Magical mystery myrtle
The following thread was started by Ian on August 13, 2008 at 10:14 pm PST
This one clearly shows a root sucker coming up from the side. That's not two plants, it came off the main one in the pot.
The above followup was added by Ian on August 13, 2008 at 10:15 pm PST.
I've got a couple more pictures while I'm at it. This is the coolest plant I inherited when we moved into the house in Sequim. It's Aralia chinensis or spinosa (not sure how to tell those apart) - about the largest one I have seen anywhere in the Northwest.
The above followup was added by Ian on August 13, 2008 at 10:31 pm PST.
Here's a plant you don't see every day. This is at the Arboretum in Seattle. It would be interesting to see it bloom.
The above followup was added by Ian on August 13, 2008 at 10:32 pm PST.
sunglasses for scale
The above followup was added by Ian on August 13, 2008 at 10:33 pm PST.
No fair Ian...there are just way too many myrtle family members in this world, or even in South America...grin.
I'm slightly familiar with some like luma and ugni...but there's all those other ones that people like you are gonna bring into cultivation up here then we're really gonna have trouble keeping track of em all :-)
The above followup was added by Glen in Surrey on August 14, 2008 at 7:17 am PST.
My guess is Luma apiculata, the Chilean myrtle.
The above followup was added by Roger w oly 8b on August 14, 2008 at 9:51 am PST.
Ian, to the best of my very limited knowledge there are only a limited number of hardy south american "tree" myrtles and assuming that it is not luma apiculata (aka myrtus luma) or luma chequen then it could be amomyrtus luma (ultimately smooth barked) or a. meli (rough barked). unfortunately, the south american myrtaceae seem to be very confused in their nomenclature (at least it confuses me) and a seedling in a pot often looks very generic at best and therefore difficult for fools like me to make any intelligent observations on, anyway!!! caesalpinea japonica has spectaclular flowers similar to others in the genus but its more of a thorny scrambler rather than a shrub or tree.
The above followup was added by georgeinbandon,oregon on August 14, 2008 at 9:58 am PST.
Thanks for the comments. Where's that Steve when we need him. I think anyone's best guess would be it is a species of Amomyrtus. I'll have to collect more myrtles and compare them :-) In the meantime just to confuse everyone even more, I'll invent my own name for this plant.... MYSTERIOMYRTUS CONTROVERSA... hahaha.
The Caesalpinia was impressive - impressive that it seems to be so happy in Seattle with apparently no care.
The above followup was added by Ian on August 14, 2008 at 10:37 pm PST.
The Aralia looks great Ian. I was given a few small ones, but haven't decided what to do with them yet so they are growing in the back of my garden for now. I don't know which species they are either and wonder how easy they are to control in terms of suckers spreading over time. The friend who gave me the plants pretty much had an Aralia forest at her place, which was quite impressive until she recently chopped numerous trees down. They were spreading everywhere and are even coming up through the driveway pavement. I took this pic at her place yesterday and you can see the light trunked Aralia in a few different places. I wish I had a pic of how it looked before she started chopping.
I wonder if the Caesalpinia ever blooms for them. From what I’ve read, C. japonica is the best one for this area and hardier than C. gilliessii, which is the one I’ve been growing for several years. I was hoping to get some flowers before planting it in a protected spot outside, but I haven’t had any success. This year I kept it in the greenhouse in case lack of heat was the problem and I’m also watering it a lot for a change because this apparently encourages flowers, but still nothing.
The above followup was added by Linda Denman Island, BC 8b on August 15, 2008 at 7:44 am PST.
As you can see it has grown pretty lanky and needs to be cut back.
The above followup was added by Linda Denman Island, BC 8b on August 15, 2008 at 7:46 am PST.
I bought one of these several years ago from Woodlanders. I left it in a pot until it got some size, worrying about it being tender, but looking at Ian's pictures maybe I shouldn't have. Also from Ian's pictures and George's comments, it looks and sounds like it spreads like blackberries. Except its thorns are much more wicked. I have been caught up in them several times, and they hurt much more than blackberries, plus when you get yourself removed from one thorn, another reaches out and gets ahold of you. I planted it this year, much to close to a mallow because in the pot it was shooting straight up like a small tree, but unless the flowers are spectacular, then I probably should just pull it up and put it in the compost pile.
The above followup was added by issaquah John on August 15, 2008 at 8:17 am PST.
the flowers are quite showy---but the plant needs the hottest, sunniest spot you can give it (i.e. against a south wall) and then it takes a year to settle in before it will start to show its stuff. because it wants to be a vine and a very thorny one at that care in siting for safety concerns and to avoid competition with other plants is very important.
The above followup was added by georgeinbandon,oregon on August 15, 2008 at 10:26 am PST.