On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:40:46 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:


I left a pot of fresh seed in the coldframe over winter, and a dozen
germinated in May. All of them have very tiny leaves indeed (some of
them have 6 leaves now). Is this normal for baby metrosideros? Other
than being minute they look healthy, and because they are so tiny they
aren't crowded for light and space yet.

I'm not sure how tough they are; whether to leave well alone and
wait for them to grow, give them a dilute liquid feed, or prick them out
into fresh compost.

Any tips?

Janet.

AKA M. lucida. Arnold-Forster's 'Shrubs for the Milder Counties' has a
chapter on Metrosideros, including a couple of pages on M. lucida. He
commends it for its resistance to salt gales, and says should be
frost-hardy in any seaside Cornish garden, so I imagine it will be OK
with you. His at Zennor (a hamlet high up on the hills of west
Cornwall, overlooking the sea) survived the severe winter of 1947
(but with considerable damage), but that winter was so exceptional
that even common gorse was killed and holly was defoliated, he says.
However, he also says that it won't flower until it has been
established for at least 20 years!

I was puzzled by this last statement, as Trevena X nurseries were
offering them and implying theirs would flower when quite young. I
enquired, and although I can't remember their reply, it was convincing
enough for me to buy one. Perhaps A-F is referring to plants grown
from seed like yours :-( whereas it may be that modern propagation
methods allows them to be raised from cuttings, which then inherit the
age of the parent (as I believe is the case for camellias, for
example). Mine is still in a pot, as the bed it's intended for won't
be ready until the autumn. At present I grow it in a mix similar to
the one recommended by DP, 3 parts JI ericaceous : 1 part washed
quartz grit, 1-6mm. It seems to be doing well ATM, but as echinosum
says of his plant from the same source as mine, no flowers yet.

I also have M. Thomasii, rescued from a Wyvale plant centre about four
years ago, in a New Year sale. They were semi-correctly described as
'New Zealand Christmas Trees' (AIUI all Metrosideros species seem to
have that common name), but must have been recently imported from NZ
for the UK Christmas trade as they were in flower (Christmas 'down
under' is in their mid-summer, the seasonally correct flowering time).
But this was January in the UK and the poor things had been sadly
neglected and were as dry as a bone and wilting to the point of
collapse (they do know how to care for plants at Wyvale, don't they!).
I chose the best and it recovered with a bit of TLC and is now also in
a large pot. It isn't as hardy as M. Lucida though, regularly getting
its leaves burnt by frosts of only -2 or -3C. The flowers are a rather
brickish red; it's budding up ATM. Information about it on the net is
sparse.


The Metrosideros on Tresco are spectacular in the summer; M. robusta
and M. excelsa IIRC.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net