"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
Charlie Pridham wrote:

I have been after one for a while having admired it on Madeira in the
Autumn, today a gardening friend has turned up with one!

You lucky thing! To my mind, it is the most magnificent member of the
Tradescant family and well worth any effort in getting it to grow
well.

I know very little
about its needs. I am expecting it to be tender but before repotting,
what
sort of soil is preferred? and in this country how much sun to keep it
happy? So anyone already growing this got any advice?

The great news is that it isn't really any more difficult to grow than
many of the evergreen gingers such as some Hedychiums, Alpinia and
Costus. Large, well crocked pots filled with rich, coarse, humus
laden, loamy compost (a mix of well-composted lawn turves, coarse
grit plus a good dollop of well-rotted horse manure) do the trick, but
a gritty JI No2 would probably be just as good. When growing
strongly, it can be watered heavily and given weekly applications of a
general purpose liquid fertiliser. Just make sure that water can run
through the compost quickly, the roots are prone to rotting if
conditions get stagnant.

In winter, hold back on the watering somewhat, so that the compost
becomes nearly dry in between waterings. If kept constantly warm
(above 15C), it will remain evergreen and push up very stout, leafy
shoots, that flower when 4 feet+ high. If kept just frost free in
winter, it will die down and need to be kept more or less dry until
new shoots resume growth in spring. I'm half tempted to suggest that
it might be OK in a sheltered, well-drained spot out of doors here in
the far south west. However, I must quickly add that I've not had the
opportunity to try it here and so cannot make that recommendation.

Hopefully, you will get a good mass of those intensely rich purplish
blue flowers later in the year. I once manage to get a root from
Edgebaston Botanical Gardens and grew it on for quite a few years.
Would love to get hold of it again - any ideas where it can be
obtained in the UK? I've not seen it offered.

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

Well if I follow all the helpful advice from everyone - Watch this space! I
have it at one end of the mist unit at present but I shall repot and shift
it to the conservatory now I have a cleared idea of the soil requirements
(especially the drainage advice)
Follow up question, I presume I am not likely to get seed in this country
given the lateness of the flowering and our winters? (I wont be able to keep
it at 15c) I think I may have answered that for myself! Outdoor plants of
Hedychium greenii rarely flower here before first frost, while ones started
under cover will flower in September but no seed set (I know you don't need
it with this one!) so I assume similar for Dichorisandra.



--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)