My Helicopter Plant is blooming now. These pretty flowers smell divine, fruity and perfumey. The scent doesn't carry though, so you have to get up close and smell them. While you're close, you can really see the details of the blossoms, they are very dainty and frilly.
Cathy
What an unusual plant. Very cool. Where did you get yours?
I got it about 2 years ago, from Top Tropicals, they seem to have it on backorder right now... it produced a few seeds last year, but I didn't harvest any and didn't see any babies underneath. This year I will be more diligent about looking for those seeds!
wooooooo! Major envy here Cathy!! What does the smell remind you off??!!
Hi Usha!
Gosh, it's hard to describe, but here goes: kind of like a smidge of Juicyfruit gum, a dot of ylang-ylang, and a swirl of narcissus! It's not real strong, and it think it was stronger this morning, so I guess the scent fades as the goes on. I'll double check that tomorrow.
The cannas are doing really well, hoping for a big blooming summer!
I second Usha. Usha I think we need one of those!!
Marie,
it was not available when I placed the order with TT.
Marie, should you be lucky enough to have seeds in the future of the Hiptage benghalensis, and would like to have an exchange, I'd be interested. I plant for fragrance - at present I have just ripened Cananga Odorata seeds. (Chanel #5 is made from these flowers) Its a tropical tree, tall, but I keep all of mine fairly short to avoid possible huricane problems. I've cut all of mine down at least once and my DH did a 2nd chopping over the w/e!
Its a beautiful flower. How tall does it grow.
Hi Bedouin,
I've been checking the flowers daily and it looks like some of the spent flowers will produce fruit/seed. They would probably grow faster if I didn't look at them so often!
Bedouin, you actually sent me ylang ylang and a couple others last fall I think it was. :-)
I've had this Hiptage for almost 2 years and it's about 3 feet tall. It has lost just about all of its leaves from last year and is putting out new growth too. It's not the prettiest shrub, but I like the flowers and the scent! Top Tropicals has some pictures of it here:
http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi
I'll harvest any and all seed I can and would be very happy to share with anyone interested.
I'll keep this thread posted as the seeds progress.
Cathy
I am very interested Cathy.
Gotcha covered! I already had you in mind :-) and marieortiz too!
Thanks for the link Cathy. TT used to be here, but moved to Punta Gorda. The nursery is sorely missed!
Cathy,
thank you for thinking of me and Marie. Marie and I are friends and her daughter and mine are also good friends. As you can see, we have unbreakable connection!!LOL!!.
Let me know what your interests are and I am going to wait for my several fragrant tropicals to bloom this year...may be I can repay with seeds of the plants I have.
That's so neat!
I took a picture earlier, the helicopters are starting to form!
wow!! They are becoming seeds very fast!
I would be in terrible trouble if I lived near TT. Even if I was just there to visit I think I would need to rent a U-haul!!
Thanks Cathy for the seed offer. If I get any decent seeds I will let you know.
I have 3 that were flowering like mad and now have all the helicopter seeds. People talk ugly about this plant; that's especially if you live in a place like Hawaii that it become an invasive monster. I seriously doubt that this will become invasive in Florida on its own.
My flowers had the distinctive scent of Jasmine plus Citrus. One of the earlier cool spells knocked the leaves off of the plant. That made the flowers especially showy.
Here's a picture of what the seed pods look like yesterday. They are a pretty dusty rose color. A few have dropped off, but none have ripened and dropped yet.
Kalpavriksha, have you sowed any seeds- do they germinate well? Mine made quite a few seeds last year, which I never collected, but I never saw any self-seeders.
Cathy
Hi!
Sorry for the delay; I've had only one to germinate and it dropped off the plant into another pot. More than likely I keep the seeds too long for them to be viable.
I'd say once they're brown, they need to be planted within a day or two of being picked.
You know, these might make great potpourris sprayed gold or silver like what they do with Tabebuia caribea seeds. I haven't tried but sprayed and dusted with glitter it'd make nice garlands if you could put a needle through the centers.
