Re: Dombeyas in northern Calif.
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Dombeyas in northern Calif.
- From: d* f*
- Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 13:55:54 -0700 (PDT)
Hello all,
Just thought I'd continue Michael Barclay's thread
regarding Dombeya not being grown in northern
California... In general Michael is correct, in that
they are probably chancy in our area, as they are
mostly tender, and tend to bloom in winter when our
cool, (or to me, downright cold!) wet winters tend to
discourage them from looking their best or blooming at
all...
However, having known all this, I am growing a
small,(3 to 4" across), leaved Dombeya burgessiae,
(syn. nyassica), which I received from Steve Brigham
at Buena Creek Gardens Nursery in San Marcos, Ca. 2
years ago, and it is in almost perpetual bloom for me,
being grown in a container on a south facing deck. We
have not had a cold winter since I started growing it,
so I don't know how hardy it will be. It has clusters
of small(1" diameter) medium pink flowers all year
long, and the Royal Horticultural Society dictionary
says it will get to be 4 meters tall, and comes from
central and southern Africa, which I assume to mean
the summer rainfall, non-mediterranean portion of
South Africa. A great plant to try if you like
Dombeya's!
On another note, another plant which I bought from
Steve Brigham is also stunning at the moment. This
plant is Oxera pulchella, a scandent shrub or vine
from New Caledonia. The foliage is very deep green
and glossy, and the very showy clusters of 3 to 4"
long white flowers with greatly exserted stamens are
quite distinctive, but unfortunately without
fragrance. This vine has also been in bloom almost
all summer, continuing into fall, here in the Bay
Area,(Berkeley), but when I saw it in San Marcos, it
was blooming more fall through spring. I find it hard
to believe that this vine is in the Verbeniaceae
family from it's appearance! Both these plants have
set seed, which I will be contributing to this fall's
California Horticultural Seed exchange.( Cal Hort has
a web site which lists all the other plants on the
seed exchange, at //www.calhortsociety.org/)
Another aside, has anyone in the group got experience
growing Dalechampia dioscoreifolia from set seed?
This is another almost perpetually blooming vine from
the Andes Mountains of Ecuador/Columbia, which is in
the Euphorbiaceae family, and has beautiful deep
purple papery bracts which look like wings, and has
also been in bloom since spring. I have it growing
together with a Mandevillea 'Alice Dupont', and they
seem to complement each other.
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