red patagonian climber

[razvan chisu]

while surfing the internet I always find something interesting

does anyone know the red climber in these pictures?
http://ourlittlething.ning.com/profiles/blogs/xmas-with-good-friends-in-1

judging by the vegetation in these pictures I could never grow it outside, but still would be nice to know its name.

[Maggi Young]

It is Asteranthera ovata, Razvan. A beautiful thing indeed. Some growers in the UK do well with it, and some even have it outside. 

Trying to remember if we have talked about this Chilean beauty before......   

[Maggi Young]

Yes, I thought so..... http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6597.0

Lesley in New Zealand grows it outside. http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7529.msg206862#msg206862

Here, a new member was telling of his search for it :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6761.0


Don't know if he found it?

[razvan chisu]

thank you Maggi.
i thought it would be related to the rhododendrons but now i see it is a gesneriad. very interesting indeed.
chileflora.com says: USDA Hardiness Zone 7, even 6b. The plant tolerates low temperatures (-15° C even -20° C), it can be covered by snow for months (1 - 8 months), which is rather surprising after reading the other thread in the forum you mentioned.

[Hoy]

It depends on the provenience of course.

[johnw]

It depends on the provenience of course.

Hoy - What is the range of the Asteranthera?

In a brief fit of insanity in 2002 I pollinated Ramonda myconii (pink form) with Mitraria coccinea and got one seed pod. Unfortunately a month or so later the pod disappeared, earwigs the likely suspects. In retrospect I should also have tried the cross with Asteranthera ovata which I had at the time, it was the "hardy" form sold by Glendoick but fearing it was tender here I sent it out west where it now grows on a stump.

johnw - -3c here and a light dusting of snow yesterday. Though a cold night is in store we will be up to +9c by mid-week.

[Lesley Cox]

Have just woken from a Christmas Day snooze.

My Asteranthera grows at present in two wire baskets in my tunnel house, not outside. The tunnel has a knitted cloth not plastic sheeting so it does get some frost in winter although I don't think anything froze this last winter, it was quite a mild one.

I had 7 pods altogether and most had only a few seeds in them. I collected enough seed to send to two people (including Sarmienta) and I sowed what seemed to be the rubbish that I couldn't separate from the very small seeds. I have 14 seedlings and they're doing well though very small still.

The plants are in flower again and I'm hand-pollinating every one in hope of more pods and have already noted that Razvan would like some but it will be later in the coming year. My plants were cuttings from Dave Toole who gardens in Invercargill, bottom of the South Island and at the time he gave them to me, he had it growing under the house eaves, in a hanging basket. I have a few cuttings going - they were very slow to root as were the originals from Dave - so will put them out in the autumn to see if it's hardy here, remembering that we rarely have lower than -3 or -4C. Here outside, it's problem would more likely be summer dry and heat.

Unfortunately I have no other gesneriad in flower to try a cross-pollination. Ramondas have finished and I lost my Mitraria some years ago.

When I sowed the rubbish (on grit), I stood the pot in a cm of water and left it there. The seedlings came quickly and this worked too for Pinguicula seed (much slower). I now have the seed pot out of the water but put it back there overnight every few days to make sure it doesn't dry out.

[Hoy]

It depends on the provenience of course.

Hoy - What is the range of the Asteranthera?

In a brief fit of insanity in 2002 I pollinated Ramonda myconii (pink form) with Mitraria coccinea and got one seed pod. Unfortunately a month or so later the pod disappeared, earwigs the likely suspects. In retrospect I should also have tried the cross with Asteranthera ovata which I had at the time, it was the "hardy" form sold by Glendoick but fearing it was tender here I sent it out west where it now grows on a stump.

johnw - -3c here and a light dusting of snow yesterday. Though a cold night is in store we will be up to +9c by mid-week.

I don't know Asteranthera from the wild but according to Michail Belov of Chileflora it is found at 800-1200 m in all the southern part of Chile. I don't think the plants normally available here (in Europe) have been collected from the highest and southernmost locations. I think it is possible to find southerly provenances of Asteranthera more suited to northern climate.

Some years ago a friend of mine collected seed of Embotrium coccineum far south in Chile and near a glacier and some of the seedlings we got have withstood the bad winters we have had much better than bought plants.

[Martin Tversted]

These looks very interesting Trond

[Tim Ingram]

Very interesting to hear about Embothrium Trond. We have had a number of talks describing its range far to the south and showing pictures of small very free flowering plants. Yours has much shorter, more rounded leaves than the forms in cultivation in the UK. However, a friend locally grows a fine specimen of one of the latter on heavy, acid, clay soil, so they will succeed even in the relatively dry south-east given just the right situation. A smaller growing ecotype would be really interesting though.

[Hoy]

Very interesting to hear about Embothrium Trond. We have had a number of talks describing its range far to the south and showing pictures of small very free flowering plants. Yours has much shorter, more rounded leaves than the forms in cultivation in the UK. However, a friend locally grows a fine specimen of one of the latter on heavy, acid, clay soil, so they will succeed even in the relatively dry south-east given just the right situation. A smaller growing ecotype would be really interesting though.

These looks very interesting Trond

Unfortunately the flowering specimen isn't mine but my friend's! None of mine has started flowering yet, they experience too much shade. Although the shrub produced fruits unfortunately the seeds didn't develop properly. I think cross pollination is required.

It is rather not a small growing ecotype either - it is 2-3m tall now!
My specimens have more oblong leaves than this one too.