Re: Michauxia tchihatchewii!
Nan and other enthusiasts
Pronounce it chihachefeei and most will understand.
A member of the Campanulaceae, in which we have specialised for some
years, it is a real mountain plant from Turkey, Iran etc, and knows a
lot about heat and cold, but not about too much moisture. It is,
unfortunately, biennial, or at least monocarpic, so the best way to
enjoy it for the longest possible spell is to keep it in a vase away
from pollinating insects - bees, bumble bees and hover-flies in
temperate climates. In a vase it may not set seed, of course, but you
will have to sow fresh seed for the future. Just occasionally it has
been known to flower a second year, but it is a poor show the second
time, and not worth its space in the garden.
There are two other species, C. laevigata and C. campanuloides in
cultivation as far as I know, but there are seven in the genus in total.
The main characteristic of the genus is that there are more than the
usual five petals; in fact between 6 and 10.
Hope this is some help on the way.
Peter Lewis, Cambridge, UK.
Nan Sterman wrote:
>
> >
>
> That has to be one of the most amazing plant names I've ever seen!
> How do you pronounce it? What does it look like?
>
> >You all will excuse the exclamation mark, I hope, as I'm awfully excited
> >about this plant :). I planted out a seedling two or three summers ago,
> >and after the week-long spell of 10-15F weather we had here in western
> >Oregon in '98, I couldn't find it anywhere, and figured it had frozen.
> >Well to my delighted surprise, it has now sent up a 4-foot flower stalk
> >from _under_ a large Perovskia! Clearly this plant is much hardier than
> >reported, and has absolutely no need for sun, or water, or root-space... I
> >will have to plant more of it.
> >
> >My question for the group is: is there any way to get cut flowers from this
> >plant to last in water? The stems produce latex (or something similar),
> >which I suppose prevents water uptake in a vase. Is there anything I can
> >do about this? Any other fans of this glorious species out there?
> >
> >--Susannah
--
MZ
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