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PaulA
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:59 pm Posts: 8 Location: West London, UK
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Metrosideros collina
Does anyone have any experience with growing this particular plant in the UK?
I've seen some for sale listed just as NZ evergreen with no other details and I am quite tempted although I suspect it may need winter protection but whether that is indoor protection or a simple fleece I do not know.
I'd also be quite interested to know the growth habit, speed of growth expected for this plant grown in the UK or if there is a viable altenative within the genus that would be a better performer here.
Paul
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:44 am |
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Michael (SW Ireland)
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:38 pm Posts: 1912 Location: Cape Clear Island, Roaringwater Bay
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Metrosideros collina actually comes from Hawaii and other tropical south pacific islands, although it is grown outdoors in frost-free parts of New Zealand. Perhaps Peter R can add something about this. It should make a good container plant, brought into a conservatory in winter, but I don't think it has any frost resistance.
Metrosideros umbellata is the hardiest species, good specimens can be found on some of the Hebridean islands. In fact, it would probably be worth a try on Shetland, or even the Faroes, since its range extends down to the sub-antarctic islands. The only trouble is that it is very slow growing, taking about 20 years to reach flowering size. It needs lots of water in summer to grow well.
Metrosideros excelsa is suitable only for the Isles of Scilly (and perhaps the odd spot on the Cornish coast) and the mildest parts of Ireland, but M. robusta is considerably more frost-resistant. Like excelsa, it will in time form a massive tree.
Some of the shrubby New Zealand species, like M. carminea, would be well worth trying in mild parts of the UK, but they don't seem to have been tried much yet.
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:52 am |
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Peter Richardson
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:16 pm Posts: 1472
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Paul
a form of M. collina called 'Tahiti' is one of the most widespread small shrubs sold in New Zealand. Everyone seems to have it. I did when I lived there, and I have photos of my plant on my backup DVD. It will flower at any time of year if it is warm and sunny enough, although in the UK that will only be summer. It is a compact rounded shrublet, sun demanding and not very frost hardy - it is, after all, tropical.
Michael is perfectly right about the other options in this classic South Pacific genus. I have seen M. umbellata flower when chest high in the Catlins in southeast South Island, when growing in very rocky soil on a bank facing the sun, in a high-rainfall climate. C. robusta is a tall forest tree unlike the other NZ species and I don't think it flowers when small. The flowers are usually on the copper side of red.
There are C. excelsa x robusta hybrids (they occur naturally in the wild on Rangitoto Island near Auckland and also at Tarawera Falls near Rotorua) and I think there are also C. excelsa x umbellata hybrids, but I'm hazy on that.
Peter
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 12:43 pm |
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Peter Richardson
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:16 pm Posts: 1472
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Paul
dug out of my backup DVD, this is my Metrosideros collina 'Tahiti' in the front terrace at my former house in Whakatane, NZ.
This is wild Metrosideros excelsa on the sea-cliffs at Ohope Beach, close to Whakatane;
The flowers of the wild red type of Metrosideros excelsa ;
And those of a cultivated mutant form with yellow flowers;
Each individual tree of M. excelsum only has a very brief flowering period mostly around Christmas, but individual trees vary quite widely in when they flower. One or two flower at the end of November and some leave it till early January. As I mentioned in my previous post, M. collina flowers on and off all the time if conditions are right. I think M. polymorpha from Hawaii does the same. There is a hybrid between M. excelsum and M. polymorpha called M. x thomasii or thomsonii or something similar, that is sometimes seen as pot-plant in the UK. It is very tender, and has orange-red flowers and silvery-downy leaves.
Peter.
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:24 pm |
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Jose Almandoz
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:18 pm Posts: 166 Location: Aia, Basque Country, N. Spain
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Wohoooooooooo!!!. SPLENDID pictures, Peter!
Must visit New Zealand soon
OK, so M. robusta seems somwhat hardier than M. excelsa but... what could be the minimum temp M. robusta could cope with, without disastrous effects?
_________________ Jose
Iturraran Botanical Garden
Aia, Basque Country, Northern Coastal Spain
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:39 pm |
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Michael (SW Ireland)
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:38 pm Posts: 1912 Location: Cape Clear Island, Roaringwater Bay
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That habitat shot of the excelsas on the cliffs is simply sublime- thanks Peter. I've planted quite a few excelsas here as windbreak trees, so I hope to see a scene something like that one day. I don't care for the yellow-flowered form, but I have planted a pink-flowered form called 'Pink Lady', in addition to the usual red.
I have a couple of plants that I think are the excelsa/robusta hybrid. They have glossy red stems, and are much less tomentose than pure excelsa. I got them from a garden centre back in Kent, where they were being sold as bonsai subjects. They were unmarked by a frost in my unheated greenhouse (in Kent) which killed excelsa- I would guess about-5c.
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:24 pm |
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Michael (SW Ireland)
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:38 pm Posts: 1912 Location: Cape Clear Island, Roaringwater Bay
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That habitat shot of the excelsas on the cliffs is simply sublime- thanks Peter. I've planted quite a few excelsas here as windbreak trees, so I hope to see a scene something like that one day, if I'm around long enough! I don't care for the yellow-flowered form, but I have planted a pink-flowered form called 'Pink Lady', in addition to the usual red.
I have a couple of plants that I think are the excelsa/robusta hybrid. They have glossy red stems, and are much less tomentose than pure excelsa. I got them from a garden centre back in Kent, where they were being sold as bonsai subjects. They were unmarked by a frost in my unheated greenhouse (in Kent) which killed excelsa- I would guess about-5c.
