Rostrinucula dependens

[MartinNicklin]

Good evening! I'm toying with the idea of getting it but read several conflicting views regarding hardiness. So my questions to anyone growing it:

Will it really survive outdoors in an average winter (this year we have been down to about -8°C, according to forecasts);

Is it as nice as the photos appear to show (I'm recalling the images shown of Laburnocytisus adamii in quite a few of the popular seller's adverts!!!);

Will it do OK in a pot, as some suggest? If it is relatively tender, i certainly don't have space to plant it in my greenhouse but at a push could make room on the path within for a pot when temperarures are set to plummet;

It looks like it would be easy to propagate as an insurance policy!?

Cheers,

Martin

[Chad]

Most of the pictures exaggerate the colour. The 'pink' wasn't really visible from a distance.

With me it was a straggly shrub, and behaved better with annual stooling to give a flowering shrub by the autumn, behaving like a stooled Hypericum Hidcote.

Easy from cuttings, but they didn't sell when I tried to sell them at Tregrehan

It was OK in a pot outside for a couple of years, and then I lost it to neglect.

I've been thinking of replacing it for its quiet charm.

It originally came to me as 'Rostrinuncula species' and keying it out I wasn't convinced it fitted on the key!

The trade has settled on R.dependens and I'm content with that.

Chad

ps.
John wrote it up in October 2018.

[MartinNicklin]

Thank you Chad. The fact that you might get it again suggests it is worth having so I will put that on my list.

[Chad]

New growth, especially if stooled so it is at ground level, was very prone to slug damage. I think that is what finally finished it off here.

Chad

[Chad]

I bought a Rostrinucula dependens from Burncoose and it is now just starting to flower. I have kept in a [bigger] pot this year and will plant it out in the spring.

It keys out in the Flora of China to be Rostrinucula sinensis, and I understand all the plants in the UK do too.



Rostrinucula sinensis.



I also have in flower its near relative, Leucosceptrum canum, which is probably less hardy, but I haven't tested it to destruction yet.




Leucosceptrum canum.


Chad

[MartinNicklin]

Got mine from Shrublands as a leafless, small, inch long stump way back in spring. It has made 1 short stalk of about 4 inches in length so I’m very disappointed with it. Yours look great.

[Chad]

You should get a decent flowering plant in one season from a spring cutting. Mine 'took off' once in a 15L pot. It was sulking in a smaller pot when bought.

I'll be doing some cuttings now, and again in the spring. Do you want some cutting material in your spring cuttings box Martin?

Chad

[MartinNicklin]

This box of cuttings is growing ever bigger! However, yes please. I’m planning a revamp of the garden and greenhouse so all new material greatly appreciated. Donating my bigger Agaves has freed up considerable space. It goes without saying that if ever I post about something you haven’t got Chad, let me know. Indeed this applies to anyone to whom material can be posted. I’m always happy to share.