Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Alberto on January 19, 2008, 09:42:52 AM
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Hi All.
Aspidistra is a neglected genus but the more known Aspidistra elatior. The latter is frost hardy but little is known about the other species. Since a few year I am collecting species from this genus and I'd like to share with a few images of the flowers, just blooming now. Anyone of you grow different species? a few are little suitable for pot gardening.
Ciao Alberto
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Alberto ,
Great to see this interesting plants !!!
Please send more pics of this genus .....
Ciao
Hans
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Thanks for showing us these flowers. I have one in my house but have never looked at the base to see if it flowers. I'll have to watch now. Its just A. elatior but a variegated form. Sometimes the leaves emerge almost pure white.
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Thanks for showing us these flowers. I have one in my house but have never looked at the base to see if it flowers. I'll have to watch now. Its just A. elatior but a variegated form. Sometimes the leaves emerge almost pure white.
Hi Chris B
I'm also collecting a bit Aspidistra .....I searching since a long time for a A. elatior varigatet form -but until now no succsess -is it maybe possibly to get a piece from your plant ?
I can offer you swap or payment -please send me a PM !
Greetings
Hans
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I have forgotten to add that the flowers are long lasting, almost in A. attenuata. The single flower is open since before Christmas time! The only reference book I have found about Aspidistra is in Chinese. There is any one want/can translate it? ;)
Ciao
Alberto
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I well remember the first time I found flowers on our Aspidistra plant..... they looked like little creatures from outer space... took me a moment to realise that they WERE flowers! I gave that plant away many years ago when it was too big for the place I kept it... Now I wonder if it is still alive...... ::)
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Maggi, I think it is impossible to kill it! :)
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Suddenly I feel the urge to go out and buy one of these plants. Are they difficult to flower?
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Tony Avent at Plant Delights used to have many aspidistra species. I don't know if they're in his list currently or not...you can find him on the web.
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Anthony, it is not difficult to make them flower, but the problem is that you have to check the flowers at the soil level between the leaves! ;)
Carlo, I know that Tony Avent has a good selection of Aspidistra and so Asiatica, but it is quite impossible to import legally these plant from USA as they stay about 40 days at Italian Custom, suffering and drying, this time really died! Do you know another way to send these plants to me? ;)
Ciao
Alberto
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Howdy All,
Catching up after a week away from the Forum.......
I used to have difficulty convincing people that Aspidistra flowered, as they're only known for the foliage. The flowers are teh strangest little things, most resembling the consistency of wood rather than a normal petal. Pretty much every time I have ever checked there are flowers on my plant, although I must admit I haven't checked in a few years. Mine used to be variegated but over time it has had pieces revert to green and they've taken over the clump unfortunately. I never realised that they were actually frost hardy, so how cold can they take and recover?
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how cold can they take and recover
I have no idea, Paul, since in the UK they are always grown as houseplants.
Once mine started to flower... or perhaps I should say "once I DISCOVERED that it had started to flower" then it seemed to have a flower or two practically all the time. Mine were little dark reddy brown flowers, very tricky to spot really so little wonder that some folks never notice they exist. ::)
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I've had a good look at mine since this thread began and there is no sign of a flower of any kind, but I've only had it a year so guess there is time yet....
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Hi,
Aspidistra elatior is really hardy. Where I live, not all Italy is the country of "sole" (sun), we experience in winter usually -10°C. I have my A. elatior in pot and it survived very well. The other species, according to Tony Avent are told hardy to USA zone 8, but I have not so many plants to test!
Alberto
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Alberto,
Do they lose their foliage in winter though?
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Chris.
No at all.
Alberto
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Nearly all those I've seen in flower (I do not grow any at the moment) had flowers at or nearly below ground level. You have to look to see them--and then you'll notice them more often...
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Alberto - that's amazing. When I split up my plant I shall try some outside in a pot first to see how they do. My soil is vey dry, and there are precious few things that like dry shade, especially variegated ones, so if it works there, I will be very pleased, and if it keeps its foliage all year round, what a find it will be!
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Chris, Aspidistra are not for dry places...not in summer!
Alberto
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Hi Alberto,
Our summers are seldom as hot or as dry as yours though, usually some moisture in the ground. In the house I only water them when they dry right out, and even then, only a little.
