think) growing in a garden on our
local warm east coast. it was just in the ground in moderate shade by
the entrance to the drive of a garden which I and a collegue were
looking at as part of judging a garden competition. The owner happened
to wander up, so we complemented him on the plant -only to have him say
he had only recently bought the property and had no idea it was anything
special!! Go figure, as they say!

We were naturally intrigued as to why it was growing (and especially
flowering) so well, but frustrated by not being able to get any
information. All the gardens in the area are naturally very sandy of
soil and it is quite possible the previous owner had not really been 
knowledgeable, but just bought the plant and bunged it in without fuss
to achieve accidently a really big slice of beginners luck..
> 
> I saw another familiar New Zealand face at the
> Berkeley Gardens that I had not noticed before in the
> gardens, Aciphylla aurea/Golden Spaniard.   This is
> the one species that I had previously seen for sale up
> in Seattle last July, and brought one home to try in
> my garden.  Sad to say, I think I lost mine this
> January to rot and lack of sun in all the rain, but
> can at least watch the progress of these plants at the
> Botanic Garden. 

Spaniards are notorious for succumbing to winter wet and however I have
tried I have never kept one long in my garden. The contrast between our
mild wet lowland winters and their natural haunts with nice dry snow
cover each winter is apparently too great. There is actually a local
species around Wellington, not very exciting looking greyish colour and
with the usual spikes, but I have only seeing it growing succesfully on
the barest and bleakest of cliff faces, where it can enjoy a reasonably
dry winter, I suppose.

 They remind me of the Puyas from
> South America, and appeal to me because of the very
> spiny forms and long lasting bold textured flower
> spikes.  I see that they are being offered by a few
> nurseries on line in New Zealand, but gather that they
> are not a popular garden plant, but more for the
> gardener wanting something different.  Probably not
> destined to be a popular landscape plant for the same
> reasons as the Puyas, its large size and clumping
> habits along with fiercely spiny foliage tends to
> repel most sensible people from growing them in a
> garden setting.

While the bigger species are indeed a bit like the Puyas to accomodate
-only really practical in a lage garden where they can be restrained
from attacking passers by - there are some really lovely tinies which
are very much coveted by rock garden enthusiasts. Unfortunately they
share the fussy tastes of their larger brethren and I doubt are worth
attempting very far from their native mountains. 

These are the ones I experimented with before coming to the conclusion
if I wanted to grow then successfully I would probably have to move to
Lake Tekapo!
> 
> I am surprised to hear that Leucospermum cordifolium
> is fairly widely grown throughout New Zealand.  It
> suffers from the occasional freezes we get here, and
> was one of the most damaged/killed Proteacea members
> at UC Santa Cruz.  I also lost all of my Pincushions
> in our 1990 freeze, and again in 1998.  I would think
> that this would rule it out for most of the South
> Island, New Zealand except along the immediate coast.

This would be so I think, Proteaceae in general being mostly North
Island garden favourites and anywhere around Wellington ( which is still
a bit marginal climatically) they would be mostly grown in frost-free or
nearly frost-free coastal gardens. Mind you, I am sure they must be
quite popular  generally in the northern south island. If you look at
our map you will see that there is quite an overlap of the islands and
more tender plants, like the Jacaranda for instance and doubtless the
Proteaceae too, are more easy to grow and succesful in Nelson and
Blenheim  than in Wellington which is actually further south than they
are.

Oddly though, our formost local grower and expert on the family (Lewis
Matthews) actually moved from this area to the South Island some years
ago and bought a property by the sea at French Farm on Akaroa harbour in
the Banks peninsular adjacent to Christchurch (definitely tempered by
the sea, Christchurch itself quite often gets some winter snow)). I have
visited this nuraery once and his display garden was picture.

 I have never got any of the pincusions to survive long in my garden and
I have somehow never gone for Leucodendrons, but have had little bother
with Proteas survival over the years.

However we did have one of our very occasional killer frosts last winter
and this, while leaving P. aristata unruffled, seems to have been pretty
hard on my enormous, nearly fifty year old P. cyanaroides. This has a
lot of dead stems, but underneath is vigorously sprouting, so I have
great hopes for its ultimate recovery. At present it looks very sad and
I shall be really sorry if I have to lose such an old friend (the only
Protea I ahave ever raised successfully from seed!)

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata NZ, 
where it's Summer in January and Winter in July.
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