Sacha wrote:
On 2009-10-28 19:22:57 +0000, "Jeff Layman"
said:
Sacha wrote:
On 2009-10-28 09:10:04 +0000, "shazzbat"
said:
Hi all,
I nicked this flower/seed head from a bush in someone's garden last
night. The plant is about 8 feet tall and the owner doesn't know what
it is, but says it suckers readily, so I'm hopeful of getting a bit at
some point, although I'll keep it in a container just in case. I've
only seen it in the dark, so that's all I can tell you. Any ideas?
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/28Oct004.jpg
It's clerodendron trichotomum, possibly the fargesii variety.
Clerodendron trichotomum fargesii is the one we have. It grows into a
small tree and the flowers are sweet smelling and as it flowers late in
the summmer it's a very welcome addition to a garden. It's very
beautiful and as you see, those berries are stunning. I think it will
do better in the ground than in a container, though. It won't grow as
big in colder parts of UK, however. Its cousin, Clerodendrum bungei
is a devil for suckering, btw! There's a pic of it in flower on the
site and you'll see how pretty the little white 'stars' are.
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk/shrubs/a-d.html
My C.t. is now 10 years old and a few metres across and high. Although it
flowers very well every year, it has had a few berries in only one year.
Usually it has none. I think it may need another plant (different clone,
probably) to set fruit. Is that your experience, too, Sacha?
Ours is very old and was, we think, planted near enough 40 years ago.
It's probably about 20' tall and spread and has a single trunk. It
doesn't have another near it, though, other than the ones we propagate.
Do you know if yours is C.t. var. fargesii? It's better at fruiting
than the straight C. trichotomum, apparently.
I don't know if it is var fargesii or not, but from what you say probably
not! The next time I put any in, it will be var fargesii, and there will be
at least one other - just in case.
I was at Winkworth a couple of days ago, and they had 3 medium C.t. (2 - 3
metres high) within a few metres of each other and all were fruiting well.
It would have been interesting if there had been one on its own as well for
comparison.
--
Jeff