Re: Isopogon and Psoralea pinnata

>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.


I think South Africa is probably the most analogous to WA as far as growing
conditions go & I only wish we had the same trouble. I'm very loath to try
much in the way of their plants because of the possibility of them becoming
our next noxious weeds. Something we're very concious of here. I remember
two winters ago camping in Cape le Grande Park outside Esperance, on WA's
south coast  ( a fantastically beautiful spot by the way ) & pitching my
tent hard up against a thicket of Acacia cyclopia, which is one of our most
invasive weeds. Quite bizarre. Interesting how it is a pioneer plant & forms
a nursery cover in its natural habitat & is a permanent growth suppressing
thicket here.


>>      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

Don't be fooled into thinking the Psoralea is a drought hardy Med plant. It
grows extensively through the Western Cape but is always associated with
water courses & will need extra summer watering. In some areas it can be
used as a defining plant to actually see where the stream & soak areas lie.
Its interesting David writes of finally finding a fragrant form & that it is
a blue/white one. Most of the ones in the wild are a deep blue &, to my
knowledge, not at all fragrant. Then a few years ago I had a very strange
experience with them. I was walking up a valley (off Baines Kloof) with a
friend to set up a camp to go hiking. It was immediately post frontal, after
heavy rains, & very still, so the air was super saturated. We had to push
through thickets of the psoralea, which was the lightest form I'd seen -
almost a lilac wash verging on white - & in those conditions the air was
heavy with perfume. It was very subtle & hard to define but I'd have to
liken it to a spicy aftershave. After about 2 hours of that we got to a
clearing & both virtually collapsed. The scent was a complete soporific & my
senses were reeling. We passed out & it took a few hours to sleep it off.
I've never been so affected by a plants perfume before. I've tried looking
up traditional/medicinal uses for it but can find no references.
Perhaps if you're an insomniac, it would be interesting to plant one outside
the bedroom window.

In my garden I've just had my best ever flowering of Haemanthus coccineus,
with 12 flowers on the clump, & some Scadoxus multiflorus katherinae as a
backdrop. These have all gone over & I now have another 12 flowers out on
Scadoxus membranaceous, looking magnificent with Haemanthus albiflos coming
in as a foreground. Also - after 13 years - I finally have the Queensland
wheel tree, Stenocarpus sinuata, giving its first real flowering. Its
turning out a good season for crimsons.

Regards

Glenn Breayley. Ragnarok & Valhalla Research.
POBox 26158, Hout Bay, 7872, Capetown, South Africa
Ph/Fax SA 021 7904253 E-mail valhalla@iafrica.com
Wholesale nurseryman & Tillandsia specialist wholesale & retail grower.
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