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Re: Pretty Flowers... YES/Banksia coccinea

On Fri, 9 Jan 1998 Andrew wrote:

>That is an amazing story, David! Putting those plants, all proteas, in an
>unheated greenhouse in a Herefordshire winter and kept dry is quite the
>opposite of what they get in their normal winters. But it must be the right
>way to grow them. The cold, dry conditions may put them in a state of
>suspended animation. The normal English summer is more or less like the
>normal Australian winter so perhsaps they felt fine with all that watering!

During the 70's yes.  Things seems to have changed somewhat since then
and most of our summers over the past decade have been pretty
respectable by any standards.  However, these plants regularly
experienced 28 - 30C in summer months and on occasions, a good deal
higher, since even though they were in almost 'open' structures, the
temperature would still rocket on days when air movement was minimal.
I seem to remember that temperatures in most of the winters for that
period prior to the 'Big Freeze', rarely fell much below minus 6-7C
for any length of time, which would have enabled such plants to
survive if kept very dry.  This 'topsy-turvy' way of growing plants
more suited to warmer, southern hemisphere climes, has long been
successful although logically, it should create so much confusion as
to prevent flowering altogether.

Surprisingly -  for those who think of the UK as a cold, wet, sunless
place, drought is now a very serious and real threat during most
summers.  Thankfully, the phenomenal, wet and stormy weather we've
witnessed since Christmas, has brought many reservoirs close to their
normal, safe operating levels.  Currently, we are experiencing one of
the warmest Januaries on record (after a week starting with a
hurricane and entertaining us with a tornado after a brief lull) and
my max/min thermometer reads a tad under 18C for yesterday.  Normally
we would expect 5-7C at this time of year.  The forecast for the
weekend and early part of the week is good too, so I may just have a
wander down onto the beach to collect seaweed for the garden and get a
bit of a winter tan :)

>You know, after Banks and his friends made all those discoveries in
>Australia they tried growing many plants outdoors at Kew. Of course, they
>nearly all failed after a few winters. But many species survived in cool
>houses. 

Joseph Banks was either surprisingly enterprising for his day, or
extremely foolhardy.  I prefer to think the former, since he was
prepared to test new species to their extremes and did not
automatically assume that all plants from other climes required
steamy, stove conditions - a failing of many of his contemporaries.
Kew was a good deal colder in Bank's day and he was unlucky.  However
quite a few of those species which failed then, would not only survive
now, but probably make acceptable levels of growth.

>Sorry to hear about Euc. rhodantha. Seed is hard to get now. The hot, humid
>weather must have been too much for them. Yes, they really hate humidity in
>summer.  Same is true for E. macrocarpa. Leaves can turn black.

I'm convinced that most 'mallees' need considerably more arid
conditions than can be easily provided over here.  Certainly, I
experienced 'blackening' of the leaves as well as around the stems at
ground level.  Nevertheless, I will keep trying since I hope to create
a new garden in the not too distant future and will be wary about
siting it in such a sheltered position.  The current plot gets very
high temperatures, but despite being only a few yards from the sea, it
almost airless and extremely humid.  Whilst this is fine for many
tropical and sub-tropical species requiring plenty of moisture at all
times, it spells death for many of my favourite 'greys' and 'med'
plants.  

David Poole
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