Growing Pultenaea pedunculata or Eucalyptus preissiana

Related to things australian, is anyone growing the
low groundcover called Pultenaea pedunculata or P.
polifolia var mucronata?  They have the first at UC
Santa Cruz, but aren't propagating it, and I would
love to get ahold of some, it is so brilliant in bloom
and a choice low groundcover for sun or dry shade.  It
wasn't  blooming yet in late January, but I've seen it
in mid spring when it is simply covered with flowers. 
I assume it is from western Australia or south
Australia, as it is rated as suitable for temperate,
subtropical to semi arid parts of Australia in Bill
Molyneux and Sue Forrester's Austraflora Guide to
Choosing and Growing Australian Plants, my most
comprehensive reference book on Australian plants. 
Anyone growing this?

Another plant which is quite showy but uncommon in
California gardens is Eucalyptus preissiana, Bell
Fruited Mallee.  The red capped buds, bright yellow
blooms and leathery gray foliage on a multi trunked
small tree were quite showy, and the tree structure is
less gawky with age in a garden setting than many of
the other showy flowered mallee Eucs which are
straggly in growth.  I see that this used to be grown
by San Marcos Growers, but was dropped in their 1999
catalogue.  Anyone know of nursery sources for this in
California?

TIA,
David Feix



--- david feix <davidfeix@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> I had a great day plant shopping with another medit
> plants member, Deborah Lindsay, at a great local
> wholesale nursery in Watsonville,(Rosendale) that is
> associated with new introductions from the UC Santa
> Cruz Botanic Garden's Australian collections, and
> also
> saw the arboretum.  The Banksias, Grevilleas,
> Leucospermums, Leucodendrons, etc. were fabulous,
> and
> it actually warmed up enough to not need a coat(it
> has
> been hovering right above freezing at night in my
> garden, and freezing most everywhere else!).  
> 
> After seeing the mature plants in full bloom, I also
> bought several blooming Isopogon formosus, some
> Banksia spinulosa 'Schnapper Point', Grevillea
> 'Superb', G. 'Wakiti Sunrise', Leucospermum 'Tango',
> Leucodendron 'Wilson's Wonder' and L. galpinii and
> Protea susanae, all because they were already
> blooming
> or in bud, and I needed a Protea fix!  Most will be
> going into my brother's new garden in Moss Beach,
> just
> south of San Francisco and a block from the beach,
> and
> I will now have a source of cut Protea flowers! (I'd
> keep them for myself if only I had garden space with
> sun in my own garden!)  There were so many other
> things that I didn't buy, it was tough choosing!
> 
> Some of the highlights at the UCSC Arboretum were in
> the Proteaceae family, which we had come to see
> blooming.  I was pleased to see my first live
> Mimetes
> cuculata, but still unavailable here.  The Phylica
> plumosa were also stunning, and we were shown
> another
> Australian small shrub for dry shade or sun called
> Phebalium squamulosum var. squamulosum which may be
> a
> new introduction for next year via the UCSC new
> plant
> introductions.  This is a nice foliage plant with
> buds
> of a rusty color opening to pale yellow, flowers
> somewhat reminiscent of Hebe buxifolia, and also
> reminding me of another South African shrub in my
> garden, Gnidia polycephala, also with pale yellow
> blooms off and on all year.
> 
> Some of the Banksias were fabulous, the large tree
> sized B. integrifolia with pale yellow flowers and
> silvery reverse foliage, B. spinulosa with stiff
> wiry
> green somewhat fern like foliage and beautiful vivid
> orange blooms, B. grandis with great glaucus foliage
> and thin elongated bloom spikes which had yet to
> open,
> and tree like B. seminuda with coral/orange blooms
> and
> silvery reverse foliage, and B. baueri, with by far
> the fattest orange bloom spikes on a dense growing 6
> foot tall shrub with ferny foliage.
> 
> I fell in love with the Isopogons, of which I.
> latifolius and I. formosus were both in bloom,
> looking
> like lavender sea urchins on upright branches with
> attractive bluish green foliage.  Several Proteas
> were
> also quite spectacular, including tree like  P.
> nitida, P. susanae, P. exima, P. scolymocephala, P.
> 'Pink Ice'.
> 
> Lots of familiar and new(to me) cultivars of
> Leucadendron discolor and L. salignum, as well as L.
> galpinii, L. meridianum, L. gandogeri and L.
> stelligerum.  Standouts for me included L. s.
> 'Golden
> Tulip', L. 'Rising Sun', and L. 'Wilson's Wonder'. 
> 
> The drive down Highway One along the San Mateo
> County
> coast towards Monterey Bay was just picture postcard
> perfect yesterday, clear skies, brilliant light,
> deep
> blue seas, vivid green hillsides and virtually no
> one
> on the coast highway, being a weekday and too cool
> for
> going to the beach.  We passed lots of fields of
> artichokes, brussel sprouts, and strawberries as we
> approached Watsonville, and wild mustard and Oxalis
> pes caprae in full bloom everywhere.  It is a little
> scary how well adapted the Oxalis is here in coastal
> California, it has taken over acres of fields, and
> plowing just seems to spread it around.
> 
> For those visiting or living nearby, and also in
> need
> of a Protea flower fix, both the UC Santa Cruz
> Botanic
> Gardens and the demonstration gardens/nursery of
> Jeff
> Rosendale's Sierra Azul Retail Nursery at 2660 East
> Lake Ave/Hwy 152 in Watsonville are well worth a
> visit
> this time of year.  Hope a vicarious visit was of
> interest to fellow medit planters...
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
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> 



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