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Re: new subscriber

Hi Karl,
I noticed on your list of successfully propagated plants that you have a
syrian asclepias. Do you, or anyone else in this medit-plants group, know
if it and other old world milkweeds contain the alkaloids that the north,
american milkweeds have (and which sustain & make toxic Monarch
butterflies)? Is there research on this? I have noticed at UC Botanical
Garden that Monarchs feeding on the african milkweeds, when pupae, are
picked off by the Stellar jays, so they don't taste bad or poison these
birds unless they feed on California milkweeds.
Thanks.
Elly Bade
On Tue, 1 Sep 1998 khoover@hii.hitachi.com wrote:

>      I'm a home hobbyist gardener in San Jose, California about 50 km east
>      of the Pacific Ocean and about 10 km south east of the San Francisco 
>      Bay.
>      We are about 150 m above sea level and have a loam soil of neutral
>      reaction. There is very good cold air drainage from our site;
>      it's UC zone 16 - a characteristic Mediterranean climate. There
>      was practically no frost this past winter, although this was an 
>      unusually mild winter. Far more damage was sustained from 2cm diameter 
>      hail in a spring thunderstorm.
>      
>      I subscribed to the list briefly about a year ago; it seemed
>      much livelier back then. Is everyone busy actually planting 
>      rather than e-mailing?
>      
>      I'm especially interested in growing unusual and/or
>      California native shrubs, perennials and trees from seed.
>      Here is a list of some of the more interesting, at least to me,
>      things I've got growing successfully.
>      
>      Aesculus californica
>      Banksia integrifolia 
>      Combretum padoides: 
>      Dovyalis caffra 
>      Euphorbia ingens 
>      Phacelia bolanderii
>      Carissa haem.(?)
>      Callitris rhomboidea
>      Cupressus macrocarpa
>      Ephedra nevadaensis
>      Testudinaria elephantipes
>      Asclepias syriaca
>      Umbellularia californica (I've got dozens of these guys)
>      Chrysolepis chrysophylla
>      Celtis australis
>      Gardenia spatuifolia
>      Euphorbia lathyrus (sp.?)This plant amazingly protects any plant near 
>      it from the ubiquitous, ravenous, pocket gophers ( Thomomys )
>      
>      If anyone shares any interest in these or similar plants please give 
>      me a buzz.
>      
>      Karl Hoover
>      Berryessa Foothills, San Jose, California, USA
> 
>
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