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#1
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Furcraea longaeva
A horticultural phenomenon is taking place at a Cornish garden as a
plant that only flowers once every 15 to 20 years has started to grow. The Furcraea longaeva which can grow in excess of 40ft tall - a world record - has started a new lifecycle at Trebah Garden near Falmouth, Cornwall. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people to see the flowering of a plant which has an unusually long lifecycle. The exotic plant, which originates from Central Mexico, is thought to have sprouted earlier than usual as a result of an extremely cold winter. Trebah's head gardener, Darren Dickey said: "What makes them so unusual at Trebah is the fact that there are so many of them grouped in one distinct area. "We think that the flowers have been spurred on by the cold winter we experienced. They don't like the cold and their instinct is to fight for survival. The really are out of this world." The plants have started flowering on the Rockery, above the Lawn Path of the Cornish garden. They start off as a soft, beautiful blue-green rosette that eventually form a trunk of around 6ft. The umbrella type plant then spikes into a huge tower of flowers, with pendulous branches and white petals cloaked in white velveteen. |
#2
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Furcraea longaeva
"Chris Hogg" wrote Dave Hill wrote: A horticultural phenomenon is taking place at a Cornish garden as a plant that only flowers once every 15 to 20 years has started to grow. The Furcraea longaeva which can grow in excess of 40ft tall - a world record - has started a new lifecycle at Trebah Garden near Falmouth, Cornwall. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people to see the flowering of a plant which has an unusually long lifecycle. The exotic plant, which originates from Central Mexico, is thought to have sprouted earlier than usual as a result of an extremely cold winter. Trebah's head gardener, Darren Dickey said: "What makes them so unusual at Trebah is the fact that there are so many of them grouped in one distinct area. "We think that the flowers have been spurred on by the cold winter we experienced. They don't like the cold and their instinct is to fight for survival. The really are out of this world." The plants have started flowering on the Rockery, above the Lawn Path of the Cornish garden. They start off as a soft, beautiful blue-green rosette that eventually form a trunk of around 6ft. The umbrella type plant then spikes into a huge tower of flowers, with pendulous branches and white petals cloaked in white velveteen. Furcreas are not uncommon in west Cornwall gardens. I've even seen them as roadside plantings, presumably put there by the local council (also Beschornerias, someone somewhere's quite adventurous!). Their behaviour, that of flowering once in a lifetime of 20 years or so, is very similar to that of Agave americana (aka Century plant), to which they are related. But IMO when they do flower, they are very much more attractive than the agave. For some reason they remind me of white weddings. There's a good picture of 40ft. high Furcreas in flower on Tresco, in Arnold-Forster's book, 'Shrubs for the Milder Counties' (opposite p. 320 in the 1st. edition), recently reprinted I believe, but I've never seen them that big on the mainland. As the central rosette dies, it produces offsets that grow into new plants, but the dead centre is rather unsightly and is best hauled out, no trivial undertaking I gather. AIUI they will tolerate a little frost, say to -5C, but they are very susceptible to winter wet, so best grown in areas of low rainfall and planted in very free draining soil. All I can add is that Ray Hubbard gave me two tiny Furcrea bedinghousii which he broke off from a flower spike and I grew them up in our greenhouse. When big enough I planted one in a large pot and put it outside where it has been ever since (quite a few years) I move it up against the house wall in winter so it stays dryer and warmer. The other plant I kept in the greenhouse and planted it out in a dry sunny spot in the garden last summer, it didn't last the winter. -- Regards Bob Hobden just W. of London |
#3
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Furcraea longaeva
On 2009-06-25 23:00:41 +0100, "Bob Hobden" said:
"Chris Hogg" wrote Dave Hill wrote: A horticultural phenomenon is taking place at a Cornish garden as a plant that only flowers once every 15 to 20 years has started to grow. The Furcraea longaeva which can grow in excess of 40ft tall - a world record - has started a new lifecycle at Trebah Garden near Falmouth, Cornwall. