2023

[Chad]

Ampelodesmos mauritanicus also has the advantage of starting flowering in summer.

I have an inherited Cortaderia selloana 'Sunningdale Silver' here which is just getting into full swing now. Just in time to be trashed in the autumn gales.

Chad

[charlie]

Just back from 2 weeks away and apart from tunnel damage the garden is looking good still.

First surprise is to see the Lardabazala biternata which I grew from seed from Chile flowering for the first time, I have only seen in in flower once before in the UK and that was on the house at Tregothnan but it was doing it in the spring?

Lardabazala biternata by charliepridham, on Flickr

Heptacodium by charliepridham, on Flickr

As someone has also noted - its been a good year for Hedychium!

Hedychium spicatum by charliepridham, on Flickr

Hedychium maximum by charliepridham, on Flickr

Senna corymbosa by charliepridham, on Flickr

[Chad]

How do you get Hedychium maximum to grow as a clump?

Mine wants to 'run' and covers a large area very thinly.

Chad

[Paul S]

I love the senna. I got one from you a few years ago, Charlie, and it has been brilliant. Never, ever had to water it and it is in a spot with some serious root competition from mature ash trees. I had to trim it back last year and this year the growth and flowering has been better than ever.

[JohnH]

As a sort of pampas lookalike I have some Ampelodesmos mauritanicus, a grass from Mallorca. Kind of half way between a pampas and Stipa gigantea. So far the badgers have left it be.

I grow lots of grasses and some amazing broad leaf sedges, but I am sorry to say, have always disliked pampas grass :o . That being said, for some unknown reason I ordered the antipodean not-a-pampas pampas grass Cortaderia richardii from Knoll a couple of weeks ago. Does anyone else grow this one, am I supposed to call it Austroderia richardii, is A. fulvida another synonym of the same grass or a different species and, most importantly, will I grow to hate it as much as pampas and struggle to dig it out? :lol:

[charlie]

How do you get Hedychium maximum to grow as a clump?

Mine wants to 'run' and covers a large area very thinly.

Chad

Don't know - it came from you so it cant be a different clone!

[Chad]

Am I supposed to call it Austroderia richardii, is A. fulvida another synonym of the same grass or a different species and, most importantly, will I grow to hate it as much as pampas and struggle to dig it out? :lol:

Yes.

There are 5 Austroderia, all called Toetoe.

A.fulvida should be distinct, but there is a suspicion it and richardii are muddled in European cultivation. I'm not aware of the other three species being in cultivation in Europe.

It doesn't help that they have a weird sexual dimorphism with male sterile and hermaphrodite forms. The male sterile forms have papery bracts replacing the male parts and that gives a fuller and fluffier head.

In a good form [male sterile - why isn't it called female?] it looks very impressive and less 'artificial' than Cortaderia selloana. The flower spikes are on thin enough stems that they bend as opposed to the 'canes' of Cortaderia.

I've only dug one up, and it was more like lifting a Stipa than a Cortaderia.

The challenge is to get a division from a good clone. Hermaphrodites just don't cut it.

Chad

[Paul S]

It might be stating the obvious given their respective provenances but Austroderia (didn't know that!) looks MUCH happier in cooler wetter climates than pampas, which looks much happier in hotter drier climates. I found that particularly noticable in Scotland - the toetoe were just breathtaking. Round here 'some' pampas are magnificent. Some are dirty scruffy looking things but a good clone is a thing to marvel at.

[Paul S]

Just found a pic of this growing at Logan BG. Chap to the left is the late Tim Pyner.

[JohnH]

Thanks to you both.

That really is a spectacular grass Paul, having looked at the photo I am not altogether sure where to plant it now.
We certainly have enough rain to keep it reasonably happy and hope I have a decent clone, but it could take a while to find out.