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Re: Arthropodiums

Tim Longville wrote:
> 
> New subject so new message - I could see those mysteries and questions
> were getting into as much of a wire-netting tangle as Santolina
> chamaecyparissus ssp or var magonica itself...
> 
> I've recently been involved in a discussion on Alpine-L about various
> arthropodium spp., as grown in the UK. Only spp so far tried seem to
> be A. cirrhatum, A. candidum (plus A. c. purpureum) and A.
> milleflorum. Some disagreement between UK growers (perhaps based on
> different moisture levels in different parts of the UK, perhaps based
> on different hardiness levels of particular seed sources?) as to which
> of those three spp is the hardiest and which if any can be thought of
> as reliably perennial in the ground.
> 
> I wondered (a) if they're grown elsewhere (Calif?) and if so what
> people's experiences with them have been (soil? situation? hardiness
> levels?); (b) if any other spp are grown elsewhere (I think there are
> around a dozen all told) and, supposing they are, if any of them might
> be either possible candidates for favoured UK gardens or so desirable
> that they're worth wrestling with even if totally impossible?

Tim

A candidum and A cirratum are both New Zealand plants. I am afraid I
don't recognise the other name you mention. There is one species listed
as growing in Tasmania (so should be about equally hardy), but I can't
say whether this is it. There are also  apparently several other species
which all appear to be tropical and I know nothing about them, except
that they certainly wouldn't be outside plants in the UK.

A candidum is a pleasant little groundcover which in summer looks like a
small green lily turf with starry white flowers, but goes underground
for the winter surviving as a small tuber. The brown-leaved version  (a
light rather pinkish-brown) is also  appealing. Both spread gently but
steadily and are not hard to control. It does prefer shade, though at a
pinch it will grow in full sun. Its winter dormancy probably makes it
pretty hardy. Cwertainly it survives winters in my garden (Lowest temp
around -6C .. say once in ten years) without any problem.

A cirratum  (Rengarenga or Rock Lily) is a much larger plant and also
evergreen. It grows into a large clump arund 60cm square, or a bit
taller. In nature it grow close to the shore in shady rocky places and
is happiest in a rather poor dryish soil. It can stand a fair amount of
frost in such situations, taking temperatures as low as -7C, though
unless it is shetered by protective growth over its head there could be
some leaf burning. I grow mine under some spreading Camellia bushes on a
well-drained shady raised bed. I have been trying for several years to
find something which would take a lot of dryish shade and this is
definitely the answer, as the plants are flourishing.

Until recent years most people who wanted to grow this plant around here
collected seed from a fellow gardener, but recently nurseries have begun
to offer plants and now there are even named cultivars which tend to
have larger inflorescences and  broader leaves than the average
seedling. Certainly there is usually  a good deal of variation among
seedlings anyway.

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
(SW Corner of the Pacific Ocean)
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