South American plants

LOL. I thought you'd like that. It's a beauty and should prove to be a valuable perennial where you are. I'm sure you could order seed somewhere. So where did you order such healthy lumas from? I'd recommend planting them directly in the ground. Western Garden book comments on their cinnamon coloured bark and myrtle shape. Here's the variegated form: http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/64739/

I got the lumas from Raintree Nursery, they are located in Washington. They specialize in unusual edibles and fruits and berries. They were packed nicely and in very good shape. And very nice people to deal with, I am happy! I think I may order some more things from them, prices are very reasonable as well.
Rebecca

growin, gee whiz!! I was all set to put that little ole Bromiliad in my Musa sikkemensis. I'm running out of room in my greenhouse for wintering over tender perennials. what with Dicksonia's, Musa's, Echeveria hybrids. Alocasias, and on and on. Jim

hostajim, Dicksonia can be outside with overhead protection, echeveria kept dry and some musas should be all outside. You're using up valuable propagation space! The Fascicularia can be planted next year in a rockgarden setting at an angle (so it doesn't pool water) facing south and it should overwinter well.

rebeccanne, sounds like you got a good deal! It'd be nice to see one in a terra-cotta pot, shaped.

Here's a pic of my Dicksonia squarrosa (New Zealand) growing like crazy infront of the house.

I plan to wrap the trunk of my Dicksonia in burlap during the coldest part of the winter. They grew them outside at Heronswood all year and they were huge. I believe they gave them winter protection, but only just to keep them from freezing. I'm thinking of trying little plastic domes with holes in the sides, but not the tops for my echevarias that are outside. Growin, how do you keep yours from the winter wet? I also have a small banana, the kind with the red splotched leaves (can't remember the species). If I wrap that to protect from frost, would that be okay? It's fairly protected in its location.

The only thing you really need to protect a Dicksonia from is rain in the crown which freezes. My Dicksonia is somewhat under the eves of the house next to the stairs and receives no protection otherwise. It still gets wet and snow. I can't remember which banana it is with red blotches but I don't believe it would make it. Finding out which one it is would help.

It's musa coccinea. Thanks for the info on the fern. Makes my job a lot easier.

growin, I'm making up another catalog order and Luma is on it, from the description I know I'm going to like. Jim

Hostajim, Colvos Creek Nursery is so close to you and they've got Luma a. 'Glanleam Gold' cv too. I also just noticed they have the Catalina Ironwood - gosh I wanna get that one. Just a hop-skip & jump from you on Vashon Island.

I've updated the South American plant list and changed the link location: http://members.shaw.ca/magnolia/South_American_Plants.mht
I'd appreciate any feedback, additions, subtractions, etc. My list keeps growing so I need to "weed-out" the ones that aren't hardy. So many cool plants!

Wow...what a list. I'm very impressed with the depth of knowledge I'm seeing in this forum. Do you actually have room to plant a garden dedicated to each continent?

Yes, actually a large bed is being dedicated to Chilean plants only as the climates are very simular. I'm discovering lots of plants but my list needs to be reduced in size and remove some of the non-hardy plants.

growin, help! I keep punching on that hyperlink site and get no response? Jim

Hi Jim, it takes a moment to load. I've put that list aside for the moment while I focus on Chilean plants. Here's the Chilean list: http://members.shaw.ca/magnolia/Chilean%20Plants.mht . If it still doesn't load, let me know as this is done in MS Word and I wasn't sure if it works for everyone so i can always save it as a regular html. This is just a work-list so keep that in mind. Not everything on the list is hardy.

Hi Growin,
I am loving the list, lots of cool stuff I am going to need to find. Would it be possible to put the hardiness zone instead of removing the ones that are not hardy to zone 8? Being a zone 9 I may be a little more lucky than you in what I can grow. Of course I do understand the list is for your garden, but its nice for us zone 9 people to have a list as well. If we promise no bragging or showing off...lol.
Rebecca

Hi rebeccanne, good idea. I'll be adding what I know of zones shortly. The problem with alot of the plants are that they are untested. The best zone indicator is if the plant is in a botanical garden and from what zone in Chile. I'm certainly open to thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc. If you're lucky with a plant I might want a cutting :-)

You are more than welcome to cuttings on anything I have. Now this is not bragging, okay, maybe a little. I just got some Telopea Oreades, I know its from Australian, but hey, what a cool plant! Actually a tree, my uncle has one that is about 30 feet, its just awesome. Now I have some seedlings. I am liking the plants most from Australia and Chile. And the bulbs from South Africa... and lots of other stuff...addicted.
Rebecca

rebeccanne, I love Telopea and have been trying to get T. truncata (Tasmanian Waratah) for years. I recently found it available at Colvos Creek Nursery in Seattle. I recently added "The Looking-Glass Garden" to Bookworm section which is a book about Southern Hemisphere gardens. A great little book. let me know if you have any experience from the Chilean plants on my list.

