On 3/8/07 09:10, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:

I don't know if it will produce results but I've sent the pics to Fibrex to
see if they can help ID it. It is indeed very like that but I'm not sure if
the streaking on 'La France' is quite the same. I had a look at Crocodile
and don't like that leave at all. It looks unhealthy!

Well, streaking always tends to be variable and can be almost none
existent to very pronounced. Of course you can occasionally find a
shoot that produces some very fine, well streaked flowers and cry
"Whoopee! Where's Peter from Genesis' number? I've got a winner!"
You take cuttings and next year ,,,, the flowers are back to normal :
(

Speaking of which, Ray found an interesting variation on Dianthus Old Mother
Hubbard the other day. He's going to take cuttings and see what develops.
And Nemesia Blue Bird has sold over ten million plants worldwide.
Who'dathought it of a little plant bred in a tiny Devon village originally!

If Hazel Key can id it differently, that's fine, but I'm almost
certain it must be 'la France' in view of overall habit etc. If the
others say different, I think I might stick to my guns

No need for the armoury! Fibrex answered me today and confirm it as 'La
France' so one more notch on the belt of Mr Poole! ;-)

'Crocodile' takes some getting used to. It was a half-sensation when
it first became widely available well over 30 years ago, although it
had been quietly doing the rounds for a while before. A well-grown
plant in full sun with its golden veined leaves red-tinted by the
exposure can look quite special. But grow it indifferently and it
looks very ill indeed. It's a leggy plant and the single flowers are
of a shade of pink that doesn't go with the variegation at all well.

There was a fabulous old dear called Monica Bennett ,,,,,

What a shame she isn't around now! Who has the National Collection, do you
know?

Monica must have been in her 80's when I first met her during the
1970's, but although I got to know her well she was one of those
people that you would never asked of their age. She was tiny thing
with a dowager's stoop and great beehive of silvery hair that did
nothing to increase her overall height. She became a dear friend and
was one of the kindest, well-natured people you could hope to meet. I
could never get away without spending half a day at her nursery.
Which was fine, because it was such a refreshing change to spend a few
hours away from my place. I turned up unannounced one day to find
Central TV filming there. Now I was doing stuff for the Beeb at the
time, but what the heck we'd finished that year's series several
months before so I got 'roped in' as well.

I'll never forget that day. One of Central's presenters John Swallow
was doing the directing and links while regular TV garden guru Bob
Price was there to do the talking. I'd done a few bits for Central
and often popped into the studios so I knew John and Bob pretty well.
We were discussing the merits of one of Monica's new varieties and
about Pelargoniums in general, but Monica got a fit of the giggles and
in no time we were all in bits.

She sounds gorgeous. I wish we'd known her.

Apparently the peals of laughter, cackles and general hilarity
rattling through the greenhouses and around the nursery caused much
bemusement amongst the customers. We finished bleary eyed and with
aching sides. I remember watching the broadcast and anyone could see
that it was barely controlled, each one of us on the verge of a
complete giggle-breakdown. Nevertheless, it was a good piece about a
fine dark-leaved miniature - I think it was called 'Gemma Craven', but
that detail escapes me.

Monica always had a twinkle in her eye and could see a funny situation
arising well before it popped over the horizon. She was very well
known in the 'Black Country' writing prolifically in local newspapers
and was the original 'geranium' guru. Many of us beat a path to her
door on Christmas morning for a sip of sherry before buying flowers to
take to our families. Happy days.

BTW, don't remember if I asked you but are you growing Petrea volubilis in
your garden?

No you haven't, but funny you should mention it. There were huge
bushes of a rather odd form growing everywhere around Pafos when I was
there earlier. The flowers were a bit dull and small, but the fruits
were extremely showy - great clusters of golden 'berries' dripping
from the branches.

Guy Sissons has a nice one with white and blue petals alternated. I'm going
to email him to find out its full name. Such a beautiful plant!

I bought quite a few back with the silly notion of introducing it
under the varietal name of 'David Beckham' (because of its 'golden
balls'!), but have not managed to persuade them to germinate. I'm
sure Petrea (or Petraea) is a goer for my garden and must give it a
try when I've finished ripping the place to bits and decided how to
put it all back together. Dare I admit that it incorporates a decked
pier (already built) with twinkling blue LED lights sunk into the
treads? ... Ooh dear and how passe!


No blue paint? You're slipping. ;-))
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 3/8/07 15:46, in article , "Marco
Schwarz" wrote:

Hi..

If you're going into productionto sell them
for next year Sacha, please put me on the list.

Please me, too.

Will do. I'll let urg know when we think they're ready.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Sacha wrote:

...sure Petrea (or Petraea) is a goer for my garden and must give it a
try when I've finished ripping the place to bits and decided how to
put it all back together. Dare I admit that it incorporates a decked
pier (already built) with twinkling blue LED lights sunk into the
treads? ... Ooh dear and how passe!

