Just about a year ago you sent me some "true arborea" seeds. Two sprouted and are growing well. Just this morning I think that I saw my first bud. Do you think that could really be what I am seeing?
You also send some "Susanne X RK" Seeds. One sprouted and it is growing well no buds yet.
Betty
Oh YES you do Betty! Wait till you smell this one. It is the best fragrance of anything in the world to me.
Are you keeping this one cool or is happy in the heat?
What a great closeup pic too! I can't wait till it flowers to hear what you think of its fragrance.
It is in the coolest place I have without going inside. It is dealing well with the 98-degree heat and NO rain for 6 weeks. It gets morning sun and shade from 1:00 on. It is really holding up better than lots of the others.
I love the leaves; it is beautiful if it never even blooms. Gordonhawk from Brooklyn was here to visit last week and he agreed that the leaves look like velvet.
So excited here... A new baby.
Betty
How great your got to meet Gordon! What fun that must have been. He is such a character with his incredible NY roof garden. An inspiration to all!
I agree, Arborea is a pretty brug even without its detectible flowers.
It was fun to meet Gordon. I love to meet other people who are as addicted to gardening as I am. He is also quite the artist, and so interesting. DH and I both enjoyed our visit with him.
I'l lke to interject a rebuttal here... HAHAHA
Well .. it did indeed look like velvet... though... perhaps it was the contrast to Bettys other leaves in her garden... which look like polished green marble.. or prehaps covered in a clear acrylic.. all bright and shiney.. but the litle fuzz was all over it... leaves stem.. and buds..real special
Quite an artist herself.. that Betty..[ you can always tell... when there are plesant suprise arrangments of things everywhere..] and the plants unbelievable...even in the100* weather of the past weeks there. [ without rain ] .cool ... dark green [an artistic term ] and lush ..
and she's displayed them to great advantage ..and credits ya'll .. for cuttings....seeds.. and all ... in the tour.. as wewentthrough thegarden.. got to return for the heavy flowering of the cooler weather.. a pleasure Betty.. thanks
Keep up the great work there ... Betty...
and we both agree that..... artists do it and just have more fun
Gordon
Blushing here...
I agree, Betty is an awesome artist!!!
I'm at exactly the same stage with ?arborea as you! But I have a nasty suspicion mine are going to turn out to be sanguineas lol. Not as velvety...... Hmmmm back to the drawing board!!
WOW Betty, sounds like you are so talented! Your garden displays sound so great!
Oh Alistair, that is a common problem. Is it legal to send seeds to Australia?
Life is good as an Artist...
It gives you an excuse to never have to grow up. LOL
Kell, Will my arborea self-pollinate so I might have seeds??
Incorrectly id'd arborea seeds is common but here in the USA what you most frequently get is white suaveolens hybrids.
Pretty little bud Ms. Betty! Wish I could grow it in my part of the world.
So far it is dealing well with our heat, lack of rain and high humidity.
We will see what the next few weeks bring. Still not a bug bite on it. Maybe they don't like the fuzz?
Betty
We can only legally import seed of x candida Kell, but I have located another source of arboreas (fingers crossed).
Yes Vee: another batch of arborea turned out to be suaveloens (by the look of the leaves) - seems to be a universal problem!
Arboreas are sefl- fertile I believe
Yes, they are Alistair. The first year or 2 I didn't get many pods but now I get pods from every flower! I tried to cross them one year with Vulcanicola and with a Sang but even though I cut the corolla open before the blooms opened on their own and took out the anthers, my control blooms that I had done this too also but had not pollinated also made pods! I have a few of the seedlings now ready to bloom if I ever take them out of their gallon cans they have been in forever!
So how can they tell which kind of seed you are getting Alistair? And why no others?
Kell Kin shows an example of the suav hybrid seeds and the arborea seeds in this thread. The seeds of different species do have different looks and sizes.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/552083/
ps ... Unfortunately the vulcanicola Pink you used to grow is not a true vulcanicola.
This message was edited Jul 24, 2006 10:37 AM
another pic
Kell Vee's excellent pic shows how distinctive suaveolens seeds are, and I guess they might be recognised. The others, though different from eachother, would probably require trained eyes!
I'm unsure of the logic of allowing x candida seed into Australia but not others ..........
So you really think they have trained people sitting there looking at them all? That would be amazing!
Well no (though I taught some of them years ago lol), but when they want to get serious (i.e. make a prosecution) they send the plants/seed to botanic gardens to get a botanist to do the ID.
Keeping my fingers crossed here. I haven't been out to check this morning but I could see growth in the bud yesterday.
Betty
