A good friend of mine ordered 3 C. Profusion with the advice that it was
necessary to plant 3. She has just given me one of these 3 plants (an
8" rooted twig in a small pot). She actually admitted it was the best
of her 3 plants. This is, of course, very kind but it creates a dilemma.

My understanding is that 3 plants are needed to be sure of berries. By
giving me one plant, she seems to have lessened her chance of a good
show of berries. I think she will be hurt and embarrassed if I offer to
return it to her, so my questions a

i) Does C. Profusion need all 3 plants for good berry display?
ii) If it does, will cuttings from the current plant(s) serve in time to
fill the void. (She will need one more plant, I will need two).

My understanding was that it was the *basic* Callicarpa bodinieri that
needed 2-3 plants for berry display, but that C.b. Profusion was an
hermaphrodite and was self-pollinating. If I'm right, the dilemma is
resolved, but I'm not sure enough. How reliable is C.Profusion when
berrying (yes, the new verb "to berry") with only one plant. Does
anyone here know?


--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On 06/02/2012 03:09 PM, Sacha wrote:
My understanding was that it was the *basic* Callicarpa bodinieri that
needed 2-3 plants for berry display, but that C.b. Profusion was an
hermaphrodite and was self-pollinating. If I'm right, the dilemma is
resolved, but I'm not sure enough. How reliable is C.Profusion when
berrying (yes, the new verb "to berry") with only one plant. Does
anyone here know?


I don't know about its sexual inclinations but we have one growing alone
at the very bottom of the garden and it berries well. I'll check with
the boss though.

Ditto. We have a single plant, there's certainly none others around
here. It fruits well enough but the berries don't like the wet and
seldom make it very far into the winter.

On 02/06/2012 17:31, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-06-02 14:34:17 +0100, Emery Davis said:

On 06/02/2012 03:09 PM, Sacha wrote:
My understanding was that it was the *basic* Callicarpa bodinieri that
needed 2-3 plants for berry display, but that C.b. Profusion was an
hermaphrodite and was self-pollinating. If I'm right, the dilemma is
resolved, but I'm not sure enough. How reliable is C.Profusion when
berrying (yes, the new verb "to berry") with only one plant. Does
anyone here know?


I don't know about its sexual inclinations but we have one growing alone
at the very bottom of the garden and it berries well. I'll check with
the boss though.

Ditto. We have a single plant, there's certainly none others around
here. It fruits well enough but the berries don't like the wet and
seldom make it very far into the winter.

Otoh, our Clerodendrum trichotomum fargesii, which has never failed to
produce berries, didn't have one last year and we don't know why. We can
only assume it was something to do with the pollinators not being
present when it flowered - too cold, too hot - whatever - at some point
in the year. They're just coming into leaf now so I really hope this is
a better year from that pov.



Thanks very much, Sacha and Emery, that's heartening news. I don't feel
so bad about accepting it now.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay