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Post by raymondo on Dec 9, 2012 2:33:54 GMT -5
I'll post pics here from time to time of some of Australia's native plants. Of course, anyone else feel free to post pics here too. First up is a local shrub growing in my yard. Callistemon sieberi - The River BottlebrushA close up of the flowers. You can see where the common name 'bottlebrush' comes from. The flowers are loaded with nectar and draw birds, bees, wasps, butterflies, beetles and possums from near and far. Drawing back a bit A full view
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Post by circumspice on Dec 9, 2012 5:52:08 GMT -5
Great pics Ray!
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Post by 12540dumont on Dec 9, 2012 13:07:07 GMT -5
so much prettier than the pink one sold here. I love the smell of these, and of course love the drone of the bees near them!
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Post by raymondo on Dec 9, 2012 14:17:08 GMT -5
There's a range of flower colours in this group of plants - greenish white, cream (like the one above), pink, red, burgundy and purple and there are are many hybrids in the nursery trade here. The one pictured is simply the local wild form of that particular bottlebrush.
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Post by castanea on Dec 11, 2012 0:09:21 GMT -5
Very pretty. All you see here are generally the red and pink ones. I went looking for yellow ones about 10 years ago and found a nursery in southern California that sold them but they had none in stock.
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Post by steev on Dec 11, 2012 0:52:14 GMT -5
Think I've never seen anything but red; got any ideas about their hardiness, the other colors?
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Post by atash on Dec 11, 2012 1:23:07 GMT -5
I have one too, Raymondo, at a rental property, but mine is not as big. Same species. I have another one, C. subulatus, in my front yard, with scarlet flowers.
Others: they also come in scarlet, purplish shades of red, pink, yellow, off-white, and chartreuse. Raymondo's yellow (C. sieberii) is one of the hardiest, but I do not know what its limits are. I have never heard of one freezing to death here, so it must take down to at least about 15F or so. It sometimes naturally hybridizes with other species to make a similar plant with pink flowers. The three hardiest species I am aware of are C. sieberii, C. subulatus, and C. viridiflorus.
They also vary in size. This far north, all the hardiest ones stay small for a very long time, and the one with chartreuse flowers is a low spreading plant that lies mostly flat to the ground except for the tips. But in southern California some species are trees. And some like the ubiquitous C. citrinus eventually reach tree size with age.
There is another genus that is closely related, namely Melaleuca. Those are more varied in size and flower color.
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Post by raymondo on Dec 11, 2012 2:07:14 GMT -5
There is another genus that is closely related, namely Melaleuca. Those are more varied in size and flower color. The two genera, Melaleuca and Callistemon were merged into one a few years back. The merger wasn't successful and they were demerged last year! Anyone interested in some seed of Callistemon sieberi just PM me. It's very easy to propagate from seed though it can be a little slow to start. The seed is tiny and needs to be surface sown or very nearly so. It has no dormancy mechanisms that I am aware of. I sow mine in old butter tubs then prick out as soon as the first true leaves show themselves. In terms of hardiness, it can get to 5°F here and this species doesn't bat an eye lid. Not sure how it would do with snow. We don't get any here.
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Post by castanea on Dec 11, 2012 22:00:15 GMT -5
I have one too, Raymondo, at a rental property, but mine is not as big. Same species. I have another one, C. subulatus, in my front yard, with scarlet flowers. Others: they also come in scarlet, purplish shades of red, pink, yellow, off-white, and chartreuse. Raymondo's yellow (C. sieberii) is one of the hardiest, but I do not know what its limits are. I have never heard of one freezing to death here, so it must take down to at least about 15F or so. It sometimes naturally hybridizes with other species to make a similar plant with pink flowers. The three hardiest species I am aware of are C. sieberii, C. subulatus, and C. viridiflorus. They also vary in size. This far north, all the hardiest ones stay small for a very long time, and the one with chartreuse flowers is a low spreading plant that lies mostly flat to the ground except for the tips. But in southern California some species are trees. And some like the ubiquitous C. citrinus eventually reach tree size with age. There is another genus that is closely related, namely Melaleuca. Those are more varied in size and flower color. The red ones are commonly planted as highway dividers in some parts of California. When we got down to 16-18 degrees F about 15 years ago, they all died to the ground. Some may have come back from the roots but most did not.
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Post by steev on Dec 12, 2012 0:05:33 GMT -5
I've never seen them as highway dividers; is that around Sacramento? About all I've seen as dividers is oleander, which grows fine to 12F at least, around the farm. I'm thinking maybe you've seen the red bottlebrush in SoCal, where it may not have had acclimatizing/warning of a cold snap?
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Post by castanea on Dec 12, 2012 1:08:36 GMT -5
I've never seen them as highway dividers; is that around Sacramento? About all I've seen as dividers is oleander, which grows fine to 12F at least, around the farm. I'm thinking maybe you've seen the red bottlebrush in SoCal, where it may not have had acclimatizing/warning of a cold snap? Up and down Highway 99 and I-5 in NorCal from Redding down to Sac. Sometimes they would be interspersed with oleanders.
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Post by steev on Dec 12, 2012 1:59:04 GMT -5
I only drive I-5 from Dunnigan to Maxwell; I'll look for them.
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Post by templeton on Dec 12, 2012 2:59:19 GMT -5
A change in scale - One our native terrestrial orchids - Caladenia sp - probably tentaculata, but difficult to key out. I think we counted 20 species in a small patch of woodland last spring. Were used as a food source, but fully protected now. T Attachments:
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Post by atash on Dec 12, 2012 11:12:56 GMT -5
Cool; thanks for posting, Templeton. Darling little thing. Australia is also the home of BLUE orchids: anpsa.org.au/t-ixi.htmlI could look at those all day, LOL. Love blue flowers.
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Post by diane on Dec 12, 2012 13:29:37 GMT -5
Australia is also home to South African plants, including these delicious-looking but never eaten melons. I saw them in Narembeen, in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. I'm not sure about the prickly ones. They were near Pink Lake, also in Western Australia. I guess I'll have to post a new message for the prickly ones. I can't see how to post two photos in one message. Attachments:
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