On 19/01/2016 15:50, Emery Davis wrote:
Bear in mind that walnuts take many years to fruit, I have one planted
in '93 (Franchette) that only has a few nuts, and another from 2002 that
has no sign of 'em.

That could be your climate.

We've got a catalpa, and it's done nothing in the two years we've been
here. We know what they _ought_ to look like, we've seen them in France.
He might have better luck with a walnut where he is.

But that's a though, Snr Alves - how about a catalpa? They don't like
wind BTW.

Andy

On 19/01/2016 21:39, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 19/01/2016 15:50, Emery Davis wrote:
Bear in mind that walnuts take many years to fruit, I have one planted
in '93 (Franchette) that only has a few nuts, and another from 2002 that
has no sign of 'em.

That could be your climate.

We've got a catalpa, and it's done nothing in the two years we've been
here. We know what they _ought_ to look like, we've seen them in France.
He might have better luck with a walnut where he is.

But that's a though, Snr Alves - how about a catalpa? They don't like
wind BTW.

Andy

We have a couple of American walnuts in our local park. Very fussy about
fruiting. Usually nothing, but other years plentiful. The hulls stain
your skin a rather nice tan colour

On 20/01/2016 11:21, Martin wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jan 2016 11:09:17 +0000, stuart noble
wrote:

On 19/01/2016 21:39, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 19/01/2016 15:50, Emery Davis wrote:
Bear in mind that walnuts take many years to fruit, I have one planted
in '93 (Franchette) that only has a few nuts, and another from 2002 that
has no sign of 'em.

That could be your climate.

We've got a catalpa, and it's done nothing in the two years we've been
here. We know what they _ought_ to look like, we've seen them in France.
He might have better luck with a walnut where he is.

But that's a though, Snr Alves - how about a catalpa? They don't like
wind BTW.

Andy

We have a couple of American walnuts in our local park. Very fussy about
fruiting. Usually nothing, but other years plentiful. The hulls stain
your skin a rather nice tan colour

In Victorian novels British spies in India always stained their skin with
walnuts.

When I was a kid we had a walnut tree in our garden in Reading. It had lots of
nuts every year. Assuming it was planted when the house was new or later, it
must have been less than 30 years old.


It's the green outer case that delivers the dye. I've seen an infusion
in alcohol, sold as a cure for something or another, that's bright
green. Strange that.

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 19:23:09 +0000, Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 18:45:59 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

Albizia julibrissin "Rosea' (One of my favourites which is why I have
one here from seed)

I read that it won't tolerate frost. Where are you? Surely 'W of London'
gets frosts!

No, it can take quite hard ones - IF the summer before is long and hot
enough! It's one of the plants that is hardy in Arnold Arboretum but
not Kew. I had one, from seed, but it never thrived outside and
eventually died.


Exactly, it doesn't like the wet, and needs to harden new growth. We had
one when I was a child outside of New York, where the winters are very
hard, but I have been able to grow it in Normandy.



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 21:39:21 +0000, Vir Campestris wrote:

Bear in mind that walnuts take many years to fruit, I have one planted
in '93 (Franchette) that only has a few nuts, and another from 2002
that has no sign of 'em.

That could be your climate.

Yeah, could be. They're notorious for it around here though.



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 21:22:17 +0000, Jeff Layman wrote:

On 19/01/16 15:50, Emery Davis wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:24:55 +0000, Jeff Layman wrote:

Another suggestion - Cornus capitata

That's a nice tree, was recently told there are some hardy cultivars
around now that can be safely grown in the UK.

It might be hardier than you think. The RHS gives it an H5 rating (hardy
in most places throughout the UK even in severe winters [-15 to -10]). I
got one earlier this year from an NGS garden in Chandlers Ford. The one
there was around 6 metres high and had been there quite a few years.
Mind you, there is also a 12m Embothrium there, so it must have good
microclimate! I've put my C. capitata near a SW-facing wall, and hope it
will be OK.


I'm going to give it a go, for sure.

How about a beautiful maple like Acer opalus? Will do well in the
climate and has lovely spring flowers (though not showy to some).
Alternatively a fast growing sub-tropical snakebark maple like A.
rubescens or A. morifolium would be fantastic.

Hadn't heard of those, but they seem pretty hardy. From internet photos
A. rubescens looks to me rather like A. davidii. The autumn colour of A.
morifolium looks great, but the bark doesn't look as good as davidii.

I think morifolium will be the hardier of the two, rubescens (which used
to be called morrisonense Hayata and may soon have that name again), is
notoriously difficult in British climates.

Bearing in mind that there are many davidii cultivars and individual
trees vary quite widely, the bark of rubescens resembles that species
when young. Older trees, of which there are only a few in the west but I
seem to remember one in Cornwall somewhere, are quite distinct. But at
all ages the leaves are very different: rubescens leaves are coloured a
dark, shiny green that is very showy indeed.

The morifolium bark is in my experience darker and with more contrasted
striping than davidii.

I do have both of these (and several davidiis) but neither in the ground
yet. Morifolium will get planted out this spring, and rubescens is
growing like a weed but only a 2 yr seedling.

Rabbiting about maples again, heigh ho...

-E
--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

"Chris Hogg" wrote...

"Bob Hobden" wrote:

Albizia julibrissin "Rosea' (One of my favourites which is why I have one
here from seed)

I read that it won't tolerate frost. Where are you? Surely 'W of
London' gets frosts!


The tree that I got the seeds from was growing in a friends garden near
Toulouse and they had registered -13°C on occasion. It hates wet feet in
winter i understand, although curiously the one in France was near a natural
spring. Kew appears to have lost theirs and it was planted on a raised
hillock but I noticed in a very open position. Ours is in our front garden
about 15ft to the S of our house so gets as good a baking as is possible
here in the UK, and in very well drained soil over gravel. There is another
I have noticed on the road to Shepperton that is much bigger than ours, that
one has been allowed to branch out quite low down, which is their natural
habit, ours I trained to have a 6ft trunk. I have a couple of others still
in pots one of which has flowered since it was quite young.
Not only are the flowers unusual and beautiful, the leaves are very
attractive too and have a curious habit of closing up in dull weather and at
night. A tree that goes to sleep.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 15:50:10 +0000, Bob Hobden wrote:

Not only are the flowers unusual and beautiful, the leaves are very
attractive too and have a curious habit of closing up in dull weather
and at night. A tree that goes to sleep.

As kids we loved to amaze our friends by breaking off a stalk and
bringing it inside where it would close.

Toulouse is quite hot in summer but they also do very well in Brittany
where they seem to like the sandy soil and don't mind the salt ocean
winds.



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On Fri, 22 Jan 2016 15:22:50 +0100, Martin wrote:

Toulouse is quite hot in summer

and can be very wet in winter.

but they also do very well in Brittany where they seem to like the sandy
soil and don't mind the salt ocean winds.

Hi Martin,

Hope you've survived the cold spell. All over now in Paris.

Toulouse gets some rain but is dryer than Normandy and I expect Brittany
too. Because of the heat it is difficult to grow maples there. They
require a lot of shade and water, whereas in Normandy they can be grown
in full sun. Effectively the strength of the sun is quite strong, which
the Albizia likes. Wish I could grow it.

cheers,

-E



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy