Hey All, See how this one goes and over the coming months I thought I might throw a few of our Natives from "Downunder" at you. Family - Myrtaceae Genus - Callistemon Species - viminalis I decided to start with the Callistemon sp. because they are a pretty good example of a Native flower. The name Callistemon when broken down means 'kallistos' - beautiful, and 'stemon' - stamen. Many of our flowers are very simple in design - a high arrangement of stamen with very insignificant petals. The inflorescence is made up of many small flowers carried closely together. I believe that this ensures continuity as they produce a large amount of seed giving some chance that at least one will germinate. Callistemon are probably one of the more versatile plants, being able to grow in dry areas as well as they do in wet. They have adapted to different environments and grow to varying heights from dwarf shrubs no more than 1 m (3 foot) high to small trees around 5 - 7 m in height. There are over 30 species of Callistemon recorded occurring naturally in shrubby bushlands and also in wetter floodplains and along riverbeds mainly on the East Coast of Australia. There are a couple of 'PBR' varieties, which means they have been copyrighted by the person who produced them. There is a nice colour range, though most commonly red, they can also be found in shades of burgundy, white, green and pink. They attract much wildlife and are often used by councils in S.E. Queensland as street trees. Picture is of Callistemon viminalis 'Rose Opal' I like this one as it opens a rosy red and fades to a nice pink. The individual flowers will last a good week or so. REFERENCING : http://www.anbg.gov.au/callistemon/index.html
I've got a bunch of seedlings germinated from a variety of south-western Australian species: Calothamnus pinifolius Calothamnus quadrifidus Calothamnus rupestris Calothamnus sanguineus Beaufortia decussata Regelia velutina Melaleuca diosmifolia The C. rupestris was the most prolific germinator; Nothing at all from Beaufortia decussata for now. Would you please comment on these plants & growing them ? Someone else said that seed-propagated plants can yield very inconsistent results, with many undesirable seedlings -- is that true ? Thanks. Jaro Montreal
This one was posted today. Thanks Chungii V. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/potd/2009/06/callistemon_viminalis_rose_opal.php I won't hold you to this, Chunggi, but if you do write more, I will consider them. There are so many photos on the forums and Flickr, not sure I should favour one source too much.
Just a quick update on my seedlings. Progress is very slow, but steady. Here's a few photos: The first two are Calothamnus quadrifidus, the second set are Regelia velutina. All are only about a couple centimeters (one inch) high. As before, any advice on growing these is greatly welcome ! (Thnx)
