Don't bother with gunnera seed... its a real pain!
I spent too much money buying seed i should have just gone out and bought the plant in the first place..
My plant i have had for a few years now and its starting to look more reasonable.. its first couple of years it nearly died..once with cold.. the secon summer with the drought...
Now we had lots of water and so it had a good year...
Try rheum palmatum tanguticum if you like big leaves with less effort..
Seed is easier to grow too!
"what-can-I-grow-in-my-zone" #2
ugh...I wish I had known that before I just ordered gunnera seeds this week....awesome...gonna look up the rheum
Anyone have any ideas on the care for Canna x generalis 'Striped Beauty'? I posted in the Canna Forum, but figure I will get a response here faster. :oP I am getting ready to plant the rhizomes and want to be sure I don't give it too little/too much water.
Hi Princess Kathy
Hi Tammy,
I don't think you can drown cannas. I've seen them placed in pots in fish ponds. They can be drought-tolerant, but they really like lots of water. Last spring I put cannas in three huge tree-type nursery pots in full sun. It was supposed to be temporary. One year later, they are still there. I kept them well watered, but I noticed that during the summer heat the soil in the pots was HOT! Nearly burnt my hand finding that out.
Rhea and I dumped one out yesterday to start putting them in a permanent place. The entire pot was a mass of roots, clear to the bottom, and each rhizome had at least 3-5 new sprouts on them. Apparently, 100+ temp in full sun in a black nursery pot, etc. doesn't bother them at all. Had no cover all winter, temps got down below freezing a number of times, and the pot would have taken them down to about Zone 6.
So, they're pretty hardy little guys.
Karen
Thanks Karen! I have been holding off on potting them up cause I wanted to be sure I do it right! :oP Isn't it surprising how well the ones you have in pots have survived?!!!! I don't plan on digging any of mine, other than when they are big enough to trade!!!! :)
Princess Kathy rocks!
Hey misty,
I agree with what glendale is saying about the water with established cannas and definitely in the heat of the summer they like a lot. If you're planting them out now (here's where for some reason I feel I should baby things more than they need)..I would keep them on the drier side just to avoid any chances of the rhizomes rotting. I've never planted out new cannas before last frost, but I imagine they'll probably be fine. Striped Beauty is my favorite of the three that look so similar, (Bengal Tiger and Tropicanna Gold are the other two), you'll like it.
lol...I got the Gunnera seeds, put them in a jug and hoping for the best.
has anyone tried these? the place I got the seeds from said hardy to zone 7, but I seriously doubt that, everything else I've read says otherwise:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/621/
Thanks, Kara! These are brand new rhizomes that I purchased and wanna make sure I get it right! :oP I am going to put them in a pot for now and then to the Green house with them. We will still have 'shaky' weather for at least another month, so I wouldn't risk putting them out just yet.
Good luck on the Gunnera Seeds! :) Glad I am getting the actual plant as I am not good with 'difficult' seeds!
May Princess Kathy have a great weekend!
My cannas won't go out til next month at the earliest due to crazy weather around here. But they are extremely easy to grow and you can't over water them. You will have fun growing them.
I may seriously be borrowing the neighbors yard, without having to plant there! :oP
Hi Princess Kathy
LOL. Borrow it at night. Then when they wake up they have a beautiful yard and won't know how they got it. They probably would be estatic. LOL
I sure would.:)
Well Miss Kim you just come right on down here and help me! :oP
May Princess Kathy be a good seed snatcher!
Look lady...I was talking about being estatic over a sudden beautiful lush garden lol!!
Ok Little Miss! LOL :oP At least she called me a lady! HA HA HA
Princess Kathy is a lady!
misty--
ok--lol, is your GH heated? I guess it doesn't matter much, I'd recommend the same either way because I rotted several cannas in my GH over winter. I would water them as little as possible and as early in the day also to keep them in the GH. It seems like if I leave one just a night or two with the soil too wet, I lose them.
sweetie, I have to ask, what were you trading for that you bought rhizomes for the person?
Yep, it is heated. Have too many things out there that can't get below freezing, so I keep it warm enough also to keep things from going dormant. I will make sure there isn't too much wetness to keep them from rotting, but on those that are aquatic, when do you start keeping them in water?
If I told you what I was trading for everyone would think that I hit the jackpot! (and I did!) LOL And it was agreed upon between us for the trade, and they weren't expensive, just to make the trade a happy one. :) Forgot to add that I was already planning to buy the rhizomes for myself, so no biggie to get a 'few' extra! LOL
All my love to Miss Cathy and our Dear Princess Kathy
This message was edited Mar 15, 2008 11:08 AM
Tammy, any cannas can be aquatic, but in our weather it is best to wait till May at least. Even with a gh, if you want to keep them in water you need to keep them aerated.
