On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 22:23:16 GMT, Pam Moore
wrote:

That doesn't sound right. It is an upright tree or shrub.
So I wonder what I am growing which is trailing and was grown from
the seeds I got from Chiltern!!!

Somehow, someone has got the common names mixed up. The 'Cruel Plant'
is Araujia sericofera, a half hardy, evergreen (or deciduous in cold
areas) vine distantly related to Stephanotis and producing vaguely
similar, but shorter tubed, pinkish flushed, fragrant flowers in small
clusters.

It is so called because the pollen masses are rather viscid when the
flowers first open and any probing moth becomes stuck fast. In
warmer, drier climates where the plant originates, the pollen dries
out after a few hours and the moth is freed so that it can continue on
to another flower and pollinate it. In this country, the higher
humidity and lower temperatures often prevent the pollen from drying
out and the unfortunate 'prisoners' are sometimes held until they die.

I have a plant clambering over some trellis and there are times when
it is covered in fluttering moths - a somewhat gruesome sight, but
fascinating nevertheless. It is not reliably hardy inland or further
north than Bristol, but makes a handsome climber for a frost free
greenhouse or conservatory.

Feijoa (Acca) sellowiana is the 'fruit salad plant' - a shrubby
member of the myrtle family with rounded, leathery leaves and showy,
red-stamened, white flowers in the leaf axils. The resultant fruits
are sometimes known as pineapple guavas and are sweet with a very
exotic combination of flavours. The flowers are edible as well and
are also rather sweet to taste.

Feijoa grows reasonably well in sheltered sunny spots in the south,
but its early flowering means that fruit is rarely set out of doors in
the UK. If grown in a frost free greenhouse the flowers need to be
hand pollinated to ensure a reasonable crop. Feijoa makes a handsome
and easily grown shrub for a medium-sized to large container and can
be stood out of doors in summer. Although not a particular
lime-hater, it seems to grow best in an ericaceous compost.

Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November