Erythrina crista-galli
 

Mine has just developed flower-buds, for the first time! What chances
do I have of seeing flowers this year, in Cambridge?

If anyone else wants to grow it and thinks it's too tender (well, it
is, really), please ask what I do. Alternatively, if anyone has
succeeded with it in the colder parts of the UK, please give me any
hints! Yes, I grow it herbaceously, as you would expect.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Erythrina crista-galli
 

Erythrina crista-galli
 

On 13/10/08 09:29, in article , "Jeff Layman"
wrote:

wrote:
Mine has just developed flower-buds, for the first time! What chances
do I have of seeing flowers this year, in Cambridge?

If anyone else wants to grow it and thinks it's too tender (well, it
is, really), please ask what I do. Alternatively, if anyone has
succeeded with it in the colder parts of the UK, please give me any
hints! Yes, I grow it herbaceously, as you would expect.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Heh. Lucky you. Mine's about 20 years from seed now, and still hasn't
flowered.

I live in hope.

We grow it but only in a glasshouse. Nick's account makes me feel we should
try it in a sheltered place outside.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

Erythrina crista-galli
 

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

We grow it but only in a glasshouse. Nick's account makes me feel we should
try it in a sheltered place outside.

Here is what I think I have discovered!

It isn't protection from cold it needs but summer warmth, so a sun
trap is the best location. That is where I saw it, but can't now
remember which botanic garden. It doesn't start growing until the
soil gets really quite warm - i.e. VERY late.

It didn't do at all well until I started covering it in winter with
a 2' square pyramid made of wood, double-glazed with polythene.
An ordinary cloche would probably do as well :-) The point of that
is more to protect it from the wet than the cold as such, though
reducing the latter doubtless helps.

And, of course, I put a few buckets of gravel 1-2' down when I
planted it, to ensure good drainage.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Erythrina crista-galli
 

On 14/10/08 08:57, in article ,
" wrote:

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

We grow it but only in a glasshouse. Nick's account makes me feel we should
try it in a sheltered place outside.

Here is what I think I have discovered!

It isn't protection from cold it needs but summer warmth, so a sun
trap is the best location. That is where I saw it, but can't now
remember which botanic garden. It doesn't start growing until the
soil gets really quite warm - i.e. VERY late.

It didn't do at all well until I started covering it in winter with
a 2' square pyramid made of wood, double-glazed with polythene.
An ordinary cloche would probably do as well :-) The point of that
is more to protect it from the wet than the cold as such, though
reducing the latter doubtless helps.

And, of course, I put a few buckets of gravel 1-2' down when I
planted it, to ensure good drainage.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I'll pass it all on Nick and see if Ray thinks it's worth a try. It has to
be said that this summer would probably have seen it pass out with sheer
boredom while waiting to flower!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

Erythrina crista-galli
 

Erythrina crista-galli
 

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

It isn't protection from cold it needs but summer warmth, so a sun
trap is the best location.

So why did yours flower this year, but not last? ;-)

A bigger boss. My earlier problems (with several plants, in pots and
in the ground) were that they didn't make enough growth in the summer,
and so were set back to square one by each winter.

My point there is that it is VERY late coming into growth - and I mean
June - unless it is mollycoddled. It does OK in the USA, because the
soil warms up so much faster when spring starts.

It's not quite as late as Passiflora incarnata, but isn't far off.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Erythrina crista-galli
 

In article ,
says...
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

It isn't protection from cold it needs but summer warmth, so a sun
trap is the best location.

So why did yours flower this year, but not last? ;-)

A bigger boss. My earlier problems (with several plants, in pots and
in the ground) were that they didn't make enough growth in the summer,
and so were set back to square one by each winter.

My point there is that it is VERY late coming into growth - and I mean
June - unless it is mollycoddled. It does OK in the USA, because the
soil warms up so much faster when spring starts.

It's not quite as late as Passiflora incarnata, but isn't far off.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I know you were trying like me to grow it from seed but I gave up as it
never seemed to grow, how did you crack it? As to growing it outdoors
they have large healthy plants at the Garden House and Rosemoor, both in
Devon and both in sunny borders and about 4 feet from a wall.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea