Anyone grow Weldenia candida?

[Gail]

Weldenia candida is a plant I 'loved and lost' some time ago and when I saw them on offer at the Harlow show I couldn't resist trying again. I was advised not to water until I saw signs of growth but I'm now getting anxious about lack of life and want to tip it out and check it's okay. Does anyone know when they usually come up and should I just be more patient?

[Pennine Wanderer]

Hi Gail,
Finally after three attempts I seem to be having success with Weldenia Candida,  I grow mine in a long tom, about a foot deep, as they have a long tap root.  I have been giving it a small amount of water periodically around the edge of the pot and it is now beginning to show growth above the compost.  I will now begin to give it more water and feed.  Apparently they need protection from frost. The first one I grew outside during the summer in the garden and tried to pot it up for winter but that failed.  My latest plant last year had a few side shoots and I was advised to split them off at the end of the growing season, let them dry off over winter and replant them again in spring.  I chickened out and left it as it was.

[Maggi Young]

As it happens Gail, I have Lesley Cox , from New Zealand, here at the moment and she grows some of the best W. candida I've seen. She says she would expect growth with yours by now. She has hers outside all the time so they do have some moisture  at all times.
 She says tip it out for a look!
Here it came later into growth with us than the plants we sometimes saw at the Glasgow Show in early May... and was not in flower here till later in June.

[brianw]

I have grown it for some years, and mine are just showing green above the soil level at present. I keep it just frost free over winter in pots, but at Wisley they grow it outside in the raised sand beds, which are covered to keep rain off in winter. I don't water in winter, but the residual moisture is still there in spring.

[Gail]

Many thanks for the replies and apologies to Pennine Wanderer - I thought I had replied when you first posted but my reply either got lost in the ether or I was having (yet another) senior moment.

I followed Pennine Wanderer's lead and gently watered around the edge of the pot. Nothing was happening so I've just done as Lesley suggested and tipped the pot and eureka - a healthy looking shoot is lurking just below the soil surface so I've just covered it back up and will be patient!

[Gail]

Eureka, I have flowers! 

[Maggi Young]

Yeh! So you do- and it looks like you're going to have a lot more..... Excellent!!

[Gail]

Another question - is Weldenia self-fertile?

[ashley]

Unfortunately not.

[Gail]

Thanks Ashley. I've got a pink Tradescantia in the garden so if I do get any seed set on the Weldenia, at least I'll know that the bees have read Tim's suggestion in another thread.

[ashley]

 

[Maggi Young]

Quite a lot elsewhere in the forum about propagation of Weldenia candida - for instance....

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=10573.0

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=295.0