Seed of rare NZ perennial for sale!
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Seed of rare NZ perennial for sale!
- From: M* B*
- Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 12:14:40 -0800
Dear Medit-Planters, 06/14/00
We appear to be the first people to bloom Xeronema callistemon;
fertilize and harvest seed in the San Francisco Bay Area---mostly
luck I'm sure! Xeronema callistemon "Poor Knights Lily"
Asphodeliaceae (prev. liliaceae) is one of the most beautiful of New
Zealand's perennials---thick, rubbery, sword-shaped pale green leaves
to 1 meter build up in numbers of fans (like huge T.B.Iris).
After some years (?) bloom stalks arise from the center of the fans
carrying diagonal racemes of brilliant blood-red stamens dusted with
black and gold pollen. These slowly open for a month of glorious
showy bloom. They are the most drought resistant of New Zealand's
plants, their fleshy leaves and roots storing huge quantities of
water. In nature them appear to bloom at about eight years.
They grow saxicaulically (epiphytically on rocks) on a group of sub
tropical islands off the west coast of North Island. An endangered
species, we have not seen seed offered by any of the NZ seed sources.
It is illegal to export plants. Turk Hessalund Nursery in Montecito
has occasionally carried one gallon plants (no blooms) at $ 50.00
each. This is the first offering of seed from the Bay Area; possibly
the first bloom. Our seed is the result of a fortuitous
blooming of two clones---one blood red, the other "fiery coals" in
color and hand pollination. The purple-black ovaries have yielded
large black shiny seed which we are selling at three for $ 5.00 plus
postage & handling to medit-planters and cal-hort members.
The seeds are easy to germinate but seedlings require perfect
drainage to thrive. We read an essay about a gardener who lives on
the mainland opposite the Poor Knights Island Group and accidentally
spilled a five gallon bucket of sea water in a half barrel of ancient
plants which had stopped blooming and which then producded more than
50 inflorescences the following Spring so this past autumn we began
feeding organic kelp meal frequently. Result: eleven inflorescences
from two one gallon cans. We are now transferring both
plants into a huge Pompei pot and sowing a flat of seed. We will pot
them up in a mixture of leaf mold and pumice with some orchid bark
and pieces of unwashed sea corral.
They grow easily from seed and look gorgeous in formal containers or
elegant Mediterranean borders. We're choosing pots as they are
supposedly only hardy to 30F and we found them easy to grow due to
years of experience with succulents and vireya rhododendrons. They
produce abundant seed although we've been unable to research their
natural pollinators. These seed are from two clones which we grew
from seed and which bloomed in their 5th year with absolute neglect.
They are stately out of bloom and gorgeous in bloom.
We're starting a list and will be mailing seed in the next month. To
order contact us by Email and include your snail mail address. Each
packet will come with germinating instructions and cultural
information. You are unlikely to see them offered as seed again---so
join the fun! Limit, 3 packages per customer.
Regards- Karoline & Michael D. Barclay
opga@wenet.net Really Special Plants and Gardens Berkeley, CA (510) 524-0888
