Re: Caesalpinia
Hello Caesalpinia lovers:
Here in the Desert Southwest gilliesii has naturalized in sandy washes in
the Mountains and we call it "Desert Bird of Paradise". I think I read
somewhere that it originates from Argentina. I am a little surprised that
it is being raised in the UK, but I suppose just about any plant can be
raised in a conservatory.
Pulcherrima is hard to raise here and requires some winter protection when
temps get low, but is worth the effort as it is a real knockout.
We call it Redbird.
I wish the ADENIUMS of which I have so many blooming now were as hardy as
Caesalpinia. I am busy getting them ready for winter.
Regards, Clark
Clark Weston
USDA Zone 8 El Paso, Texas
<bk161@rgfn.epcc.edu>
<Tndrman@worldnet.att.net>
join our mailing list http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/ADENIUM
----------
> I think more or less ALL of the caesalpinias are thorny, aren't they?
> so just about any of them would perform the same hedging function. The
> only one at all 'commonly' grown in the UK is C. gilliesii and I can
> certainly swear to the thorns on that, pruning and weeding around it
> having just left a couple embedded in my long-suffering paw. (How do
> people prune wearing gloves? I can never do it. Like ballroom-dancing
> wearing clogs. You just can't feel what you're doing. So I swear and
> put up with the scars. Or is there a solution I've been missing all
> these years?) C.g., despite the thorns, is certainly well worth
> growing, both for flowers and foliage. In hot dry climates it gets
> almost to tree size, though in this cool wet climate it's so far only
> a modest shrub. The only other species available over here seems to be
> C. pulcherrima, offered by a single firm and that one which
> specialises in conservatory shrubs. It's a plant which I don't know
> but which its name suggests might be worth investigation by someone -
> like Richard - in a suitable climate?
>
> Tim
> Solway Coast, UK
> mild, cool, damp, -3C > 28C
> Tim Longville
>
