Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Plants Wanted Or For Exchange => Topic started by: Alan_b on April 04, 2012, 06:55:53 AM
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I imagine we are all familiar with the little yellow pompom flowers of Kerria japonica 'Pleniflora' as this is widely cultivated here in the UK. It does particularly well in the dryer shadier spots in my dry garden (in that it manages to survive where most other shrubs would not). Last week I noticed my local garden centre was selling the single yellow form, which I don't recall seeing before. I wasn't completely sold on this but a bit of research lead me to discover that there is a white or pale cream form called "Albiflora" or "Albescens" which I would like to try in my garden. Unfortunately the two nurseries listed by the RHS 'Plant Finder' as selling it are out of stock now and for the foreseeable future. Does anybody grow this plant or know where it can be obtained? Searching online makes me think it is more readily available in the USA than in the EU - but that's not really any good for me here.
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I cannot say I have ever seen this plant offered, Alan.
Have you tried Binny Plants? I'll see if they have it listed. nope, they don't. :(
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It seems rather lovely and very difficult to find. There's a nursery in south-west France that I'll be seeing at the end of the month and used to have it - I might send them an email asking them about it.
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Is it possible this "white Kerria" is placed in another genus? Rhodotypos scandens??
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Is it possible this "white Kerria" is placed in another genus? Rhodotypos scandens??
Perhaps, Wim :-\
In the Kew listing, Rhodotypos scandens has Kerria tetrapetala Siebold shown as a synonym, no mention of Kerria japonica.
If it is, then there are 24 nurseries listed for that plant in the RHS plantfinder :
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/pfregions.asp?ID=79869
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Is it possible this "white Kerria" is placed in another genus? Rhodotypos scandens??
That's a good suggestion, Wim. I have actually seen pictures of a pale cream version and a purer white version. Perhaps that latter is really Rhodotypos scandens?
Meanwhile a bit of lateral thinking with the Google search results lead me to this source in France http://pcsdl.vad.free.fr/contents/fr/d107.html (scroll down the list). Unfortunately the cost of shipping to the UK is a good deal greater than the cost of the plant.
Thanks for all the responses.
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And this might also explain why the French nursery that I was looking at (http://pack.aspeco.net/thoby not far from your one, Alan) no longer has the Kerria but now has Rhodotypos scandens! (at 8 euros for a 10 cm pot)
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Alan, I can send Rhodotypos scandens seeds from my shrub to you if you wish, but I don't think it looks really like a Kerria japonica Alba.
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Is it possible this "white Kerria" is placed in another genus? Rhodotypos scandens??
Their is a white form in Kerria japonica. But as Alan_b mentioned more familiar in the States than in Europe. Rhodotypos scandens is called in Germany as White Kerria or False Kerria, but can not compare with Kerria. I think the name of the white Kerria is 'Albescens'
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I think the name of the white Kerria is 'Albescens'
I have seen both 'Albescens' and 'Albiflora' used as names but I don't know if the two names describe different cultivars or not.
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Finally looked up the plants in my books, as I should/could have done earlier, and while the white Kerria and Rhodotypos scandens are superficially similar, they are of course quite different - apart from anything else, Rhodotypos scandens has four petals and (non-double) Kerria has five!
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We have always - in my lifetime - had the single yellow form of Kerria japonica in New Zealand. I knew it long before I saw the double, which I like less, but I've never seen or heard of a white or creamy form. Rhodotypos scandens is relatively common.
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There is also a pale yellow, simple form, called Kerria japonica 'Buttercup'. Not fully white, but looks white from a distance.
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I see that the garden I'll be visiting at the end of the month has the white form: Kerria at Iturraran (http://www.aiapagoeta.com/index.php?&Sec=03&Sub=15&Act=02&especie=445). I'll ask them about it.
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Thanks to everybody for all this help. The four/five petal distinction between Rhodotypos & Kerria had completely passed me by so I am particularly indebted to Casalima for pointing this out.
