Rare Plants

Where did you see that!!

 

I'm already growing another that was on my list - Cubanola domingensis. I've quite a way to go until it's this good..................


Another that I would love to be able to grow.......................


It's an Agave ferox. Not uber rare, but to have a specimen as good as that would be something rather fantastic!

 

same place where I saw all the rest

about the agave , got one of them at a brilliant price and size along with many others

Longk your cubanola seedling last me 3 years just to die this summer while it was outside , I was gutted , from the beginning I though that will never survive winter and actually gave up on me in summer :(

 

I had this one and lost it Optunia graftofile



also looking for

this water lily



the hardy manihot grahami

 

Mine is romping away - it is fully 20cm tall now!! It rather sums up why certain plants are rare in cultivation though. however, I like to have a handful of such plants but I am trying to be realistic about it.

That's a stunner, if a little large.

 

Even with heated greenhouse you'll have trouble - needs enough humidity that the greenhouse will be green with algae, and and wood will be rotting!

I managed to get some to germinate in the Spring ...

Mine are still fine. They are still in the original 9cm pot in which I sowed them, in JI Seed, which is in a plastic Zip Lock bag. I've watered it a couple of times during the summer, and left it on an East facing windowsill ... just not had time to do anything with them, not even pricking out, and perhaps keeping them locked up in their zip lock bag (opened occasionally to give them some fresh air) has been the saviour?

 

Result! Which species?

No yellowing? I was told that was normal when I asked on a US forumI suspect that I did not keep the humidity up enough with mine.

 

Here's another that I have Sal........................

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/greyia-sutherlandii.78601/

 

I love that Optunia graftofile - Sal.

I am tempted to have a go at this. Humidity is one thing that I do have. I have just been away for 10 days, so I watered my plants then shut the doors and windows of my garden room and left the plants in 100% humidity. I came back to streaming condensation but all the plants were happy. Though a few of the flowers that had gone over had started to go mouldy. So I have to reduce the humidity to 90% at intervals.

This thread looks like suggestions for next year's seed growing - so keep going - I am looking for ideas.

'
One plant I am growing is Stropanthus preussii - which looks as if it could be interesting.


So perhaps I should look at some others - such as Stropanthus bovinii


Mucuna look interesting - though I can't find seeds for this red one M. benettii.

Tacca is still on my wants list, and Cubanola, thanks to LongK's introduction, is growing slowly from seed.

 

Take a look through this guys photostream on Flickr!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottzona/

 

This is another that I'm growing - Musschia wollastonii.................


It's a little like the holy grail on one of the other forums. This one even more so as it's the dark form...............


Another tricky one. Germinates easily enough, but even mature seedlings like mine are prone to dying for no apparent reason.

 

Mate just came round a gave me a plant of Amicia zygomeris from his garden.
Not rare as such, but not seen every day either.

 

Longk the more and more you are making way to this thread , let say that I got the chance to ask for some of the most rare plants in the world , about 17000 to choice from , basicly i will be cut off by the fact the 70% will be super tropicals plants that the 90% of this plants I don`t even know they exist .... let say that the best fun is to slow growing them like you do and discover new plants as we are going on with time ....

we should create a seed club , growing rare from seed and then swap as we go along ..
I will be back in full gardening mood next year as I just finishing my greenhouse and house , will have much more time for seedling .

 

Thanks LongK - there is an amazing number of new plants there - but its going to take time to go through them.

I totally agree Sal. We have a much better chance of finding seeds of unusual plants as opposed to finding a source of the plants themselves.

Perhaps now is the time to be looking at seeds for the new year.

 

I've had some success looking at seed sellers on Australian and South African eBay. Dunno how "rare" their offerings are, but I found things that were unusual, to me.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Plants-Seeds-Bulbs-/1509/i.html
http://pages.ebay.co.za/ - although I don't think this is working now?