Garden Centre
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Rarities versus native plants
Okay, time for a confession. Although I try to wildlife garden, and to have my heart and soul always committed to the many wonderful native plants that I grow, there are a few things that slip past me. So every year I allow myself to grow at least one exotic plant (if possible, from seed) and somehow find space for it in my garden. It does give me some qualms, I have to admit, but what can you do? You fall in love with a plant or a flower (or even a vegetable) and although you know you’re going to have to nurture it and cope with a dozen demanding foibles, you can’t rest until you’ve got it.And for me, last year, this was the Crinondendrum Hookeranium. Well, for several years it has been the Crinondendrum, ever since I first saw it growing in a botanical gardens in Mexico. It has the most amazing fleshy red flowers, somewhat heart shaped, pendant (hanging down) and velvety to the touch. It took probably seven years for me to locate one after years of attempting to grow it from seed failed abysmally (it’s a terrible germinator by all accounts) and so it came home with me last August. The thing is, that is after the flowering season, and so I was taking the plant pretty well on trust, not sure if it would flower at all for me. And here it is, showing off beautifully, obviously at home in a semi-shaded corner near the pond, and I love the contrast with the almost lime-green umbels of the perennial angelica behind it.
Labels: angelia, crinodendrum hookeranium, exotic plants, rare plants
The All Seasons Gardener at 6:36 AM
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2 Comments:
It's beautiful. I wonder if we have it in Brazil. But now it's autumn and it's getting colder, so it's not the right time to plant anything new. I did move my wild berries from a shadowed place to a sunnier one, because they didn't give any fruit while the ones along the little alleys here had lots of it.
Well, in the English speaking world I seem to be something of an authority on this shrub, as there are almost no mentions of it on the internet and precious few in gardening books, although it was something of a vogue in the 1960s. So let me tell you that Crinodendrum hookerianum of the Elacocarpaceae, a native of the high latitude rainforests of Chile, bears pendulous crimson flowers which gave rise to its common name - the lantern tree. Magnolias and nandinas grow in the same conditions and the shrub is visited by hummingbirds which may distribute seeds that are stuck to their legs by the fleshy fruits. This suggests that it can be grown from seed, in a suitable climate and always assuming you would be able to obtain any. As long as you are not in a particularly arid zone, Brazil seems like a place that the Crinodendrum would flourish.
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