The message
from Janet Tweedy contains these words:
In article , Rusty Hinge
2 writes

They're lovely, and I'd like one, but...

They need an acid soil, and IIRC, lots of water. Builders' rubble tends
to the alkaline.


No they don't ! I have an arbutus in my garden, chalk, flint and clay
but def. NOT acid. Done so well it's outgrown it's place at the back of
a border between my flowers and my veg.!

Very rarely gets watered as it's up the back,

Unedo plant psychologist!

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

Arbutus unedo plainly ought to be very drought resistant given its natural habitat in mediterranean lands. Only this April I was walking through arbutus forests in Sardinia, where they have a very dry hot summer, though they grow only about 3m tall in such conditions. I saw taller ones in damper NW Portugal. Though I find mine is inclined to wilt in persistent dry conditions - perhaps you have to grow them hard to get them to be drought resistent.

Certainly the soils I have seen them growing on in the Med have mainly been thin acidic soils. But I'm pretty sure I've also seen them on limestone, in NE Sardinia, and I think the area in SW Ireland near Killarney where they are particularly abundant and tall, is limestone. Amazing that a plant should be so at home both in the cool, wet climate of SW Ireland and mediterranean areas with their hot dry summer.

I didn't recommend Arbutus, because they are inclined to become large trees in our climate. But I have a dwarf form in my garden. It said on the label it would only grow to 2m, but I have to prune it back hard every now and then, or it would soon be twice that size. It doesn't mind. Very tough tree/bush.

If I had the space to grow a full-size Arbutus, I'd choose Arbutus x andrachnoides. It has this amazingly showy shaggy red bark. Also more floriferous than my Arbutus, though my dwarf form is notedly less floriferous. It doesn't tend to fruit here though, as far as I can see. But it is a very big, vigorous tree. Some people near me have one, and they have to call in the tree surgeons about every 5 years to keep it from becoming enormous.

Someone mentioned Eucalptus. Many of those grow like a rocket and you can regret it as they are almost as ineradicable as ash. But there are smaller, more manageable Eucs, so if you do like them (like me) choose one of those. Relatively easily found smaller hardy Eucs include gregsoniana, pauciflora, nipophila, debeuzevillei. Among rarer small ones, I have E mannifera subsp mannifera and E nova-anglica, which are both in the very-rarely-seen-in-British-gardens category, and easier-to-find E pulverulenta which is more like a television aerial than a tree, though I'm coppicing it so it shouldn't do that, but will only be a small bush so treated. (My nova-anglica is not much different so far.)

I've got a very pretty Buddleia alternifolia, it is grown as a tree,
quite small but airy and is covered in honey scented little lilac
coloured flowers along it's branches in June. Growth is sort of
weeping/scared to death but it is always commented on.

See here for a picture
http://www.waterperrygardens.co.uk/s...s.php?plant=44
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article ,
Janet Tweedy writes:
| I've got a very pretty Buddleia alternifolia, it is grown as a tree,
| quite small but airy and is covered in honey scented little lilac
| coloured flowers along it's branches in June. Growth is sort of
| weeping/scared to death but it is always commented on.
|
| See here for a picture
| http://www.waterperrygardens.co.uk/s...s.php?plant=44

I had an alternifolia, but it died :-(

That was because my front garden had/has some kind of nasty fungus that
caused root-rot and death - of about half a dozen completely unrelated
plants. And, no, it was/is NOT honey fungus. My current buddleia is
alive, but it was only a cutting and I am not betting on it being long-
lived.

Yes, B. alternifolia is very nice - less blowsy than B. davidii, but
equally tough and easy to care for.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 8/7/08 16:34, in article ,
"echinosum" wrote:


Janet Tweedy;802531 Wrote:
I have an arbutus in my garden, chalk, flint and clay
but def. NOT acid. Done so well it's outgrown it's place at the back of

a border between my flowers and my veg.!
Very rarely gets watered

Arbutus unedo plainly ought to be very drought resistant given its
natural habitat in mediterranean lands. Only this April I was walking
through arbutus forests in Sardinia, where they have a very dry hot
summer, though they grow only about 3m tall in such conditions. I saw
taller ones in damper NW Portugal. Though I find mine is inclined to
wilt in persistent dry conditions - perhaps you have to grow them hard
to get them to be drought resistent.

We saw them in Cyprus up in the Trodos mountains and they were big - around
18 to 20' I'd guess.
snip

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On 8/7/08 20:24, in article , "Janet Tweedy"
wrote:

I've got a very pretty Buddleia alternifolia, it is grown as a tree,
quite small but airy and is covered in honey scented little lilac
coloured flowers along it's branches in June. Growth is sort of
weeping/scared to death but it is always commented on.

See here for a picture
http://www.waterperrygardens.co.uk/s...s.php?plant=44

It's a beautiful plant, Janet, I agree with you 100%. IMO, anyone who can
grow it should! ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:31:56 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

I've got a very pretty Buddleia alternifolia, it is grown as a tree,
quite small but airy and is covered in honey scented little lilac
coloured flowers along it's branches in June. Growth is sort of
weeping/scared to death but it is always commented on.

I had one once but it was difficult to keep looking tidy.

Pam in Bristol

On 9/7/08 15:50, in article , "Pam
Moore" wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:31:56 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

I've got a very pretty Buddleia alternifolia, it is grown as a tree,
quite small but airy and is covered in honey scented little lilac
coloured flowers along it's branches in June. Growth is sort of
weeping/scared to death but it is always commented on.

I had one once but it was difficult to keep looking tidy.

Pam in Bristol

I don't think that one does tidy, does it? My son has a huge specimen in
his Jersey garden and one of its charms - for me - is that it flops around
all over the well head like a demented thing!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

In article , Sacha
writes

I don't think that one does tidy, does it? My son has a huge specimen in
his Jersey garden and one of its charms - for me - is that it flops around
all over the well head like a demented thing!

It looks better as it gets older and I only take out the flowering
shoots every year straight after they have faded. No other pruning. It
has an overall pleasing shape and density to it now.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk