To my amazement, two ivy-leaved pels 'Barbe Bleu' that I cruelly left
outside planted into the base of my big passiflora pots this winter have
started shooting from the roots!

I thought I'd managed to kill half of the ones in pots just by
overwintering in the greenhouse, but they are clearly tougher than I
thought.

Mind you, they were about to flower this time last year, so with just 2
microleaves each, they are a bit behind themselves !

I don't know whether to be pleased or annoyed: I'd just decided to replace
them with the new variety 'Black Magic'.

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

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:55:53 +0100, Victoria Clare
wrote:

To my amazement, two ivy-leaved pels 'Barbe Bleu' that I cruelly left
outside planted into the base of my big passiflora pots this winter have
started shooting from the roots!

I thought I'd managed to kill half of the ones in pots just by
overwintering in the greenhouse, but they are clearly tougher than I
thought.

Mind you, they were about to flower this time last year, so with just 2
microleaves each, they are a bit behind themselves !

I don't know whether to be pleased or annoyed: I'd just decided to replace
them with the new variety 'Black Magic'.

I would guess that down there in a favoured spot, many Pelargoniums
would get through the recent mild winters we've been having. Perhaps
such a spot isn't easy for you find if you're facing North.Prestatyn
has a very favoured climate similar to parts of the SW. I knew a house
there - now demolished where they had an ivy- leaved pel trained
around the South facing front door for several years.


Rod

Weed my email address to reply
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

Rod wrote in
:

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 19:55:53 +0100, Victoria Clare
wrote:

To my amazement, two ivy-leaved pels 'Barbe Bleu' that I cruelly left
outside planted into the base of my big passiflora pots this winter
have started shooting from the roots!

I would guess that down there in a favoured spot, many Pelargoniums
would get through the recent mild winters we've been having. Perhaps
such a spot isn't easy for you find if you're facing North.


I'm quite high up too, so we tend to get weather blowing over from
Dartmoor, but those pots are in the lee of the greenhouse.

I may keep them another year - I wonder if they will toughen up with
repeated abuse ?

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

On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 11:42:34 +0100, Victoria Clare
wrote:

To my amazement, two ivy-leaved pels 'Barbe Bleu' that I cruelly left
outside planted into the base of my big passiflora pots this winter
have started shooting from the roots!

A good while back, when I used to grow a few Ivy leaved Pels, they all
overwintered here for several years with hardly a loss of leaf. They
did so well that certain varieties such as 'Mexicana' became very
large, trained up and over 6ft high tripods of canes. Each late
spring saw a rash of seedlings, some of which were worth retaining and
all of them appearing even hardier than their parents. I just keep a
few of the more showy scented leaved types now and all have
overwintered well for the past 3 years. So much so that they have to
be brutally hacked down each spring to keep them in check.


Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November