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people to see the flowering of a plant which has an unusually long lifecycle. The exotic plant, which originates from Central Mexico, is thought to have sprouted earlier than usual as a result of an extremely cold winter. Trebah's head gardener, Darren Dickey said: "What makes them so unusual at Trebah is the fact that there are so many of them grouped in one distinct area. "We think that the flowers have been spurred on by the cold winter we experienced. They don't like the cold and their instinct is to fight for survival. The really are out of this world." The plants have started flowering on the Rockery, above the Lawn Path of the Cornish garden. They start off as a soft, beautiful blue-green rosette that eventually form a trunk of around 6ft. The umbrella type plant then spikes into a huge tower of flowers, with pendulous branches and white petals cloaked in white velveteen. Furcreas are not uncommon in west Cornwall gardens. I've even seen them as roadside plantings, presumably put there by the local council (also Beschornerias, someone somewhere's quite adventurous!). Their behaviour, that of flowering once in a lifetime of 20 years or so, is very similar to that of Agave americana (aka Century plant), to which they are related. But IMO when they do flower, they are very much more attractive than the agave. For some reason they remind me of white weddings. There's a good picture of 40ft. high Furcreas in flower on Tresco, in Arnold-Forster's book, 'Shrubs for the Milder Counties' (opposite p. 320 in the 1st. edition), recently reprinted I believe, but I've never seen them that big on the mainland. As the central rosette dies, it produces offsets that grow into new plants, but the dead centre is rather unsightly and is best hauled out, no trivial undertaking I gather. AIUI they will tolerate a little frost, say to -5C, but they are very susceptible to winter wet, so best grown in areas of low rainfall and planted in very free draining soil. All I can add is that Ray Hubbard gave me two tiny Furcrea bedinghousii which he broke off from a flower spike and I grew them up in our greenhouse. When big enough I planted one in a large pot and put it outside where it has been ever since (quite a few years) I move it up against the house wall in winter so it stays dryer and warmer. The other plant I kept in the greenhouse and planted it out in a dry sunny spot in the garden last summer, it didn't last the winter. Bob, we got back from Tresco this evening. I cannot begin to describe to you or urg what the Furcraea longaeva are like there. 'Weeds' don't begin to describe it. They are rampantly flowering all over the island - on the edge of paths, almost on the beaches, in every garden. Some tiny gardens have 3 or 4 flowering their socks off and almost blocking doorways - great, vast, tall candelbrae of beautiful pendulous 'branches' with lovely greeny yellow flowers giving their all. All over the Abbey gardens they are, frankly, shameless. How very, very much more I like these than F. bedinghousii! These Furcreas in Tresco must be going up to a minimum of 12 to 15 feet at a guess and it is quite impossible to describe how prolifically they're distributed around the island. Even the reasonably blasé residents have remarked on them to us and we've been promised a 'bucket load' of seedlings when that happens so you'll certainly be getting at least one! Nobody in Tresco really knows what's caused this extraordinary and sadly, deathly, explosion this year. To them the cold winter seems an unlikely spur. Tresco suffered little from the latter, losing, as Mike N put it "a couple of Aeoniums". The gardens do appear completely unaffected so we can only guess at the copious rainfall but the sharply draining Tresco soil. It is the most extraordinary sight to behold when on the island and I'm just so glad we were there while it was happening. Knowing how you like those plants I can only suggest you board a helicopter asap! The sight is just astonishing and while I've known Tresco for 9 years, Ray, who has known it for much longer, says he has never seen anything like this. It's superb. -- -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon |
#4
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Furcraea longaeva
"Sacha" wrote after"Bob Hobden" said: "Chris Hogg" wrote Dave Hill wrote: A horticultural phenomenon is taking place at a Cornish garden as a plant that only flowers once every 15 to 20 years has started to grow. The Furcraea longaeva which can grow in excess of 40ft tall - a world record - has started a new lifecycle at Trebah Garden near Falmouth, Cornwall. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some people to see the flowering of a plant which has an unusually long lifecycle. The exotic plant, which originates from Central Mexico, is thought to have sprouted earlier than usual as a result of an extremely cold winter. Trebah's head gardener, Darren Dickey said: "What makes them so unusual at Trebah is the fact that there are so many of them grouped in one distinct area. "We think that the flowers have been spurred on by the cold winter we experienced. They don't like the cold and their instinct is to fight for survival. The really are out of this world." The plants have started flowering on the Rockery, above the Lawn Path of the Cornish garden. They start off as a soft, beautiful blue-green rosette that eventually form a trunk of around 6ft. The umbrella type plant then spikes into a huge tower of flowers, with pendulous branches and white petals cloaked in white velveteen. Furcreas are not uncommon in west Cornwall gardens. I've even seen them as roadside plantings, presumably put there by the local council (also