The interesting bark is even more noticeable on the trunk of the tree. The fruits ripen while the flowers are opening during autumn.
Is this your plant? Great pic :D
Yes Evert, it's suddenly got huge after struggling when first planted.
I'm going to try and take a shot to show that it's flowering and fruiting all at the same time
Mine's still only a shrub rather than a tree, i've only ever seen small ones, so i'm not sure how large they can grow, though Hilliers describe it as a small tree
When I first time saw this in my "mediterranean plants" book I thought it could be a very neat tree. If you ever have to prune it, let me know... =)
Put the pic to photos forum, so I'll catch it then.
Is the fruit good? What do you do with it? Fresh,jams,dried?
What is it's planting range? Or,is all of this info in the PDB?
Is this the one that has "stinky fruit"?
I've posted the other pics in the photo forum as you asked Evert :)
http://davesgarden.com/t/363928/
I may well have to peune it soon Evert
I've not tried the fruit melody. This is the first year it's produced a useable quantity. It's sposed to be edible but insipid. It's frost hardy, but needs protecting from strong cold winds when young. It likes full sun and fertile soil according to my RHS book. I'll check i put everything in the database, think i may have left some of that out
They're not stinky Calalily, i'll go and have a sniff and praps a taste and report back.
Calalily, this isn't Durian ;)
Pihlomel, I've read that the fruit is bitter and not very good, but edible anyway. :)
If it is possible to propagate from cuttings, it would be great. This is one of the "impossible to get from Finland"-ones.
I'll give it a go then Evert. I spose it's the wrong time of year really, but might as well try now. If it doesn't work i'll try some next year. And i'll probably prune it rather than peune it LOL
The cuttings would be great really. Do you have any idea how to root them? And are they slow to root? I have got rooting hormone anyway :}
This message was edited Wednesday, Oct 9th 10:38 AM
I imagine they'll be slow to root. Can't find any specific info yet - really must go and get some gardening done. Will have a look later unless anyone turns something up in the meanwhile.
This one was really slow and struggling for 4 or 5 years. Then we had extra rain in the spring and it's suddenly doubled its size!!!
I've read in 'Encyclopaedia Botanica', an Australian Publication in the early nineties of over 15,000 plants, that the fruit is a narcotic if consumed in quantity (I don't know what that quantity is). I got my tree in the late eighties from the Adelaide, South Australia, botanic gardens as a natural seedling at the base of a 20-25ft. tree. I'm using feet for you imperialist Americans! I kept it in a pot for ten years and it hardly grew, and planted it out in my garden in the Adelaide hills (at 1100ft. altitude in a Mediterranean climate) and it's now 7ft. tall and has two lots of fruit on it, 12-14 months and 0-2 months old, and is at the end of a flowering session. I think it's confused because we have had Indian summers here for the past three years. The fruit aren't bad if you give them a chance and educate your taste, they taste somewhere between a guava and a fig.
This message was edited Friday, Jun 13th 2:16 AM
Hey Philomel, would it be possible to get cuttings of it now? :D
The blooms are similar to Lily of the Valley, and about the size of a little fingernail. Neither the blooms nor the fruit have an aroma. Not good nor bad. The tree is attractive, the bark particularly so. I would say that the tree is particularly resistant to strong winds, being slow-growing and giving every indication by its style of growth of eventually becoming somewhat gnarled. There are a fair amount in and around Adelaide~ a copse of four or five them between Verdun and Hahndorf, in the Adelaide Hills, at the Shell service station (gas station for you uneducated Americans). They are about fifteen feet tall. I believe they would be a very useful hedge plant.
I'll do my best when I get home Evert
Thanks for all the info solecurrent :)
ok :)
I have a shrubby, 28 year old specimen on my lot. I'd like to prune it into a single trunked tree. Does anyone have any advice on how to accomplish this?
