Shortia

[Diane Whitehead]

Hmm.  How long does it take you to knit the cover?

[Lesley Cox]

A long, long, long time Diane. It is seen here in silhouette with the light from the front and the cloth is white but it does need a good hose down with a water blaster as it's gradually going grey/green.

[Diane Whitehead]

I've just looked it up in a Lee Valley catalogue, and they have it:
50% green shadecloth, tightly knit and rated to last over 5 years
with constant outdoor use. . I'm so desperate for sunshine for my plants
that I would never buy it, but they sell all over North America, and
I'm sure it would be useful in places like Saskatchewan and Texas.

Somehow I never imagined the bottom end of New Zealand requiring it.

[Lesley Cox]

Diane if you speak with anyone from the northern hemisphere who has been to New Zealand, one thing they almost always are impressed by is the clean, clear QUALITY of our light. No pollution to start with and somehow it seems, to them, especially brilliant. We are certainly here at the lower end but usually we have strongly sunny days through summer and though we have frosts in winter, the days are warm and blue-skied. This year is an exception unfortunately, duller and greyer than for years.

[Diane Whitehead]

You must have that hole in the ozone.

[Lesley Cox]

Yes we do. It seems to come and go somewhat and many sunburn badly if precautions are not taken especially the fair-skinned, as I am.

[gote]

I had two shortias and they were doing well. I had to transplant them and both died.
Usually the problem with "bad movers" is that they are by mistake moved in the wrong season. The right season being just before new roots form naturally. Does anyone have any ideas about when this could be??
Göte

[johnw]

Gote - I move my Shortias and transplant them as early as possible - as soon as the ground thaws.  Springs are generally very cool & damp here with a lot of cloud cover and fog.  The past few springs have been rather dry so watering is important. Potted ones in early Spring and September when it cools off works best.

For years I have grown S. galacifolia in sun but the droughts of the last 2-3 years have caused the leaves to bleach. Even with supplemental watering the trees seems to get it all. Seems as long as sun from 11am-3pm is avoided they can take it.

Saturday & Sunday were very mild here and we lost a good 7.5cm. of ice that covered the ground since January.  Unusual to lose the ice so quickly with our cool springs but I am not complaining as the Galanthus are ready to pop.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

So John, would you advise me to leave my babies until early spring before potting them into little individual pots? We don't have the cold you do but I would expect there to be new root growth around that time. Even now, mid March and what we would call early autumn (the bellbirds' songs have just this week changed to their autumn version) I'm wary of potting seedlings of anything special in case they don't have enough time to make new roots into the pots before it gets chilly. Depends on whether autumn is nice or nasty of course.

[gote]

Gote - I move my Shortias and transplant them as early as possible - as soon as the ground thaws.  Springs are generally very cool & damp here with a lot of cloud cover and fog.  The past few springs have been rather dry so watering is important. Potted ones in early Spring and September when it cools off works best.

Thank you John I will keep the advice in mind until next time.
Göte

[johnw]

Lesley - Sorry for the delay as we've had to evacuate the house for a day as the basement was being insulated with spray foam. (We were back once as the resultant gas set off the alarm and two fire trucks arrived with full crews!)

It's very hard for me to advise as I can't really get a handle on your climate and we have as many failures as successes.  Here we would separate S. seedlings in the cold room (5-15c year round) and place them beneath lights & under a humidity dome.  As mentioned before they seem to have a preference for a good percentage of rotten wood in the mix - we find an old rotten pine stump in the woods and collect a bucket or two of what's collapsed around the perimeter. The tricky part is the gradual removal of the dome after a month or more and by that I mean lifting it by less than .5cm/week - too soon and we get near or complete collapse.  Same with Jankaea.  If you could micmic that outdoors in bright shade during a very prolonged cloudy foggy stretch it just might work.  Having said that some years they move no problem and there have been years when we've had complete collapse.  When we put them outdoors we have to put protect them from rain & sun as water-logging of the mix can knock them out so this means diligent hand-watering. Once pot-bound in a 10cm pot they are quite easy.

johnw - a cold night, circa -7c.

[Hakone]

[Tony Willis]

I have two Shortia uniflora grandiflora in flower at the moment and so am trying for seed this year. it would be good to increase the number of plants to try in different positions.

[fleurbleue]

Very nice flowers Hakone and Tony  I love these little jewels 

[Hakone]

Shortia uniflora grandiflora