Beschornerias, someone somewhere's quite adventurous!). Their behaviour, that of flowering once in a lifetime of 20 years or so, is very similar to that of Agave americana (aka Century plant), to which they are related. But IMO when they do flower, they are very much more attractive than the agave. For some reason they remind me of white weddings. There's a good picture of 40ft. high Furcreas in flower on Tresco, in Arnold-Forster's book, 'Shrubs for the Milder Counties' (opposite p. 320 in the 1st. edition), recently reprinted I believe, but I've never seen them that big on the mainland. As the central rosette dies, it produces offsets that grow into new plants, but the dead centre is rather unsightly and is best hauled out, no trivial undertaking I gather. AIUI they will tolerate a little frost, say to -5C, but they are very susceptible to winter wet, so best grown in areas of low rainfall and planted in very free draining soil. All I can add is that Ray Hubbard gave me two tiny Furcrea bedinghousii which he broke off from a flower spike and I grew them up in our greenhouse. When big enough I planted one in a large pot and put it outside where it has been ever since (quite a few years) I move it up against the house wall in winter so it stays dryer and warmer. The other plant I kept in the greenhouse and planted it out in a dry sunny spot in the garden last summer, it didn't last the winter. Bob, we got back from Tresco this evening. I cannot begin to describe to you or urg what the Furcraea longaeva are like there. 'Weeds' don't begin to describe it. They are rampantly flowering all over the island - on the edge of paths, almost on the beaches, in every garden. Some tiny gardens have 3 or 4 flowering their socks off and almost blocking doorways - great, vast, tall candelbrae of beautiful pendulous 'branches' with lovely greeny yellow flowers giving their all. All over the Abbey gardens they are, frankly, shameless. How very, very much more I like these than F. bedinghousii! These Furcreas in Tresco must be going up to a minimum of 12 to 15 feet at a guess and it is quite impossible to describe how prolifically they're distributed around the island. Even the reasonably blasé residents have remarked on them to us and we've been promised a 'bucket load' of seedlings when that happens so you'll certainly be getting at least one! Nobody in Tresco really knows what's caused this extraordinary and sadly, deathly, explosion this year. To them the cold winter seems an unlikely spur. Tresco suffered little from the latter, losing, as Mike N put it "a couple of Aeoniums". The gardens do appear completely unaffected so we can only guess at the copious rainfall but the sharply draining Tresco soil. It is the most extraordinary sight to behold when on the island and I'm just so glad we were there while it was happening. Knowing how you like those plants I can only suggest you board a helicopter asap! The sight is just astonishing and while I've known Tresco for 9 years, Ray, who has known it for much longer, says he has never seen anything like this. It's superb. Thanks for that, can't see us taking a flight right now unfortunately but would welcome a seedling IDC. Now is F. longaeva more hardy than F. bedinghausii? Suggestion is it can take some frost, but can it take winter wet as well? Probably not. -- Regards Bob Hobden just W. of London |
#5
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Furcraea longaeva
On 2009-06-29 23:07:32 +0100, "Bob Hobden" said:
"Sacha" wrote snip All I can add is that Ray Hubbard gave me two tiny Furcrea bedinghousii which he broke off from a flower spike and I grew them up in our greenhouse. When big enough I planted one in a large pot and put it outside where it has been ever since (quite a few years) I move it up against the house wall in winter so it stays dryer and warmer. The other plant I kept in the greenhouse and planted it out in a dry sunny spot in the garden last summer, it didn't last the winter. Bob, we got back from Tresco this evening. I cannot begin to describe to you or urg what the Furcraea longaeva are like there. 'Weeds' don't begin to describe it. They are rampantly flowering all over the island - on the edge of paths, almost on the beaches, in every garden. snip Thanks for that, can't see us taking a flight right now unfortunately but would welcome a seedling IDC. Now is F. longaeva more hardy than F. bedinghausii? Suggestion is it can take some frost, but can it take winter wet as well? Probably not. I'll nudge Mike's memory in a week or so and we'll be sure to let you have some when and if they get to us! I would think that they must be able to tolerate some frost pretty well because parts of Cornwall were actually colder than parts of Devon last winter. Charlie will know if that applies to the areas these Furcreas have grown in Cornwall, though. But in Tresco they would certainly be sharply drained, I think. I'm going to try to upload some photos later today and I'll post a link to them. No idea how sharp they'll be as the sea breezes ensure that plants don't keep still for long! -- Sacha www.hillhousenursery.com Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics. South Devon |
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