Re: re Eriostemon
Margaret wrote:
>Sorry Dave, Ishould have checked before replying; my Eriostemon is
>myoporoides. Still, it is an excellent plant to use when trying to
>establish in an existing dry and rooty area. I should add that lowest
>winter temp. for my location is usually only about -4 deg.C
Well it should be fine here. We very rarely see anything below minus
2C maybe once or twice in winter and at worst that will last for only
a couple of hours. I've also got Pimelia ferruginea 'Pink Bouquet'
which came from Aus. in the same consignment. Unfortunately the
'caretakers' looking after the plants before they got to me must have
over watered it and a fair amount of leaf drop was taking place on its
arrival. I seem to have brought it back around now so fingers
crossed. Its a really nice little, almost Hebe like shrub and I can't
wait to see the combination of rich pink flowers against the heavily
cream variegated foliage.
The variety is as yet virtually unknown in the UK although I believe
its quite popular 'down under'. It looks to be quite hardy and if it
proves tolerant of frosts up to minus 5C., I reckon it will become
very popular here. Normally, I dislike plants with strong cream
variegations since many can have that 'manufactured' look viz. the
truly awful Hebe franciscana 'Varegata'. However, the slender almost
wayward, yet mound forming growth of the Pimelia manages to avoid
looking like plastic.
Dave Poole
