Re: Summer-Sun - And a Sunshine-Climate Plant Which Doesn't Like Sun

Tim Longville wrote:
> 
> Moira:
> 
> ' I am glad to know summer has finally reached you - long may it
> last!!'
> 
> Surely you remember the Brit. climate better than that?! It lasted all
> of a week. Well, it did here. No doubt Dave is still basking on the
> beach in Torquay. Here we're back to normal: bits of rain, bits of
> sun, not a lot of heat - but a lot of wind.
> 
> My summer-sunshine-climate plant which seems to be a sun-hater is the
> shrubby foxglove from the Canaries - either Isoplexis canariensis or
> I. sceptrum - same thing seems to apply to both spp. For a couple of
> years I grew young plants of these in full sun, thinking
> 'Canaries=heat+drainage.' They didn't die but they languished, looked
> sad, did little. 
> 
> Do these creatures get grown in Calif, Aus or NZ? If not - and if
> you've got or can create the aforesaid warm moist shady corner -,
> permit me to recommend'em. (Keep them out of wind if you can: the big,
> coarsely textured, almost rigid leaves easily get damaged.) As easy as
> any foxglove from seed. About 3 years from seed to flowering - at
> least in my own experience: in a hotter climate they might well be
> quicker.
> 
> If other folks do grow them (or know them in the wild: I don't), a
> couple of questions: First, has my fumbling 'learning by doing' (in
> this case, by doing wrong) method led to results which others
> recognise from their own experience? Ie, is the 'warm damp shady
> corner' the standard solution? Second, I only know these two spp: are
> there others? If so, are they worth trying/feasible to try?

Hi Tim
Have just had one (late only) summer in Britain in the last 50 years and
that was a good one ('87) we barely saw any rain, so I have rather
forgotten how fleeting your good weather generally is. We sometimes have
to wait for summer to get going here, but once established it is
generally pretty reliable and autumns are often fantastic with quiet
goden days which never seem to end (come to think of it, was Keats
talking about England in his "Ode to Autumn"? If so, things must have
been better then.)

I have only seen I sceptrum offered once here and not knowing what a
rare treasure it was, the one I bought I put into a garden I was tending
for a local convent. Well, it survived the summer in the part-shady
border where I put it but did not flower and died over winter. 

My excellent new local encyclopedia has this to say. "Showy plants
suitable for shrub borders in relatively frost-free climates... Although
marginally frost-tender, these are reasonably undemanding plants. They
prefer a well-drained soil and must be adequately watered in summmer.
Plant in sun or part-shade and regularly remove spent flower spikes.
Propagation is usually by seed in spring, although cuttings taken in
summer will also give good results".  They also say they are under
pressure in the wild.

They mention three species, but only describe the usual two, which
suggests the third isn't worth growing.

 They have a very tantalizing pic of I canariensis, which looks quite
mouth-watering, I must say.

 I also checked with the "Seedlist Handbook" which suggests  I sceptrum
is virtually hardy, while I canariensis is tender (all their
descriptions are a bit relative though). No mention of the third species
either.

Cheers

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, 
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
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