And as I know many of you grow New Zealand plants (that's where I live),
please feel free to ask me about them. I may be able to help.

Thanks,
Geoff Bryant
www.hortiphoto.com

Hi Geoff

Your post brings one of my recent horticultural failures to mind.
Bear with me while I explain.

I live in Esher which is about 2 miles from a place called
Walton-On-Thames (Surrey, England). Now one of the main roads through
Walton is called New Zealand Avenue.

I got to looking into the reason for this name and found that it was
named in memory and thanks to the men of New Zealand who fought in the
1st War. Walton had a special link with these men because many of
them were treated for their injuries in Mount Felix hospital. Here
is a link to some photographs of that time -
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/walton-on-thames/mf.htm

To move closer to the point; a tree has been planted near New Zealand
Avenue, Walton. I guess in thanks for, or memory of, those men. The
tree is a Kowhai, a native tree of New Zealand.

Each autumn the tree is covered with many strings of seeds. Last year
I borrowed a few from around the base of the tree with a view to
growing my own Kowhai. My first batch failed completely. Not a sign
of any activity what-so-ever. For my second batch I decided to help
by wearing down the very hard seed coat with a file. My second batch
resulted in four seedlings (from 20). Two of the seedlings have
disappeared completely; one is looking very sick and shrivelled, while
the last is just looking ill.

I will try another batch once the better weather arrives. The dingy
days of December are probably to blame.

Have you ever tried to grow this type of tree from seed?

rgds

Phil