Nomocharis 2008

[HClase]

These are the only ones that have survived from SRGC seeds I planted about 3 years ago - the label says N. x findlayson (maieri).  They are in a 10 cm pot and still green.  What's best to do with them now?   Are they likely to be large enough to replant, if so should I wait for the leaves to die down and re-pot them or plant them out into the garden?  As far as I know these are the first in Newfoundland, but our damp cool climate and acid soil should suit them.

[Maggi Young]

Hmm....rather confused naming of the seed there, Howard! Nomocharis mairei is not the same as Nomocharis finlayorum ....the latter being a name given to a race of hybrids thought originally to have arisen in the garden of the Knox-Finlays, in Scotland. This hybrid is a mix of varioud types, giving a stable enough plant which is robust and lovely.
Your babies are still a bit little, thought it may well be that next year they are big enough to make a wee flower...I would pot them on, en masse, and give them another year of pot growth before you put them out to endure the rigours of the garden in Nova Scotia.........better safe than sorry, etc!

[HClase]

Thanks Maggy,

Maybe I labels mixed up somewhere.  Anyway any Nomocharis will do, perhaps we can get an ID once they've flowered.  Not allowed to plant them in Nova Scotia though, they'll have to stay here in Newfoundland.    Re-pot now or wait for the leaves to die down?

We were an independent country until 1947 and some potato diseases got in here that are not elswhere in N. America - hence we need all sorts of permits and soil inspections to send anything in contact with the soil elsewhere on the continent.   I've tried to get permits to send Colchicum corms to NS, but  don't get much cooperation from the authorities as I'm not a commercial nursery.  Oddly, though I have been able to send some to Latvia that Janis wanted, and later my NS friends will be able to import them from there! - all legally!

[Maggi Young]

Repot now, Howard, while there is still some good growing weather left in the year.
And you are quite correct... ANY Nomocharis is a beautiful nomocharis!

Sorry for the Nova Scotia gaffe..... I somehow morphed your place of residence into that of John Weagle!!
Easily done for me.. nova, new... same difference, eh? You see why I gave up my dream of exploration, don't you? Can barely get to the grocery shop without a map!