I went to University of British Columbia Botanical Gardens today. Here's some pics.

Grevillea victoria

A Bromeliad growin happily. Fascicularia bicolor ssp. canaliculata. Hostajim, this is what yours will look like in a few years.

Here's Colletia hystrix 'Rosea'

Very, very nice pictures. I am really getting interested in grevillea as well. If all goes well I just may be able to go to Chile next year in Dec. I am so hoping it all comes together. Can you imagine the seeds I can steal? I have been to Peru, years ago, some amazing plants there. However I was on the coast and when I went to the mountains it was wrong time for blooms.

I will have to go over your list again to see what I have growing or my uncle has. He has more adverse conditions than I do, he is in the sand dunes and gets awful wind, he is closer to a zone 8 than I am. I know we both grow the vestia, embothrium, mitaria ( mine has decided to give me another flush of blooms now), we both have the crinodendron patagua, he also has the sophora tree, its huge and awesome.

Are you familiar with Cistus nursery? If so then you probably know Sean Hogan. Well he loves telopia and was stunned when he saw my uncles, he had never seen one so large. And I think I am getting some banksia seedlings from my uncle as well. If you are not familiar with them, you might check the website, he has some interesting things.

Geeze, I am addicted.
Rebecca

Well duh. You have Cistus on your spreadsheet. i am looking at your list now. I just got through with a great book, I left it in the car but will let you know the title next time. It has lots of plants listed by location for the meditterean garden. You probably already have it, but in case you don't, you need it. My uncles all time favorite book on plants is Seaside Plants of the World by Menninger. Its an older book, I had to get a copy as we were fighting over it, I got it really cheap on albris books. It ddoes have some zone 10 plants but many unusual plants listed that I have not seen listed anywhere else. A great read.
Rebecca

Okay, checked your list.
I have
abutilon vitafolium, I just got seedlings of the white, my uncle grows the blue. Its very hardy, I have tried to get cuttings to take but no success. Its very old, at least 30 years and has a huge trunk. Grows like a vine.
Azara, I have two, same kind, grown from seed. Not an exciting bush, very tiny flowers, not sure which one it is but nice evergreen and hardy.
Brunsfelsia grandiflora. Overwintered fine here, lost leaves but came back. Not many blooms outside here, we may not have enough heat, but it is hardy here.
Cestrum, I have the one called elegans. Evergreen and hardy here, I have 2 colors, pink and red.
The cestrum you have listed, parqui, looks to me like night blooming jasmine. I do have that and it did overwinter in the ground fine. No blooms yet, still small.
Eucryphia, does great, my uncle has one flowers beautifully. I have a young one, just put in the ground a month ago.
Desfontainia, I have one in a pot, it will do fine at zone 8. grows outside Coos Bay, right by the ocean.
Drimys, I have some in pots, did fine exposed in the winter, not sure which one I have.
Escallonia red elf, grows great here, all the escallonia do well. I do have a white one, blooms smell like honey, I was told it was from Chile, but not sure which one it is.
Fuchsia arborenscens (sp) I was just given a couple by a friend who said they are zone 10. I will put one in the ground and greenhouse the other over winter.
Pernettya, does great here
Maytenus, does great here
Jacaranda, I was told they would do well if greenhoused for the first 2 years. I put mine out last year, we had a cold year and it had poor drainage and died. Will try some more next year.
Tecoma, just got one, its in a pot, I think it may not be warm enough to bloom here
Billbergia, does great here, very hardy
Mandevilla Laxa, loses leaves but hardy. I put one in the greenhouse to see if I can get it to bloom, or at least, hold onto its leaves during winter. Had one bloomed year round in the SF bay area.
Aloysia Triphylia, a large one is growing near here, I have some cuttings on this. I love this plant and really hope they take. Got cuttings from an old bush that is tree like now, it survived the big freeze in the 90's. Should be fine zone 8.
Habranthus Robusta, does fine here
Lobelia Tupa, does fine here
Salvia black and blue, does fine here
Ruella, I just have one called "ragin cajun". Its bright red, does fine but after more than a year is very small. Blooms well, hope it grows.
Fuchsia Versicolor, just got one. I don't think there is a problem with the hardiness, but don't know about the fuchsia mite on this one.
I grow the fuchsia bolivana fine here. It will lose the leaves but comes back very well. I think this may be okay zone 8 if sheltered. Its beautiful, I have the red one, would like to get the alba.
Thats all I have but am loving that fuchsia microphylla, will have to check and see if it gets the mite, if not, then I am going to have to get that one.
Rebecca

