Re: Isopogon and Psoralea pinnata

> Tim & Gayle Kalman wrote:
> 
> Dear All,
> 
>      Adding to what David feix said about Isopogon formosa, I have
> found it difficult to grow here in California.  I presently have one
> which is blooming spectacularly this year.  It has been five years
> since I planted it from a 1 gallon can, and this is this first year
> that it has had more than just a few flowers on it.  I am elated as I
> have killed several others.  Though I am not entirely sure that it
> won't up and die at any time.  Not all but many Austrailian natives
> seem to succumb to soil pathogens here.  My current sucess with
> Isopogon is due to the fact that it is growing on a ledge in 2' of
> loamy sand.  I have never heard the common name 'purple drumsticks'
> used before and agree that the flowers are more remeniscent of sea
> urchins.

Tim
I should say it was a great credit to your expertise and patience to
have finally got an Isopogon to the full flowering stage. We have found
here in NZ the vast majority of West Austrailan plants do not succeed
without the most strenuous efforts to please them when taken away from
their native soils and climate.

The flora of this particular  part of the world often seems as though it
is growing on another planet, so difficult is it to transplant. Many
folks from NZ, and also I am sure from the other parts of Australia,
visit the area for the spring flowering which can be quite breathtaking
in its variety and beauty and the strangeness of the plants. We tend to
rush home and try every species we can lay hands on, but more often than
not for all our efforts to reproduce their natural conditions it ends in
disappointment..

The odd thing is that the natural soils of the area appear extremely
unfriendly -often not much more than a sand, and summer temperatures of
the northern part of the state at least are apparently too high for
human comfort, but the curious plants with their out-of-the-world
flowers seem to take all this in their stride and the spring show is
prodigeous both for number of species and the sheer volume of bloom.

If any of you folks ever get the chance to pay them a visit,
mid-September is probably about the time to go for the best show. There 
are plenty of tours laid on at this time..

I wonder if the fact that many Australian plants seem to be liable to
attack by soil pathogens in  California is because they are grown from
seed and do not bring with them their native protectant fungus flora. if
we could get plants started in their native soil or a culture from it
with which to inoculate the seedlings we might have a good deal more
luck.

>      Psoralea pinnata is blooming here as well.  The flowers smell of
> grape bubble-gum to me.  Anyone else notice this?

Won't grow in my high valley, but my son in Wellington by the sea has
one. Must have a sniff sometime!!

Moira

PS In case my reference to "other parts of Australia" is at all
ambiguous, I did not mean to imply NZ is in any way part of Australia.
-- 
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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