I had a large Franklinia in my former garden, where I also grew rhododendrons, though not in close proximity. The finest Franklinia I ever saw in the Portland area was in an unmaintained front yard where it must have been dry all summer, along with the rhododendrons! In my present garden I'm having trouble maintaining a Franklinia, and I think it's the soil, which is dense clay; the former garden had "shot clay," a kind of subalpine red soil of volcanic origin and formerly forested. Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA On 10/4/2022 4:23 AM, Laura Grant via pbs wrote: > Tim > I Have a large collection of rhododendrons in my garden and tried growing > Franklinias just too loose them after a year or two. > > Someone sent me the the following suggestion: > Water the ground with dilute chicken manure before and after planting > Franklinia. Apparently the chicken manure kills the soil borne fungus > detrimental to them. > I am going to try it just as soon as I can find the tree. > Laura > Niagara on the Lake > > > > > On Mon., Oct. 3, 2022, 6:56 p.m. Tim Eck via pbs, < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > >> A correction and a further question. >> 1. The American chestnut tree is not alive in people's yards in the USA - >> that is 99% of the time a Chinese (mollissima) chestnut, bred for thousands >> of years to be an orchard tree. We don't need to question whether we >> should save the habitat and screw the species by substituting mollissima >> in the forest because it won't reach high enough to compete. Occasionally >> it might be Japanese (crenata) and extremely rarely henryi or seguinei or >> some hybrid in yards. >> 2. Most friends and acquaintances who tried to grow Franklinia described it >> as a shrub that dies unexpectedly for no apparent reason, but one person >> who had the most magnificent specimen I had ever seen told me you have to >> keep it away from Rhododendron sp. because they harbor a virus that kills >> Franklinia. >> If anyone can corroborate or deny that, I would be grateful. (I lost all >> mine unexpectedly for no apparent reason.) >> >> On Mon, Oct 3, 2022 at 6:23 PM Marc Rosenblum via pbs < >> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: >> >>> On 10/3/2022 1:31 PM, Tim Eck via pbs wrote: >>>> On Mon, Oct 3, 2022 at 2:27 PM Aad van Beek <avbeek1@hotmail.com> >> wrote: >>>>> No clue what it has to do with "Wild collecting". But in greater >> scheme >>> of >>>>> things. Dinosaurs got extinct but the world is still spinning. Guess >> if >>> we >>>>> don't hybridize the American chestnut with Asian Chestnut or insert >> some >>>>> genes it could get extinct from blight. But that would not stop the >>> world >>>>> from spinning either. >>>>> >>>>> Aad >>> >>> Both the American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) and the Ben Franklin Tree >>> (Franklinia alatamaha) are functionally extinct in the wild. Both are >>> thriving, and much enjoyed, in home gardens. >>> >>> Dissemination and cultivation are endangered species' best protection >>> against extinction! >>> >>> Reintroduction to a plant's native habitat [where practicable] is also >>> conducive to preservation. >>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> pbs mailing list >>>> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net >>>> http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… >>>> Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> >>>> PBS Forum latest: >>> https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/… >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> pbs mailing list >>> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net >>> http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… >>> Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> >>> PBS Forum latest: >>> https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/… >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net >> http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… >> Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> >> PBS Forum latest: >> https://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php/… >> > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > PBS Forum https://… _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…