November 2008 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Paul T]

Ashley,

My D. merckii grows to around 1 to 1.2m, not needing staking at all.  No flop about it.

My D. coccinea grows to about 1.5m if it gets plenty of water, but otherwise to about 1.2m.  Great colour, isn't it!!?

[ashley]

Hi Paul,

Amazing the difference in D. merckii isn't it?  Your coccinea sounds very well-behaved too; does it perchance set seed...?   

[Paul T]

I have not had seed on either as yet, but I do tend to deadhead to promote more flowers.  Will see what I can do though.  You're just wanting the coccinea, or both?  Bear in mind that we do also have quite high light levels (read that as... get the bejeebers baked out of them every summer), which may help to make some of our plants a bit more statuesque. 

[ashley]

Cheers Paul, just one or two coccinea flowers discretely allowed to go to seed toward the end of the season would be great if you don't mind.  You may well be right about attenuation due to lower light intensity here but it would be interesting to try.