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Chris, you are right. Here last summer we experienced 41°C with less than 50% humidity and no rain for 3 months :'(
Ciao
Alberto
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Just 2 comments to make about Aspidistra's, firstly I don't think you can kill them, we had one in a plastic pot and when 'it' decided it needed repotting it just burst/split it's old pot. Secondly no-one has yet mentioned what pollinates them, I have an idea/memory lurking in the back of my mind that it is slugs. Can anyone confirm this?
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Someone else told me that yesterday, Shelagh, so its probably true. Makes sense given where it flowers, and may also be why the flowers are so leathery in texture. Must watch for these flowers on mine that's for sure.
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Hi ,
I have found this ( with help of google ) by Wikipedia :
"It has long been erroneously assumed that slugs and snails pollinate Aspidistra flowers. Research in Japan has shown that tiny terrestrial crustaceans called amphipods are responsible for pollinating Aspidistra elatior. Australian amphipods have also been shown to pollinate introduced Aspidistra sp. and collembolans may also be implicated. Fungus gnats have also been suggested as possible pollinators."
greetings
Hans
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amphipods = crustaceans such as sand fleas
collembolans = hexapods, like springtails ....... or so another trip to Wikipedia tells me!
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;) Maggi ;
Do you agree with me :
If you have fruits on your Aspidistra so you must have a lot of this nice animals in your living room ???
Should this be the reason that some people grow this plants outside :o
.....only some minds :P
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Hans, I am happy to tell you that while I had lots of flowers, I never had any fruits... so luckily I seem NOT to have such creatures in my home.... at least.... not that I know of! :o
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I've learned more about aspidistras this week than I ever thought possible.... what a place this is!
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Maggi ;D
that is the clear evidence ::)
Ian should give you a lot of Toblerone .....
mmmh -but we never get any seeds :'( :'( :'(
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I've learned more about aspidistras this week than I ever thought possible....
Chris, reading the Bulb Log over the next few weeks will give you that feeling about Erythronium!
Hans, surely Toblerone are grown from cultures, not seeds? ::)
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ooops Maggi :o
Has Ian ever sown Toblerone ?
I dont remember in all his bulb logs if he has a pic from sowing Toblerone .....
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Has Ian ever sown Toblerone
I can't find any mention of it in the Bulb Log Index, Hans :-[
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Hello, do you know of Cotswold Garden Flowers nursery? They sell aspidistra, I'm told.
Their site is here: http://www.cgf.net/
"Cotswold Garden Flowers is a small specialist nursery in the English Midlands with a reputation for easy and unusual hardy herbaceous perennials and smaller shrubs. It was founded in 1991 by Bob Brown."
The site says: THE 2008 CATALOGUE HAS NOW BEEN POSTED AND WE ARE TAKING ORDERS FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY....... so I'd contact them quickly for a list if you are interested.
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Though I have met Bob Brown of Cotswold Garden Flowers, it was some years ago and I have not made an order from CGF... has anyone here had recent dealings ?
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Maggi, thank you
I have just contacted it two days ago!
Ciao
Alberto
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I have a spare catalogue for CGF if anyone wants it (contact me privately)?
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Very good plants from Bob. He has been to speak to our NCCPG group and brought some very fine plants at the time. Recommended.
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A new entry blooming this week, Aspidistra typica. It differs from other species, usually seen as elatior , for the blade angled with the petiole, that is very short.
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I've found a pic of Cotswold Garden Flowers nursery on my hard drive from last year.
Looking in this years catalogue there are a dozen aspidistra, mainly 12.50 GBPounds each with some at 8.50
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I bought plants there last October - including my Ipheions. There were a lot of tempting plants :o :)
Photo of one of the many greenhouses.
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Here a rare species of Aspidistra has some flowers, A. larutensis. This one is the only Aspidistra occuring in Malaysia, it was once collected by an orchid expedition who thought it was a terrestial orchid, only after the first flowers it was clear which genus the plant belongs to. Flowers are small and far from being spectacular, but I still like the plant...
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This is the habit of A. larutensis...
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I'm still looking for my first flower on mine. One day I guess....
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I havent seen this thread before and what a coincidence .. a non gardening friend is looking for an Aspidistra. Who sells them?
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As I mentioned above: http://www.cgf.net/ ...... Bob Brown of
Cotswold Garden Flowers used to sell them.....and seems to have a page full of cultivars now.
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THanks