montbretia - plus a question
John Grimshaw (Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:51:18 PDT)

Mary Gutierrez asked about Urginia macrocentra. This is from the grasslands
of the Drakensberg, South Africa, where the curious, solitary tubular leaves
stick up amongst the surounding vegetation. It's the sort of oddity to use
in a plant identification challenge to really narrow the field down.

I haven't seen the flowers but they are the usual starry greeny-white, very
many on a long spike, not particularly striking. As for cultivation it is a
summer-growing species: I've seen it with such good hardy plants as
Agapanthus campanulatus, Diascia vigilis, Eucomis bicolor and Galtonia
regalis on the slopes of Sentinel Peak. Like these it should do well in a
sunny well-drained site in the Seattle area; excessive winter wet is the
most likely potential problem.

John Grimshaw

Dr John M. Grimshaw
Sycamore Cottage
Colesbourne
Nr Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL53 9NP

Tel. 01242 870567

COLESBOURNE PARK OPEN DAYS 2007
Easter Monday 9 April, Arboretum Weekend 15-16 September
Gates open 1pm, last entry 4 pm
website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mary Gutierrez" <norwesgard@earthlink.net>
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 7:06 PM
Subject: [pbs] montbretia - plus a question