In article ,
says...

Tim Perry;813141 Wrote:
I bought some Morus nigra seed from Thompson & Morgan about 25 years
ago. They produced fine trees, very upright, and now over 35 feet tall,
but not one flower or fruit...
There are some plants which flower much sooner if grafted from, or
grown from a cutting of, an already flowering plant. So maybe that is
why mulberries you get from nurseries are so expensive - they are
vegetatively propagated from a mature plant. Mine had one or two
flowers the first year I planted it, almost as tall as me it cost me
about £40. I'm trying to stop it getting too big or I'll never be able
to get the fruit. Mine's a very upright form too, I've pruned it to a
lollipop standard shape. I've tried striking some cuttings off mine,
but without success.

Likewise, my Metrosideros umbellata (Southern rata, hardy form of the
New Zealand Christmas Tree) has flowered after just 7 years as a low
lollipop-shaped bush rather than the 25 years it takes from seed,
because it was grown from a cutting from a mature plant. Wonderful
plant, very rare in cultivation here. It looks like some ancient
gnarled stunted plant, whereas in fact it isn't. People just don't
realise it is fairly hardy. Wish I could get my damn wisteria to flower
- it had one flower, its first, last year so I thought it would do the
biz this year, but it didn't, despite all my thoughtful pruning.




--
echinosum

No ones wisterias down here had a good year this year after the heavy
frosts at the start of April, if we have a more normal season next then I
am sure it will get started, they tend to get better and better :~)
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| No ones wisterias down here had a good year this year after the heavy
| frosts at the start of April, if we have a more normal season next then
| I am sure it will get started, they tend to get better and better :~)

It wasn't a problem here - they hadn't woken up by then :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 30/8/08 09:22, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| No ones wisterias down here had a good year this year after the heavy
| frosts at the start of April, if we have a more normal season next then
| I am sure it will get started, they tend to get better and better :~)

It wasn't a problem here - they hadn't woken up by then :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our wisteria 'tree' flowered very well but the ones we saw elsewhere on
walls etc. were quite sulky.
http://i35.tinypic.com/kd304n.jpg
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

In article ,
says...
On 30/8/08 09:22, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| No ones wisterias down here had a good year this year after the heavy
| frosts at the start of April, if we have a more normal season next then
| I am sure it will get started, they tend to get better and better :~)

It wasn't a problem here - they hadn't woken up by then :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our wisteria 'tree' flowered very well but the ones we saw elsewhere on
walls etc. were quite sulky.
http://i35.tinypic.com/kd304n.jpg
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon



As Nick implied to far ahead, your free standing one would have been
later, it only seems to effect the growths once they reach a certain
size, but it was a sad sight this year.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 30/8/08 12:16, in article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

In article ,
says...
On 30/8/08 09:22, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| No ones wisterias down here had a good year this year after the heavy
| frosts at the start of April, if we have a more normal season next then
| I am sure it will get started, they tend to get better and better :~)

It wasn't a problem here - they hadn't woken up by then :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Our wisteria 'tree' flowered very well but the ones we saw elsewhere on
walls etc. were quite sulky.
http://i35.tinypic.com/kd304n.jpg
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon



As Nick implied to far ahead, your free standing one would have been
later, it only seems to effect the growths once they reach a certain
size, but it was a sad sight this year.

I suppose that's it. We took down the one that was on the house wall last
year. It was never a good 'doer' and when it did flower fairly well it was
at the same time as the leaves and so the flowers were pretty much lost.
However, we have one that climbs a tree and flowers right at the top. We
never touch it because we can't get to it and that did very well this year.
But then it had protection from the tree, which would account for that!
We're so pleased with our wisteria tree that we've planted two more to make
a grouping.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Bob, to answer your question, we have wild cherry/plums, rather
like a Shuma, they grow everywhere around here, along every
hedgerow, so I did not trouble to plant any. Most locals ignore
them, but we pick loads every year. I use them in much the same
way as you do to make sloe gin, only I prefer Polish spirit to gin.

Back to the Loquat issue, they are said to be hardy down to -15 C,
and the flowers to -7 C, so there should be more people growing
them successfully, but they are only partially self-fertile and would
benefit from another grown close by. Perhaps this is why so few
growers get fruit.

In article ,
Tim Perry writes:
| Bob Hobden;812896 Wrote:
|
| What no little Mirabelles? (make amazing jam)
| No Greengage either. (much nicer to eat than plums)
|
| Bob, to answer your question, we have wild cherry/plums, rather
| like a Shuma, they grow everywhere around here, along every
| hedgerow, so I did not trouble to plant any. Most locals ignore
| them, but we pick loads every year. I use them in much the same
| way as you do to make sloe gin, only I prefer Polish spirit to gin.