Thanks Robin!!! ♥
All my love to Miss Traci and of course Princess Kathy!
Misty, I think it would be MUCH more ANNOYING if you princess game players post 2 separate sentences AND Bold them! :o) tee hee :o)
Something like:
ALL MY LOVE TO MISS TRACI
AND
ALL OF MY LOVE AND EVEN MORE TO PRINCESS KATHY!
In every single post! LOL!
Ohhhh, I am sooo baddd and soo mean ! LOL!
LOL Anjil! We really aren't out to annoy anyone, though. Just to have fun and enjoy all the purties we get! :)
I really do love Princess Kathy and Miss Robbi, Miss Cathy, Miss Traci, Miss Beckie, Miss Rachael, and last but not least, Miss Joan! :)
roflmao! :oD
Just remembered about this site i use alot when needing ideas
http://coolexotics.com/index-plants.html
Mike
Mike,
That's a teriffic site. Thanks.
Karen
WOW thanks Mike! I immediately bookmarked that page!!!!
May Princess Kathy and Miss Joan know I love them!
Just been looking back through it ... gives me inspiration to buy more plants.
Mike
Mike,
I just bookmarked it -- I don't dare actually LOOK right now. You're very brave. LOL.
Karen
Just contacted a guy about plants for a cebia as i tried seed a couple of times from a kind dg member and nothing wanted to grow.
Also remembered i grew some Asmina triloba after reading about them on that site and though hardy paw paw trees sound tropical. They are really slow this will be there third year and i planted on in the garden which is tall at 6 inches so far! lol
Also read about Bauhania on that site that i grew last year. Seems that one of the colours can take the winter in a cold greenhouse but i lost the other one. Don't ask which one as i lost the labels.
We will see what growth spring brings..!
Mike
awesome site, Mike, so much to check out later, thanks
sigh...gotta love the orchid trees. I had to get this Bauhinia (bohniana) which should be hardy here, PDN is dependable with their hardiness ratings. It will be pretty small I'm sure when I pick it up, but hopefully will grow fairly quickly. The description alludes that there's another just as hardy, but doesn't give a name:
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/06944.html
and trying this one from seed, monandra, hopefully I can grow them and try them at my parents' place where it's warmer. Plantfiles has the hardiness as way tropical but I know I've read zone 8 somewhere:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53511/
I like pawpaws, definitely want to grow more edibles. I started these vine seeds, apios americana which aren't tropical but exotic loking, and I almost hope it does become invasive...the neighbors kudzu keeps getting closer: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/69480/
I have never ordered from here yet but i use it to get ideas or info.
http://www.hardyexotics.co.uk/hardyexotics/frameset.htm
lol...tell me more...another cool link...there's the cautelya spicata on one of those links...I've heard it called the world's hardiest ginger....have not seen it here at all though
is this the cebia you're talking about?....wild looking
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.naturalsciences.org/education/Ecuador/2006/images/ceiba%2520tree.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.naturalsciences.org/education/Ecuador/2006/pages/Cebia%2520tree.html&h=600&w=400&sz=121&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=6E8PnRYh3jguyM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcebia%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den
not sure there was nothing on that link! heheh
Its got big thorns and fantastic orchid flowers not very hardy but..worth a bit of messing around.
Mike
lol...yeah thats the one...how did you manage to find a pic with no thorns and no flowers?
It was the only one I could find, actually
I'm starting these from seed...like I 'll actually be able to grow them but I can't resist:
http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-4520/African-tulip-tree
Ah spathodea...yeah tried that last year and nothing happened!
Very nice though.
Looks like i spelled it wrong so made finding it hard work
try http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Ceiba+speciosa
Mike
Funny, just going to sow a few of those (so pretty), I'm tryiing a bunch of stuff for my folks place, they have no shade whatsoever. In PF it says that these might be hardy to 8a, so if it's big enough, by the end of the season, I'm going to try and push it....they germinate really fast. Planted some 10 days ago and they're already coming up in the GH:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/153595/
Caespina or Ceiba? I tried the ceaspina last year... germinated real quick nearly as quickly as they died in winter!
both....lol....
I feel like I should list all the seeds I started so you can tell me the ones that are gonna die, cause I don't have room
heheh... i'm sure yours will be fine.. I just kill a lot of plants..
Main problem i think in the UK is the season is too short, wet and not warm enough. Stuff tends to be ok in the greenhouse when its young but i can't get them big enough in there to make it through the winter.
Also i had major water problems in my greenhouse this summer, so i got clouds of fungus gnats eating my plants.
I have visions of the same thing happening this year.
Mike
Any one grow Bananas? I just got some and planted them Sunday. They recommended Smoke Seed Primer, anyone tried this?
Hey Tammy.