Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

I thought these plants were supposed to be quite tender!

Has anyone else had them self-seed? Did the seedlings make it through the
winter and flower in the spring?

This one is taking up pretty much the whole of a wall basket that last
summer accommodated about 10 of its relatives!


Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 16:34:59 +0000, Victoria Clare
wrote:

Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

I don't have mesembryanthemums, but a white flowered bacopa is still
flowering well on a wall tub, loooking as good as it did late summer.
I also have an ivy-leaved geranium in flower in another wall tub.


Pam in Bristol

In article . 20,
Victoria Clare writes
Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

I've just notices a trailing petunia in a large tub that I'd completely
forgotten about. It must have had a degree or two of frost but it's also
most definitely still alive with leaves on and hasn't shrunk to the
ground or rotted away. No flowers as yet thought!

janet

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article . 20,
Victoria Clare writes
Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

I've just notices a trailing petunia in a large tub that I'd completely
forgotten about. It must have had a degree or two of frost but it's also
most definitely still alive with leaves on and hasn't shrunk to the
ground or rotted away. No flowers as yet thought!

janet

--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In message . 20,
Victoria Clare writes
Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

Is it the one commonly sold as "ice plant" or one of the others?
The mesemb family covers an incredibly wide range of species.

I thought these plants were supposed to be quite tender!

Has anyone else had them self-seed? Did the seedlings make it through the
winter and flower in the spring?

This one is taking up pretty much the whole of a wall basket that last
summer accommodated about 10 of its relatives!

There is at least one purple flowered mesemb that has naturalised on the
cliffs of SW England. But it has smoother more triangular leaves than
the common "ice plant". I'd be a bit surprised if that survived a UK
winter, but an unusually tough specimen might. I have one still hanging
on in N Yorks!

I have grown plants like cacti that are nominally even more tender
outside and lost them only in the hardest of winters. Good drainage and
some protection from frost and rain up against a S facing wall are key
to success.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

Martin Brown wrote in
:

In message . 20,
Victoria Clare writes
Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

Is it the one commonly sold as "ice plant" or one of the others?
The mesemb family covers an incredibly wide range of species.


It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were perennials:
am I wrong?)

Victoria

Martin Brown wrote in news:JQIuAEU
:

There is at least one purple flowered mesemb that has naturalised on the
cliffs of SW England. But it has smoother more triangular leaves than
the common "ice plant". I'd be a bit surprised if that survived a UK
winter, but an unusually tough specimen might. I have one still hanging
on in N Yorks!


I've seen that on the coast in Cornwall. Nice little plant, but it's a lot
milder down there than up here, where the weather is more Dartmoor than
coastal.

I meant to say in my other post that the odd thing about this plant is that
it only germinated in October, so all its growing has been done in the
wintertime!

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

In article . 24,
Victoria Clare writes
Martin Brown wrote in
:

In message . 20,
Victoria Clare writes
Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

Is it the one commonly sold as "ice plant" or one of the others?
The mesemb family covers an incredibly wide range of species.


It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were perennials:
am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 20:17:03 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

In message . 20,
Victoria Clare writes
Well, it's mid-January, and my self-seeded annual mesembryanthemum is
looking very slightly unhappy in the mists and fogs, but is still
ginormous, and showing no signs of giving up the ghost.

Is it the one commonly sold as "ice plant" or one of the others?
The mesemb family covers an incredibly wide range of species.

I thought these plants were supposed to be quite tender!

Has anyone else had them self-seed? Did the seedlings make it through the
winter and flower in the spring?

This one is taking up pretty much the whole of a wall basket that last
summer accommodated about 10 of its relatives!

There is at least one purple flowered mesemb that has naturalised on the
cliffs of SW England. But it has smoother more triangular leaves than
the common "ice plant". I'd be a bit surprised if that survived a UK
winter, but an unusually tough specimen might. I have one still hanging
on in N Yorks!

We have two types growing on the cliffs around here (west Cornwall):
Carprobrotus edulis (Hottentot fig), is the one with long thick fleshy
triangular-section 'leaves', and pale yellow or pale pink flowers,
rather sparsely distributed. The other is, I think, a Disphyma. It has
short, stubby cylindrical 'leaves' and the flowers are purple with
white centres. It flowers profusely. Both types are very tolerant of
salt spray.

The 'ice plant' is an annual.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

Kay Easton wrote in
:

It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were
perennials: am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

I don't think so. At any rate, mine flowered, went to seed, and died while
it was still warm.

A quick search turns up
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000543.html which says annual.

Victoria


--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

In article , Victoria
Clare writes
Kay Easton wrote in
:

It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were
perennials: am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

I don't think so. At any rate, mine flowered, went to seed, and died while
it was still warm.

A quick search turns up
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000543.html which says annual.


OK

Just surprised that a plant goes to all that trouble of producing fleshy
leaves if it's an annual, or, conversely, that it lives in the sort of
conditions where it has to produce fleshy leaves if it is an annual. Not
logical, I suppose - something has to fill the niche of 'make lots of
seeds in the hope that one of them may find a bit of clear ground where
it can shoot up and make lots of seeds all in one season'.

--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article , Victoria
Clare writes
Kay Easton wrote in
:

It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were
perennials: am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

I don't think so. At any rate, mine flowered, went to seed, and died while
it was still warm.

A quick search turns up
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000543.html which says annual.


OK

Just surprised that a plant goes to all that trouble of producing fleshy
leaves if it's an annual, or, conversely, that it lives in the sort of
conditions where it has to produce fleshy leaves if it is an annual. Not
logical, I suppose - something has to fill the niche of 'make lots of
seeds in the hope that one of them may find a bit of clear ground where
it can shoot up and make lots of seeds all in one season'.

--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall

--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.222...
Kay Easton wrote in
:

It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were
perennials: am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

I don't think so. At any rate, mine flowered, went to seed, and died
while
it was still warm.

A quick search turns up
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000543.html which says annual.

According to the RHS Encyclopedia, all the Mesembryanthemums are now shifted
into a genus "Dorotheanthus", and they are all annuals.

Franz

"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.222...
Kay Easton wrote in
:

It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were
perennials: am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

I don't think so. At any rate, mine flowered, went to seed, and died
while
it was still warm.

A quick search turns up
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000543.html which says annual.

According to the RHS Encyclopedia, all the Mesembryanthemums are now shifted
into a genus "Dorotheanthus", and they are all annuals.

Franz

"Franz Heymann" wrote in
:


"Victoria Clare" wrote in message
.222...
Kay Easton wrote in
:

It's the annual 'livingstone daisy' ( I thought the others were
perennials: am I wrong?)

They're all perennial, aren't they, given a warm enough winter?

I don't think so. At any rate, mine flowered, went to seed, and died
while
it was still warm.

A quick search turns up
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000543.html which says
annual.

According to the RHS Encyclopedia, all the Mesembryanthemums are now
shifted into a genus "Dorotheanthus", and they are all annuals.

That's not what the RHS Encyclopaedia says - assuming you mean the old
A-Z, which I also have.

It says the varieties *that are are now Dorotheanthus* are annuals.

A Google suggests that it is wrong about that: Dorotheanthus 'Gold
Bush' appears to be listed as a perennial.

There are loads of other ex-Mesembryanthemums that are not annual, and
a lot of them look similar to me, I'm afraid.

Chris Hogg's example of Carpobrotus edulis is a (fairly tender)
perennial.