Re: Metrosideros with golden new growth?

I'm convinced most of the ones grown around San
Francisco as street trees are M. kermadecensis or X
kermadecensis. The leaves are much shorter and rounder
than M. excelsa, and the flowering occurs rather
sporadically from late fall through to midsummer. We
have a bit of variety, however, with some trees quite
distinctly M. excelsa, and subtly different color
forms; the yellow is rather too subtle, I think, but
there are less and more vibrant reds and red-oranges.
In our horrible 1990 freeze I saw 20 ft. trees frozen
halfway back, especially in neighborhoods of the city
above 500 ft. elevation. North Island rata (M.
robusta) is prettier in bloom here, completely covered
all at once in a dark, strong red. I've never seen the
few M. umbellata here bloom showily, but they're quite
small.
-Jason Dewees

--- Tony and Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> Doobieous wrote:
> > 
> > There are in
> > > cutivation in NZ some forms with gold edged
> leaves,
> > > but that is of
> > > course rather different.
> > >
> > 
> > I had never noticed this plant there before
> because
> > its pretty small still and passing by it one sees
> just
> > red. So i at first thought it was either a
> reseeded
> > pyracantha or maybe a heteromeles that had found
> its
> > way there, but as I drove up to it, it really
> looked
> > like a metrosideros, and none of the other
> commonly
> > cultivated myrtaceous plants here have the same
> color
> > and flower form (except the callistemons which
> have
> > the right color, but i know this wasn't one).
> > 
> > Speaking of variation, most of the metrosideros
> here
> > seem to have deep red flowers. My city planted a
> few
> > along a new road (along with some Schinus, and
> > Aesculus californica) , and these have a brighter
> red
> > color to them. It's very pretty and stands out
> better.
> 
> I think the deep red is the original colour, but
> most populations here
> seem now to have some plants with lighter and more
> attractive red
> flowers. Some are even so pale they really should be
> described as pink,
> but I think less attractive..
> 
> They also sometimes occur here  with yellow flowers
> and cultivars of
> this form can be purchased, but I feel they lack the
> visual impact of
> the reds and tend to look quite wishy washy
> 
> > Do they tend to have year round flowering or is it
> a
> > once a season thing in new Zealand? Isn't there a
> > species or variety that has less spectacular, but
> year
> > round blooming?
> 
> Not here though I have heard of them doing this in
> the States. We only
> get one spectacular burst of bloom for about a month
> over Christmas and
> hence they are known here as the NZ Christmas tree.
> 
> Ther are some related species here like the Ratas
> which flower over a
> longer period, but perhaps are less spectacular as a
> result. None I know
> of though flowers anything like year round.
> 
> Moira
> > 
> > >
> > > Last summer was partiularly good here for
> > > Metrosideros flowering and we
> > > were astonished atthe range of flower size and
> > > density and in some cases
> > > of depth of colour which we saw driving into
> > > Wellington around Christams
> > > time.
> > 
> > It must have been quite a sight. Here i think the
> more
> > spectacular displays of flowers on trees
> (reliably)
> > are when all the Corymbia ficifolia bloom. They do
> get
> > covered in flowers. I'd love to see a street
> planted
> > with a long line of these.
> > 
> > > We are right on the end of the climate range for
> > > this tree here and
> > > while it grows so well at sea level at this
> > > latitiude, it is useless
> > > even at the 300 ft altitude where our own 
> garden
> > > lies. It either dies
> > > young in the heavier frosts we occasionally
> suffer
> > > or if it survives it
> > > simply refuses to flower. Futher north is a
> diffent
> > > matter as it is
> > > reliably native and a  a great feature of the
> > > countryside (though it
> > > always most favours seaside localtions,
> especially
> > > liking particularly
> > > to perch on cliffs just above the water..
> > 
> > We must have the right temperature range here, as
> i
> > haven't seen any of the Metrosideros here killed
> back
> > from frost, and it will flower.
> > 
> > __________________________________
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> 
> -- 
> Tony & Moira Ryan,
> Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our
> garden at:-
>
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
>
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