Re: Petrea volubilis

Graham Payne wrote:
> 
> Help! Does anybody out there know anything about Petrea volubilis that I
> have seen in a local nursery?  I would love to grow it, but I am not sure
> what conditions it likes. Does any other Medit-plants person grow it? I fear
> that it might be too dry here in the Algarve in southern Portugal, where we
> have long hot dry summers and wet (but not this year) winters. We sometimes
> get a few early morning ground frosts.
> 
> Graham 
Petrea was one of the feature plants in an avenue at the Agricultural
labs I worked at in Nairobi (Kenya) a bit over 40 years. This area has
southern hemisphere seasons with a long hot summer from a little before
Christmas until late March, when usually no rain at all falls. There was
certainly no watering done, but it seemed to survive without distress.

It is also grown in the warmer parts of NZ, but not where I live. My
(local) book describes it as half-hardy and needing a sunny almost
frost-free position. It says that in a colder climate it can become
deciduous.

It also says it can be grown either as a vine with almost no pruning
beyond as little shaping with secataurs in spring when frosts are over,
or it can be a heavily trimmed  to form a shrub.

Moira in equally sunny New Zealand!!

Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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