No blue paint? You're slipping. ;-))

Nah, I'll stick to medium oak. The colour mellows so well. Mind you
I did see a load of very large, near spherical, vivid rich blue,
ceramic planters today and since I can get them for very little money,
I'm sorely tempted. I like blue - shirts, shoes, pots, walls even (if
very pale), but that muddy colour Titchmarsh was slapping about a few
years ago left me very cold. I was going to say I don't go a bundle
on blue flowers as well, but then I remembered the Hardenbergia that
dripped with blue for 4 months over winter and Solanum wendlandii ...
and Ipomoea indica ... and Petrea.

On 3/8/07 20:08, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

Sacha wrote:

...sure Petrea (or Petraea) is a goer for my garden and must give it a
try when I've finished ripping the place to bits and decided how to
put it all back together. Dare I admit that it incorporates a decked
pier (already built) with twinkling blue LED lights sunk into the
treads? ... Ooh dear and how passe!

No blue paint? You're slipping. ;-))

Nah, I'll stick to medium oak. The colour mellows so well. Mind you
I did see a load of very large, near spherical, vivid rich blue,
ceramic planters today and since I can get them for very little money,
I'm sorely tempted. I like blue - shirts, shoes, pots, walls even (if
very pale), but that muddy colour Titchmarsh was slapping about a few
years ago left me very cold. I was going to say I don't go a bundle
on blue flowers as well, but then I remembered the Hardenbergia that
dripped with blue for 4 months over winter and Solanum wendlandii ...
and Ipomoea indica ... and Petrea.

I love blue flowers and those lovely blue pots. The only exception for some
reason, is Ceratostigma. I find it a truly irritating plant! I just didn't
like the blue trellis, fencing, decking moments we all lived through on
Ground Force! There was just too much of it and it was so much the colour of
the moment that it became truly tiresome.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

Sacha wrote:

On 2/8/07 23:54, in article ,
"Gregoire Kretz" wrote:

Pelargoniums have a reputation for not being too difficult to grow from
cuts. Some people say even the pruned bits regularly start growing
again. I guess you would know.

They're very easy to propagate, so I don't think this one will give much
trouble. Whether or not it will do its reaching for the skies thing under
all circumstances, is another matter!

OK, we'll see in 15 years then?



Greg

--

No ficus = no spam

On 3/8/07 23:27, in article ,
"Gregoire Kretz" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

On 2/8/07 23:54, in article ,
"Gregoire Kretz" wrote:

Pelargoniums have a reputation for not being too difficult to grow from
cuts. Some people say even the pruned bits regularly start growing
again. I guess you would know.

They're very easy to propagate, so I don't think this one will give much
trouble. Whether or not it will do its reaching for the skies thing under
all circumstances, is another matter!

OK, we'll see in 15 years then?


Well YOU will! Heaven knows (literally) where I'll be by then. ;-)


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:05:46 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

http://i17.tinypic.com/66woz9l.jpg[/IMG]
http://i13.tinypic.com/67imc7m.jpg[/IMG]

It must be wonderful in full flower!
There is a similar one in the village of Lelant in west Cornwall, see
http://i14.tinypic.com/4qp0jeq.jpg. It's going over now, but it was
quite magnificent a few weeks ago; a wall of silvery pink. The owner
didn't know the name, only that it was planted as a cutting a few
years ago, that it was growing up through a Russian Vine, and that
they did nothing to it.


--
Chris

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

On 5/8/07 13:40, in article ,
"Chris Hogg" wrote:

On Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:05:46 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

http://i17.tinypic.com/66woz9l.jpg[/IMG]
http://i13.tinypic.com/67imc7m.jpg[/IMG]

It must be wonderful in full flower!
There is a similar one in the village of Lelant in west Cornwall, see
http://i14.tinypic.com/4qp0jeq.jpg. It's going over now, but it was
quite magnificent a few weeks ago; a wall of silvery pink. The owner
didn't know the name, only that it was planted as a cutting a few
years ago, that it was growing up through a Russian Vine, and that
they did nothing to it.

I think this might get the same treatment, i.e. none. ;-) We're going to
be there this coming week so I'll ask what, if anything is done to it.
The one in Cornwall looks very similar. Did you look at Fibrex nurseries
pic of La France? http://www.fibrex.co.uk/search.asp
In a similar vein as to the unexpected, there's a cottage at Blackpool Sands
in Devon that was occupied by the head gardener to the local estate. It's
right on the beach and luckily for passersby, on the bend of a road. Its
walls are covered in passiflorae supposedly too tender to grow outdoors
here. The gardener was a friend of Ray's and had originally worked in the
temperate house at Kew so had amassed a lovely collection of Passiflorae. A
friends of his gave Ray one donkey's years ago which he said was the now
'missing' P. 'John Innes'. David Poole still thinks it's that but other
experts disagree. Passiflorae seem to be among the plants that can be
argued over indefinitely!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'