so proud. I can't decide if I'm going to leave it in the ground this year. If I do I know it will be a record year of cold, probably even snow.
First bloom on Ti plant
So pretty. I've never seen one bloom,I dug mine up yesterday and potted, didn't want to take a chance on an unexpected freeze(?). We didn't have a freeze last year. We went directly from fall 2007 to summer(March) 2008. Sure would like to have a spring sometime.
ya, the weather is too unpredictable these days. I was wondering if a farmers almanac would know whats going to happen. I'll go get one today.
Cool. Do you know if they are self pollinating? I have a striped variety (not kiwi) that is blooming right now too. I am hoping for some seeds lol.
don't know, you can take a small paint brush to the pollen. Or are you talking about having to have two different plants?
I was wondering if they had to have 2 diff ones to make seed or not.
I had 4 bloom last year and tried to mix up their pollen by hand - no results. So maybe I just did it wrong, but I too had hoped for seeds. It may be I accidentally stressed them without enough water last winter (I get paranoid I water too much) and that might have hindered seed development. Though with the way these things grow, you can almost cut a piece of the stem up and propagate them like weeds.
Mine bloomed this year too. Last year this plant looked so sick it was in the "plant hospital" and really neglected. Brought it back into my screened lanai and it's gorgeous!
These are tougher plants than I thought. I had one in a pot left outside last winter and it re-emerged this spring just as healthy as before. Needing the larger pot for another plant, I placed it in an empty 5 gal. black pot and promptly forgot about it, roots exposed and all. It got watered when everything else did and no TLC. Considering how tough it really is, this is one to be planted outside. Now watch, having said all that it will probably turn up it's toes and die on me.........LOL.
I have found (green) Ti one of the hardest plants to kill, without trying on purpose anyway. Only too much water in the winter (in bad soil) seems to do it. Other than that, they are tough plants. And they love to grow tap roots that push them right out of their pots. Some of mine in 24" pots are still trying to push their tap root through the bottom of the pot. The blooms are quite beautiful I think. Mine bloomed heavily last year and then seemed to weaken a bit over the winter; but they came back strong this year.
Tap root, that explains it doing so well out in my cactus area. Maybe I'll just take cuttings instead of digging them up for winter protection. It gets cold up here (I'm on a hill ) but have only had 2 frosts in 25 years. Oh, and that one snow, but that was freaky. Do you know the tap root is only for stablization? You can take it off but be careful of the feeder roots where the plant sucks up nutrients and water.
I wish I could find a way to slow down the growth of that root, it eventually destroys the plastic pot by warping it bad on the underneath side. I am leaving one Ti in the ground this year to see what happens. I figure with a tap root that long, it's surely going to survive and come back next spring. I put it next to the house, so we'll see what happens. I actually had a pothos come back, so Ti surviving isn't out of the question I don't think.
Cut off the tap root. maybe you can get two year's growth in the pot, but that's when you should repot anyway. Then cut off the tap root again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taproot
I brought a ti plant when I moved back here from FL and planted it last summer in the ground. Winter came and I knew it would die off, but ok ...........
Then this Spring it came back and has done great all summer! Never thought it would come back in this zone. It's under a loquat tree with a little protection. It's never bloomed, but I'm so glad it seems to come back. We'll see what this winter brings.
Barbara
This message was edited Oct 22, 2008 8:32 PM
They really are tough and resilient. The only thing they don't like is real hot direct sun. I have some in deep shade and you wouldn't know it's the same plant!
