Hi,
Well, I was just moseying through the cyber halls of Kartuz last night, dreaming of the day I win the lotto and can buy everything in the place to landscape the mansion I would buy, HARHAR, and I saw the Iochroma plants they have for sale. So I came here & did a search & found out that many of you have tried them. So here are my questions that I still have after reading several posts on them.
Am I correct they are not fragrant?
Will they survive well in Zone 9 or freeze? And will they come back from the roots if they do?
Do butterflies or bees like the flowers?
How big will they really get & how soon?
Am I gonna regret spending $30 on 4 little 4 inch pots that may or may not survive?
I have read about the company at garden watchdog & am feeling a bit nervous about them.
So I would really appreciate any input that anyone can share with me.
Thanks,
Donna
need input on Iochroma purchase
bumping............. these are some good questions, anyone out there growing these?
Donna, I found some in nurseries around here (the Bay area) last summer. You can get a gallon for around $8. Have you looked?
I grew them 2 or 3 years ago. They got huge. Did well in winter. I think our lowest temp was about 28 degrees. I took them out because they were too big and too floppy. I didn't get enough color for the amount of room they were taking up.
Do you ever get down to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery in Berkeley? They have a huge tree of it and I mean tree. I just couldn't wait for mine to get thru the sprawly stage.
Hi Kell,
I was beginning to despair that anyone would know what these were. LOL
I have never been to the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, :~(, but it sounds like I would like it! That is a wonderful price for a gallon plant! I cannot find any nurseries in this area or Sacramento that carry them.
I am glad to know that they can handle zone 9 winter temps, too.
thanks for you post,
Donna
Kell sent me a red one a couple of years ago that did very well. I ordered blue and purple from Kartuz and they didn't bloom much. I think it was too hot for them here that year.
Hi Donna,
I got Iochroma grandiflora from Kartuz last year , order took about 10 weeks to arrive and i received no answer when inquiring about the status of my order. Plants were very small but grew fast (about 5-6ft), this particular Iochroma is very scraggly and tends to flop over . It does bloom continously , but the flowers have no fragrance that i can detect. It overwintered here in GA zone 8 , but took awhile to come back . I have had no luck in rooting the cuttings , no matter which method i tried . Bees seem to be attracted , but i never noticed the butterflys flocking to it , but that could be because they are so busy with my Passis LOL. I prefer Iochroma fuchsionoides , much better growth habit . Hope this help a little.
Anette
Anette, try the plastic bag method and do green cuttings. I got tons to root that way when all else failed. I agree, too floppy!
Donna, have you looked at the nurseries in spring or summer? None have much now. I bet if you ask a nice nursery to order you a few they will!
You are all so helpful! I just knew the answers were here. I will do as you suggest with asking nurseries in the Spring Kell. Thank you all very much.
Donna
Hey Kell,
can you tell me some of the nurseries that you go to and like? I may have to make a trip and would like to know some places to visit.
Thanks
Donna
Kell,
Thanks so much for the tip , i never thought of taken green cuttings and trying those DUH . Running out tomorrow to try it out
Thanks again!!!
Anette
i ordered a couple iochromas from kartuz in october plus some other stuff. i received my order very quickly.. like within 2 weeks. i was surprised. however, they were out of most of the things i ordered. i got i. fuchsioides and cynaeum 'sky king' which were in stock. but they said they are sold out of i. grandiflora and 'sunset' until next spring. the plants were small but very well rooted (in this very porous medium that dries up too fast) which was fine for me. they were the right size to pot up to a gallon. it seems next spring would be a better time to buy from them.
i have a plum-colored one in a 5 gallon pot now about 3 ft tall. it's so floppy that the top part is almost touching the ground. i need to stake it. :) i have to stick mine in part shade since it doesn't seem to do so well in full sun. i have seen iochromas by the central coast growing as small trees so i'm under the impression they like that kind of climate.
mmqc, thank you very much for the information. Very helpful! I think I will hold off on ordering from them then. I had been waiting until I heard back from an email I sent them this last weekend, asking about what they had in stock of the 4 that I wanted.
Have you had any success with rooting these? My mom saw the pictures yesterday and started drooling. I told her that I had been reading that they are hard to start, but if I could find out the secret she could have cuttings once the ones I get are big enough.
Also, do you think that as yours gets older that the floppiness will go away?
Donna, I love your user name! It makes me smile whenever I see it. If they have all 4 of the plants that you want it sounds like you would get them a lot faster this time of year. After all, the rest of us are trying to find space to bring in all of the plants that we already have!
Anette, I didn't know that you were here! The iochroma cuttings that you sent didn't root for me either, but the brugs are doing great! I hope that yours are, too!
Donna, I actually wrote a long post the other day only to have AOL kick me off and it was gone!! Made me nuts. So this one will be shorter.
Here is a great list of nurseries.
http://www.anniesannuals.com/info/outlets/buy.htm
I usally go to a town and go to all of the nurseries in that town. I will list my favorite. The first 2 are the ones that had lochroma in stock when I was looking for them.
Western Hills Nursery
Address: 16250 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental, California 95465
Redwood City Nursery
(650) 368-0357
2760 El Camino Real
Redwood City, CA 94061
The best nursery closest to me is
REGAN'S NURSERY 4268 Decoto Rd. Fremont, CA 94551 510-797-3222
And here are other favorites that are all over. I usually keep directions to all in my car so if I happen to be somewhere I can go for a quick visit to their local nursery.
YAMAGAMI'S NURSERY 1361 S. De Anza Rd. Cupertino, CA 95014 408-252-3347
ALDEN LANE NURSERY 981 Alden Lane Livermore, CA 94550 952-447-0280
ORCHARD NURSERY 4010 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Lafayette, CA 94549 925-284-4474
EAST BAY NURSERY 2332 San Pablo Ave. Berkeley, CA 94702 510-845-6490
Thank you so much for the list, Kell. That is really helpful.
I decided to stay away from Kartuz. I did not feel comfortable with the garden watchdog feedback & after reading some posts on Daves from others about their dealings with Kartuz, I figured I did not want to gamble. I found an iochroma auction on Ebay from butterflybyrobin and went ahead and bought one. I will have to be content with just one, LOL, says the obsessive gardener who has to have every color of plants she loves, and if I like it and am successful growing it and mastering cuttings the green way that Kell suggests, then I will hunt for more colors. Whew, that was a hard choice to make. I wonder if I will be able to stick to that. ..
Abiene, if you have success with kells method, please post. I had just been reading a thread by kell about the plastic bag method she uses and really want to know if it works for you with the iochroma.
I really appreciate all of you responding. Glad to make you smile Ronna. :~)
Donna
kell...thank you for your favorite nursery list! I will keep it in my car also...as you already know the Yamagami nursery is very close to home!
i have not been able to get any cuttings to root. they seem to do ok for a bit then don't grow and eventually die. i will have to try the green cuttings like kell suggested. i got my plum one at strybing/sf botanical garden. they have a plant sale every month from march to november. if you're ever over there, take a look around. i saw several different ones on the garden grounds. as i recall they were medium-size trees. i have not really seen any for sale around the south bay. i am guessing that the new growth will always be kind of floppy.. the stems are thin so i assume once they grow older and have thicker stems then they will be less likely to bend over. good luck with your ebay one.
Also rooting them in spring is probably the easiest time to root anything. Everything is in growth mode!