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Re: Pretty Flowers... YES

Randall, Rod wrote:
> 
> Hi Andrew,
> 
> Good  to hear  you have B. coccinea. The only reason I don't grow it is
> it won't flower in Perth.
> The plant is similiar in form to many other Australian natives in the
> Proteaceae Family but I really do find the flowers very pretty, guess
> its my style. Another I like is Banksia leptophylla a very understated
> yellow ball of a flower in a small shrub that looks nothing like a
> Banksia.
> 
> Perth sits at 32 ° Lat and the furthest north B. coccinea grows
> naturally is about 33° Lat
> Los Angeles is way up there at 37-38° Lat so I guess they got the soil
> and water right
> San Diego is borderline but you've got a better chance than I have!
> 
> The soils B. coccinea would normally grow in are extrememly well drained
> soils and while the summers get pretty warm in Australia the south coast > here is much cooler sometimes 20° Celcius in the same day!
> Keep trying and beware of dieback, a root fungal pathogen, wipes
> Banksias out!
Hi
I saw B coccinia flowering in Lower Hutt a few years ago (and very
charming it was too). In central New Zealand we are around lat 40 and
summer temperatures rarely rise above 25 degrees C. However, banksias
tend to have a rather short life in this area, possibly because we CAN
get  quite a bit of summer wet and not all our soils are that
free-draining.

Lewis Matthews ( our local Protea guru)in "Proteas of the World" (a
handbook for New Zeaand growers) says soils should be well-drained and
acid and warns of the possibility of root rot due the Phytophthora  root
fungus.

He says that the species is reasonably frost tolerent and able to
withstand  the occasional drop in temperature to -5 degrees C. He makes
no mention of any difficulty about flowering the plant, so I presume
all  our areas mild enough to grow it lie within the correct latitudes.

Incidently, if you are interested in Proteaceae, this book and the
companion "South Africa Proteaceae in New Zealand", can be strongly
recommended. They are truely sumptuous volumes, with each species and
its main cultivars illustrated by a folio-sized painting by a more than
competant artist and opposite a whole page of information, including a
full description and notes on cultivation, propagation and uses.

South African Proteaceae in New Zealand (Lewis Matthews Pub. Matthews
1983 ISBN 0-9597669-0-1)
Proteas of the World (Lewis Matthews pub. David Bateman 1993 
ISBN 1 86953 054 3)

> 
> Rod Randall
> Weed Risk Assessment
> Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia
> Home Page  http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/progserv/plants/weeds/Weedsci.htm
> 
>              "I weed..."

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