On 10/25/11 2:05 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On 10/24/11 1:44 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:

You have a tea tree? I thought they only existed in Australia!
Are they hard to grow?


I have an Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum). It really is a
large shrub and not a tree. When I finally corrected its chlorosis by
adding lots of sulfates (ammonium, iron, zinc, magnesium (Epsom salts),
and calcium (gypsum)), it decided to grow well. Mine has white flowers
in the spring. The leaves are small, light green blades. It has many
weeping branches. I generally trim them away to make it grow taller.
It now arches over the adjacent paths. I don't really mind the higher
weeping branches as long as they don't brush my head as I walk under
them. I also trim away low growth so that we can see through it.

At Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks (across from the Civic Arts
Center), they have New Zeeland tea trees (L. scoparium). Two are
blooming right now. One has bright red flowers; the other has shocking
pink flowers. I think they are blooming out of season because I recall
them blooming in the early summer. These grow upright without any
weeping branches. The leaves are dark green and much smaller than L.
laevigatum.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary