On 2013-04-08 12:31:38 +0100, said:

In article ,
Sacha wrote:
On 2013-04-07 22:01:11 +0100, rbel said:

Does anyone have any experience of growing this? We are looking for a
an interesting small evergreen tree to go into a 3 metre square bed
with indifferent soil and an open northerly aspect in South Devon.

The RHS plant selector indicates that it is probably hardy enough for
our location.

I've never grown it but they grow to an enormous size in the mountains
of Trodos in Cyprus, so I don't think South Devon winters would
normally faze it.

Perhaps, but the southern Ireland link is equally important. I am
thinking of the damp/frost/thaw issues that we have, and cause a
lot of strongly frost-resistant plants to turn up their toes in
the UK. If the indifferent soil is poor and free-draining, that's
probably a bonus! Bean says that there shouldn't be a problem.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The reference to indifferent soil certainly made me think of free
draining. Perhaps we just assume that to be the case but I wouldn't
think good, humus-rich, fertile soil would be free-draining - mostly!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-04-08 12:17:26 +0100, rbel said:

On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:01:11 +0100, rbel wrote:


Does anyone have any experience of growing this? We are looking for a
an interesting small evergreen tree to go into a 3 metre square bed
with indifferent soil and an open northerly aspect in South Devon.

The RHS plant selector indicates that it is probably hardy enough for
our location.


Many thanks for all the advice to date.

The tree will need to be kept pruned back to within the three metre
square boundary, hence the requirement for something quite compact.
The prevailing winds here are from the S.W. and there are some quite
tall shrubs on that side of the square which should help protect the
young tree.

As it has been mentioned that this Arbutus is slow growing we will
need to hunt around for a reasonable size one to make the sought after
impact - at the moment the two largest local garden centres don't have
anything over a metre tall and Sacha does not list them.

Crinodendron hookerianum certainly looks like a good alternative, I
will see what is available.

They're not listed because we have only two left and they're A. unedo
Rubra. They're about 18" tall and £8. The Crinodendrons are only
babies and aren't on sale yet. They're still in polytunnels because
it's been so cold and wet and they don't like wet!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 2013-04-08 21:19:51 +0100, Jeff Layman said:

On 08/04/2013 20:00, rbel wrote:
On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:17:26 +0100, rbel wrote:

Many thanks for all the advice to date.

The tree will need to be kept pruned back to within the three metre
square boundary, hence the requirement for something quite compact.
The prevailing winds here are from the S.W. and there are some quite
tall shrubs on that side of the square which should help protect the
young tree.

As it has been mentioned that this Arbutus is slow growing we will
need to hunt around for a reasonable size one to make the sought after
impact - at the moment the two largest local garden centres don't have
anything over a metre tall and Sacha does not list them.

Crinodendron hookerianum certainly looks like a good alternative, I
will see what is available.

Having had a look online at the Crinodendron it is definitely in the
running. One question both the Arbutus and the Crinodendron appear as
though they are slow growing, is one significantly slower than the
other?

Don't know about Arbutus, but Crinodendron isn't that slow. It is
fairly slow as a small plant, but get's going once it's more than a
metre high.

Ours is about 14' tall I'd guess but it's been in quite a while.
They're beautiful plants. I'd thought of Eucryphia but I think the
proposed site is too exposed for that.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:34:04 +0100, Sacha wrote:


As it has been mentioned that this Arbutus is slow growing we will
need to hunt around for a reasonable size one to make the sought after
impact - at the moment the two largest local garden centres don't have
anything over a metre tall and Sacha does not list them.

Crinodendron hookerianum certainly looks like a good alternative, I
will see what is available.

They're not listed because we have only two left and they're A. unedo
Rubra. They're about 18" tall and £8. The Crinodendrons are only
babies and aren't on sale yet. They're still in polytunnels because
it's been so cold and wet and they don't like wet!

I have picked up a Crinodendron, a bit over a metre tall with a bushy
spread of about 50 cms. Some of the leaves have signs of frost damage
but the stems all look sound.

Given the positive feedback on the Arbutus I will continue looking for
a good size one.

Again many thanks to all for the help.
--
rbel

On 09/04/2013 10:34, Sacha wrote:

Crinodendron hookerianum certainly looks like a good alternative, I
will see what is available.

They're not listed because we have only two left and they're A. unedo
Rubra. They're about 18" tall and £8. The Crinodendrons are only
babies and aren't on sale yet. They're still in polytunnels because
it's been so cold and wet and they don't like wet!

Crinodendron hookerianum comes from Chilean rainforest (temperate
rainforest), so it is quite used to being wet. That's not to say it
likes standing in water, but mine was happy to grow in claggy Sussex
clay. It was also in full sun, so maybe that combination helped.

--

Jeff

On 2013-04-09 19:21:40 +0100, Jeff Layman said:

On 09/04/2013 10:34, Sacha wrote:

Crinodendron hookerianum certainly looks like a good alternative, I
will see what is available.

They're not listed because we have only two left and they're A. unedo
Rubra. They're about 18" tall and £8. The Crinodendrons are only
babies and aren't on sale yet. They're still in polytunnels because
it's been so cold and wet and they don't like wet!

Crinodendron hookerianum comes from Chilean rainforest (temperate
rainforest), so it is quite used to being wet. That's not to say it
likes standing in water, but mine was happy to grow in claggy Sussex
clay. It was also in full sun, so maybe that combination helped.

I think it's fine to be wet but not to stand about in it and these are
little plants, so water-logged plants outdoors, as opposed to watered
carefully and draining would be the difference, I would think.. Our
mature Crinodendron is on the path leading from the nursery down to the
garden and it's a beauty. It's smothered in its red lanterns but it's
well-drained and of course, a proper grown up! And heaven knows it had
enough water last year but presumably, it could shrug it off.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

rbel wrote in :


Does anyone have any experience of growing this? We are looking for a
an interesting small evergreen tree to go into a 3 metre square bed
with indifferent soil and an open northerly aspect in South Devon.

The RHS plant selector indicates that it is probably hardy enough for
our location.

I have a 3m bush on a exposed south facing slope near
Bristol. Need to hack it back to a more desirable size
soon.

There's at least one large tree in Bristol.

On Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:24:26 GMT, Tom wrote:

rbel wrote in :


Does anyone have any experience of growing this? We are looking for a
an interesting small evergreen tree to go into a 3 metre square bed
with indifferent soil and an open northerly aspect in South Devon.

The RHS plant selector indicates that it is probably hardy enough for
our location.

I have a 3m bush on a exposed south facing slope near
Bristol. Need to hack it back to a more desirable size
soon.

There's at least one large tree in Bristol.

Many thanks for the feedback. I am still looking for one of a decent
size - one supplier has indicated that they should be getting some one
metre plus specimens in during mid to late May.
--
rbel