Mirabelles are not cherry-plums, still less are greengages. Both
are Prunus domestica; cherry-plums are P. cerasifera. And Bob's
remark about greengages doesn't apply to either.

| Back to the Loquat issue, they are said to be hardy down to -15 C,
| and the flowers to -7 C, so there should be more people growing
| them successfully, but they are only partially self-fertile and would
| benefit from another grown close by. Perhaps this is why so few
| growers get fruit.

They are said to be, but it's not that simple. They are very hardy,
but are often cut back by cold winds (even ones rather warmer than
-15 Celcius) and need a reasonable amount of heat and sun to flower
and fruit. I don't know the details of the latter.

You used to see the former around Cambridge very clearly, because
there were a fair number of them in the city that were truncated
every winter as they got above the garden walls. That doesn't
happen in the current very mild winters.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Charlie Pridham writes
No ones wisterias down here had a good year this year after the heavy
frosts at the start of April, if we have a more normal season next then
I am sure it will get started, they tend to get better and better :~)

Ours were really good - perhaps it's because they've already got used to
flowering late in the Yorkshire climate.
--
Kay

How about this one I saw offered yesterday,

Sorbocrataegus 'Ivan's Belle'
"An unusual hybrid between mountain ash and a hawthorn made by the Russian plant breeder Ivan Michurin. The foliage is similar to the mountain
ash and turns reddish in autumn. The wine red berries are the size of small
cherries and are excellent for juice, preserves and sauces. Grafted onto
Sorbus aria rootstock."

I also looked for a Worcestershire Black Pear, a cooking variety, but the price
I was asked was ridiculous, so I'll wait until someone is pruning theirs and
beg some scions.

In article ,
Tim Perry writes:
|
| How about this one I saw offered yesterday,
|
| Sorbocrataegus 'Ivan's Belle'
| "An unusual hybrid between mountain ash and a hawthorn made by the
| Russian plant breeder Ivan Michurin. The foliage is similar to the
| mountain
| ash and turns reddish in autumn. The wine red berries are the size of
| small
| cherries and are excellent for juice, preserves and sauces. Grafted
| onto
| Sorbus aria rootstock."

Are you one of the 40% of the UK that can taste bitterness (as
distinct from sourness)?

If so, don't believe it! Haws are rather flavourless, but rowan
berries are as bitter as gall. There are lots of recipes for them,
they are widely available, and those of us who can taste bitterness
can't stomach the result (with rare exceptions, like my mother,
who actually LIKED bitter aloes).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I thank you all for your comments, constructive, helpful and otherwise.

I will, regardless, continue to experiment with different plants. So many
gardens are stocked with species that our grandparents thought could
not be grown.

There are always plenty of people offering reasons / excuses why we
cannot do this, or cannot do that, and if we took heed nothing worthwhile
would ever be achieved.

Personally, I love the challenge, the excitement when that new shoot
appears through the soil. I cannot resist those strange fruit that will
be seen sometimes on grocers shelves, more for what seed they may
contain than for the fruit itself.

Those among us that are less adventurous are welcome to stick to
growing radishes in the kiddies patch.

Now I suppose someone will get all snotty about that !!!

Wow, all that fruit !
If I dress up as a fruit bat can I come for a visit

Anytime, C. F., but you did not mention your gender.

If you are a girl, you can wear whatever you like,

(just as long as 'her indoors' don't catch you),

If you're a bloke, I could use a hand with loads of hedges
that need trimming.

"Tim Perry" wrote in message
...

someone;813088 Wrote:


I have a loquat tree in my garden, it produced one (1) fruit last year
after
18 years of planting from a seed brought from Portugal, but life is
difficult here in U.K., fruit-wise. We cut the little fruit in half
and we
each had a half :-)

I also have about six Surinam cherry trees (Eugenia uniflora) here in
N.
Wilts, which I grew from seed. I don't think I can sustain them since
I
only have a small greenhouse and they're getting bigger, so I am hoping
to
find a botanic garden that will take them on, maybe Ventnor.



Hi someone, thanks for the info, seems from the general consensus that
my
Surniam cherries will have a hard time, Oh well, win some, lose some.

But you did say your Loquat had a fruit, did it have many flowers, I do
not expect much from it, but given some flowers I can collect the
pollen, which is what I am after for something else I want to try.


Hi, sorry this is such a late reply, I was away for a while in August and
September so didn't catch up.

Our Loquat had only the one fruit in 2007, but in the previous November
(2006), which was really very late, the tree suddenly produced hundreds of
sweet-smelling flowers in large bunches. It must have been the wet spring
that did it, since my Syzygium jambos tree also produced flowers for the
first time. The Loquat flowers almost over-wintered (well, I guess one
did), so if the weather's wet and mild enough your tree may well flower.

someone