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:27 pm |
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david feix
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:54 am Posts: 3206 Location: Berkeley, California
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I've used Meterosideros collina 'Spring Fire' fairly often as a large shrub/small tree here in SF Bay Area gardens for some years now, and can reliably say that it does have some frost resistance, easily withstanding -2/-3C freezes here with only slight burning of foliage. It has reached 10 feet in height after 4 years in the ground for me, and looks very similar to the photos of Peter R's 'Tahiti', except it is much larger in habit. It also tends to bloom off and on throughout the year, and is a delightful shrub for the several tones of soft gray green foliage and vivid red flowers. I suspect that it would be begin to show real freeze damage at -5C, which also tended to badly damage M. excelsa street trees here in San Francisco in an extended 10 day freeze back in December 1990. For being a tropical species, it has amazing tolerance for our cool summers and cool winters, and is very attractive. I have also had great success with this as a large container plant on a lagoon side deck, where it gets drip irrigation and is almost never out of bloom, yet requires little in the way of fertilizing to keep it happy. I have it combined with plantings of Aeonium undulatum, Scaevola 'Blue Wonder', Pelargonium peltatum, Echeveria pulvinata, Lavandula pinnata, Limonium perezii, Graptopetalum paraguayensis, Diplandenia 'Red Riding Hood', Agave attenuata 'Nova' and an everblooming Solanum vine, S. valerianum. The plantings combine to look good and bloom nearly all year long, with particular notes of fuchsia from Calandrinia grandiflora set within a sea of Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri Compacta' below some 100 year old Phoenix canariensis.
In this same garden on the lagoon, is where I also have happy plants of the Zamia furfuracea and blooming Stephanotis floribundus ander a partially glassed in cabana, which gives them that extra boost of warmth in the day and slightly less chilling at night. I am experimenting in this garden to see if I can also get Plumeria to repeat bloom and overwinter outdoors under protection, and am also playing with some Pachypodium lamerii as Euphorbia ammack and E. tirucallii in this same area, where they get protection from winter rains underneath a wide overhang. It is one of my favorite gardens to experiment with because it stays so balmy in winter being next to a salt water lagoon, on an island surrounded by water, and with fantastic views across the bay to downtown San Francisco, all set within a Victorian fantasy setting of 100 year old Norfolk Island Pines and Canary Island Date Palms, which were such fashion rages here a 100 years ago. Unfortunately, the neigborhood is starting to lose its oldest Monterey Pines and Cypresses, which are beginning to die of diseases and old age.
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Sun Nov 04, 2007 4:41 pm |
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Peter Richardson
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:16 pm Posts: 1472
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:44 pm |
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Ron Whisenhunt
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:57 pm Posts: 288 Location: Spring Valley, CA USA
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:17 pm |
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PaulA
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:59 pm Posts: 8 Location: West London, UK
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Peter, I am unsure as to which M.Collina it could be that I've seen. The picture of M. Collina "Tahiti" looks very similar indeed.
Many thanks for the absolutely amazing photographs especially as Michael and Jose have already mentioned, the photo of the M. excelsa tumbling down the cliffs at Ohope Beach, beautiful!
Michael I have to agree the yellow mutant form doesn't do very much for me either. I much prefer the look of Metrosideros fulgens 'Jaffa' if I were to be looking for another colour other than the reds.
David do you have a picture of the lagoon side planting.
Many thanks Ron. Heavens I had no idea what Ratas were. I just had a quick look and I have learned to my delight that
"The leaves are relished by Opossums". I obviously have lots of homework to do.
Paul
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Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:21 pm |
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Michael (SW Ireland)
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:38 pm Posts: 1912 Location: Cape Clear Island, Roaringwater Bay
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Since it's a nice day, I thought I'd take some photos of some of the Metrosideros species that I grow, even though none are in flower. First, the Pohutukawa, Metrosideros excelsa. This has grown to 12ft in ten years, but is getting faster. It is rock solid through the strongest gales.
A close-up of the leaves:
Now the presumed excelsa x robusta hybrid. There is much more red in the stems, less tomentum on the leaves, and it was much hardier than excelsa back in the UK:
This one I think is Metrosideros kermadecensis, although it hasn't flowered yet. The leaves are smaller and rounder than excelsa, and it grows more in the winter months. It came from Italy, just labelled "Metrosideros":
This is the Southern Rata, Metrosideros umbellata, 3 ft in 4 years:
Metrosideros carminea:
Finally, a gratuitous shot of some Lampranthus. It's having quite a good second flowering this year (usual time is April-June), but we don't get many days in November when the sun is warm enough for the flowers to open:
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:37 pm |
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Steve in france
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:59 pm Posts: 492 Location: Rockville , Maryland , USA
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Pohutukawa
Lovely to see the Pohutukawa growing for you, how long before it flowers do you think. Are there larger ones growing on the coast of Ireland ?
Later
Steve
_________________ Always looking for a lost Pup
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:46 pm |
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Ron Whisenhunt
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:57 pm Posts: 288 Location: Spring Valley, CA USA
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:48 pm |
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Steve in france
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:59 pm Posts: 492 Location: Rockville , Maryland , USA
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Ron
Thanks for the reply Ron . We missed the flowering time when we were in NZ a few years ago. Fantastic trees and the old ones are real living sculptures . I have a dream we will buy a place in NZ one of these years , we are working on it slowly. NZ is the best Country I've ever visited .
Later
Steve
_________________ Always looking for a lost Pup
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:07 pm |
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