Lomandra hystrix
No Comments »7th June, 2006; Category: Tufted Plants
I came across Lomandra hystrix a few years ago in an inland nursery where I did not expect to find it. It has attractive bright green leaves. These are up to 1.3m long with the flower spike only a little shorter than the leaves. The flower would be a dramatic inclusion in a floral arrangement.
I haven’t seen this in flower yet. What does attract me to the plant at the moment is the fact that it is frost hardy, a distinct advantage here. We haven’t had this number of frosts for a number of years. Fortunately I seem to have made the right choices in plants to propagate, as only a few have had new growth tipped by the frost.
The Lomandras seem to be not only frost hardy but reasonably hardy in our hot dry summers also. I will be testing that out this year seeing that I have been able to divide some pieces even if I did hack them about a bit while doing so. I should be able to save a few stock plants ‘just in case!’
Local Lomandra
No Comments »6th June, 2006; Category: Tufted Plants
Lomandra have the common name of Iron Grass in many cases. The leaves are very tough. I tried to pull a dried leaf from a clump and gave up. Besides I was in danger of cutting my hand.
These are attractive clumping plants. The male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. They look great in groupings of plants rather than one isolated plant. On the other hand they are very attractive growing amongst other plants in a rockery.
Lomandra effusa is the species which occurs on our block. It has leaves to 30cm tall. The flower spike in both the male and female are similar in appearance. The flowers are a pretty creamy white formed along a stem rising from the base of the clump. The common name is Scented Mat Rush. When down on hands and knees the perfume can be detected and it is very pleasant.
Lomandra species (Mat Rush)
No Comments »3rd June, 2006; Category: Tufted Plants
I was checking on Lomandra species (Mat Rush) and discovered that apparently they are readily grown from seed. I was under the impression that they were difficult. Must have muddled them with something else. I need not have tried to divide some clumps the other day. I made quite a mess of it, breaking some good shoots from the base. I’m not sure that they will make roots.
Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. Growing from seed gives no control over which type of flower will be carried by the plants.
I checked on my ‘bible’ for germinating native plants Murray Ralph’s ‘Growing Australian Native Plants From Seed’. Some do germinate readily from seed. Others need some sort of pre-treatment. In general germination takes 8-10 weeks and seed should be sown soon after collection. (I had not muddled them. It seems that the species that are indigenous to South Australia are not as easy to germinate as some.)
Endangered Boronia
1 Comment »2nd June, 2006; Category: Conservation of Plants
This is off the topic of tufted plants but I thought it interesting. This item is from the ABC News Online in Australia on May 30th 2006.
Cyclone sparks rare plant rescue
Scientists in the Northern Territory are about to embark on a rescue mission to save two rare plant species they fear were almost wiped out by cyclone Monica.
Sean Bellairs from Charles Darwin University says remote data suggests the area where the boronia plants grow suffered significant damage when the cyclone hit last month.
He says two researchers plan to head to the area this week and collect samples of the plants, which they will then try to grow.
“These species are known only to occur in a single population and also only to have a few hundred plants within that population, so they’re quite restricted in area and they’re also quite restricted in terms of numbers of plants as well,” he said.
The plants grow on the cliffs and sands of Arnhem Land, east of Darwin.
Mr Bellairs says the researchers will go to the area this week to find out if the few hundred boronia plants are still alive.
“We may be able to propagate them using cuttings, we may be able to grow them from seed, but some boronia plants are quite difficult to grow from seed and in some cases the seeds need quite specific treatment,” he said.
Some, like Boronia inornata, are also difficult to grow from cuttings!
Anigozanthos in Other Countries
I had a comment on the Blog entry on Anigozanthos flavidus. Suzanne is in Canada and had bought a Kangaroo Paw with no information on the label other than Anigozanthos Kangaroo Paw. She wanted cultivation information. I replied to her by email but could only give general information. See the above link. It is so difficult to give useful information when one does not know the country’s climate or the garden conditions. I have had to make a number of assumptions.
Is there anything else I could have said? Is there other information I should have given? Could I assume a particular cultivar is available overseas?
Anyway, not having the facilities to put photos on the blog yet, I sent Suzanne a link to the Australian National Botanic Gardens where she will see photos of the flowers and form of the plant.
I should have done this with my previous posts and will do a separate entry to catch up the backlog.
Meanwhile, maybe the inducement of a nice chocolate cake by post will encourage IT Whizz Son to set the blog up with photo capability sooner rather than later!