Paramongaia, lapageria

pelarg@aol.com pelarg@aol.com
Thu, 21 May 2009 13:42:39 PDT
I? have some Paramongaia grown from seed, though they are still too young to flower. This plant is a strict winter grower, when I worked at the NYBG I grew it with Cape bulbs in a cool greenhouse.? It will not remain green over summer, allow seedlings to go dormant, they will reemerge in the fall.? It is not a fussy plant, surprisingly, just think of it as a daffodil on steroids.? It appreciates good soil and fertilizer when in growth, but wants to be bone dry during its dormancy.? Bulbs offset fairly readily, I managed to get several pots of it it from one underpotted starving plant at NYBG in my?6?years?I?was there. ?I suggest refrigerating seed, it will stay viable for some years, and DO NOT start seedlings now, unless you are in the southern hemisphere.? My home plants grow under lights for the winter, and do fairly well, though I am sure they would grow much faster in a cool greenhouse. 
Lapageria is also not hard to grow and flower, I have had two plants and a number of seedlings I sprouted for almost 2 years.? I got two flowering sized plants at Sonoma horticultural nursery in CA, north of SF, two summers ago.? I barerooted them for the flight home with a hose, bagged the roots in a ziplock plus wet paper towel, and repotted them the next day.? They have grown well since, flowering off and on, though oddly the two plants rarely flower at the same time.? I keep the plants in my classroom?for the winter, where they get north light (large windows) plus flourescent light , and set them in a shaded position in my backyard for the summer. So far so good. Only seeds that havent dried out seem to grow for me, they must need to be fresh or nearly so--mine came from a source that sent them with a moist towel in a plastic bag. Those from other sources, ones that arrived dried, never came up.? The seedlings are slow to germinate and grow.? I started mine on paper towels in ziplock bags in the fridge and transplanted them into soil once they began to germinate.? Pics of flowers are in my blog.
Ernie DeMarie Z6/7?? plantblog: http://geraniosgarden.blogspot.com/








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