Hostajim, I was unable to find the fascicularia on Forest Farms site. Is there another name for it?

ardesia, I just received one from them, it is in their fall catalog. try calling them 541 846-7269, they take phone in orders. I haven't checked out the website to see if it's listed on there. but it's definetely in the catalog. Jim

Rebeccanne, thanks for your list of plants and reference book. I'll try and get that one. I have stopped processing the South American list and am processing Chilean plants only. I have it linked above. This is such a great sharing, learning, growing thread. Thanks everyone! I went to Peru a few years ago and had a great time and collected seed. There's so many plants that are virtually untried here from the Andes and the southern portion of South America is a mirror of North America.

I know I saw Fascicularia on Forestfarms site just the other day. If they don't have it I know my friends nursery has them, the coastal terrestrial form www.tropic.ca

Okay Growin,
One more thing, the other book I was telling you about that I did not have the title? Here it is:
Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates (title)
California, Chile, South Africa, Australia, and the Mediterrean Basin
Peter R. Dallman
An awesome book, stayed up half the night reading it when I first got it.
Rebecca
Have loved this thread and many new things I now have to find. Thank you!

http://www.jjaseeds.com/main.asp

Have you ever looked at Jim and Jenny Archibald's list of seeds - they have an entire section on seeds that have been collected in South America. All of their codings have country/continent code (explained on opening page of site). Really is worth a read. I have added the link above.

What a great link! I have bookmarked it and will need to study some of the seeds there. I am sure I am going to be ordering from them. Thank you so much for the link.
Rebecca

Laurie1, thanks for the link. I'm always looking for the unusual. I have the Cardiocrinum, but it's a different species than the one they have pictured. mine bloomed this year and was a real beauty. but it didn't have as many blooms as that one. amd mine were pure white, I just cut off the seed pods. one pod had about 1000 seeds ( just guessing). Jim

Ahhhh - so glad I could contribute.

I hope you don't mind my travelling over to the PNW board. I find a lot of what you write about is so relevant to gardening in South East England. You are an interesting lot - and very plant interested. I actually stopped by to ask about Heronswood the other day, and then got caught up in some of your other threads.

Hope that is okay.

Thanks Laurie1, great seed source. I've bookmarket it too! I've also updated the link to my list: http://members.shaw.ca/magnolia/Chilean%20Plants.htm The list keeps getting bigger and bigger and so many unique and beautiful plants in Chile!

Yes, the climates are very simular. I'm using cultivation notes from W.J. Bean's "Trees & Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles" for my list of Chilean material.

Laurie1, thanks for the compliment. are you zone 8? yes, my plant interests keep growing. my main interests are of course Hosta. I'm in the middle of catalogeing all the seed pods of my crosses this year, I did 592 crosses. are you growing Hostas? I'm also collecting Epimedium, hardy ferns, Acer palmatums. and the list goes on. I'm really likeing this thread because I have a lot of plants that are from Chile. Jim

hostajim1, have you looked at my list? Are the zones, info, etc correct from your experience?

Jim - I am guessing a bit - but I think we are pretty much the same weather growing conditions as Heronswood - closer to 9 I believe. Same latitude as Seattle but we are further inland. Generally get a few days of snowfall in Jan-Feb., but it rarely stays on the ground more than a day or two. We can get a hard frost, but not a penetrating one. We did have a hosepipe ban this summer, but bless it, the damp bed did not dry out.

growin, I finally got it to load, but it looks good to me. when I get done with a few things, I'll look at all those species. after buying some of the Chile species this fall, I might be developing another addiction here. thanks, Jim

Not sure where some of these plants come from but all are in the garden here on Vancouver Island (zone 7-8). Billardia longiflora, Embrothium, Mitaria coccinea, Crinodendron patagua and hookeri, Vestia foetida, Desfontainia spinosa, Holboellia. Joan

Yep, most on your list are from South America. Billardia is Australia and Holboellia I believe is Asian. Do you know if the Mitraria is doing well or any hints on making it grow well? I haven't been able to find Vestia yet.