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Can I join his thread? - I've already done so!
I am looking for the single form of Kerria japonica, think it is called 'Golden Guinea'. I have the double flowered and my sister aptly call it "the dandelion shrub"! From pictures 'Golden Guinea' seems much better and I have never seen it in Norway.
I would be interested in a whiteflowered too if anybody track it down!
I have Rhodothypos scandens too (and seeds if anybody is interested). You can't mix them if you see both together.
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I asked about the white Kerria at the botanical garden in Spain and they said they'd look to see whether they still have it. And mentioned that a Dutch nursery friend of theirs recently bought one precisely from the French nursery you mentioned, Alan, which also sells Golden Guinea.
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Unfortunately they don't dispatch to Norway :(
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I am looking for the single form of Kerria japonica, think it is called 'Golden Guinea'.
'Golden Guinea' is much easier to get hold of in the UK than the white form(s) I am looking for. This page lists the stockists http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/pfregions.asp?ID=47031 - you would have to work your way through the list to discover if any would dispatch to Norway.
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Trond,
Do you have any friends in the UK who might be able to act as intermediaries? It will cost you a bit more postage as it would have to be sent to them, then they repackage and send on to you. I've done this for a couple of friends who wanted things from Australia but they wouldn't export..... they arranged to have the plants sent to me, then I repackaged them and sent them on the UK without any problems. It is a way to get access to plants if the nursery is unwilling to send to you directly. It also of course depends on your quarantine restrictions for the country..... if the plants aren't allowed into Norway then your friends sending them won't help.
It would be worth finding out though, as it might mean you can get your white Kerria. 8)
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I'm afraid that a transit via UK would be pretty expensive, Paul: the nursery that was mentioned (pcsl) is located in Western France, and cumulating two international transports would mean a double long journey for the plant(s), and double charge for Trond.
If you are ready for it, Trond, I could play the part of the intermediate, since I'm in France and the first transport would be faster for the plants and less expensive for you...please contact me if you're interested! :)
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Paul and Zephirine, thank you for the suggestion. I have thought of it as I have a daughter living in London at the moment (for a year only while she takes a degree). The problem isn't solved by that though because the authorities demand a phytosanitary certificate for plants (not for bulbs). So I can risk that the plants are returned. That's why few nurseries in Europe bother sending to Norway We are outside EU and the rule regarding dispatching plants without phyto in EU do not apply for us. Sometimes it is also necessary to rootwash the plants to get a phyto.
Small plants/cuttings etc usually get through though, and bulbs corms etc are allowed without problems.
I have found a source though and I hope he can fix it ;)
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Zephirine,
I hadn't picked up it was in France..... otherwise I would have suggested someone in France. I perhaps should have just said "in the same country as the nursery", which would have covered everything. ;D If I'd realised, I never would have suggested sending to the UK and international postage etc..... I had thought the nursery was already in the UK. Sorry. :-[
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After I posted my original query I used a bit of lateral thinking and tracked a picture result from a Google search to the originating web site. This lead me to France and a nursery called "pépinières côte sud des landes" http://pcsdl.vad.free.fr/contents/fr/d107.html (http://pcsdl.vad.free.fr/contents/fr/d107.html) . After returning from a trip I placed an order which was dispatched on Monday and arrived Thursday. The plant was well-packaged and survived the journey well. There is only one intact flower but it has the requisite number of petals (5) and is light cream in colour rather than pure white. I am very satisfied. My thanks to everyone who responded and who offered to help.
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So glad you tracked it down Alan... and that was very good service and prompt delivery.
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And I went there last Thursday and bought the last one (at least on show) in the nursery - and some other very lovely plants! Very nice people indeed! And then I went to my beloved plant fair in north Spain where I bought other equally wonderful plants from a Dutch shrub nursery that had also bought one of these Kerrias from them (which shows how rare they are in Europe) and from the botanical garden itself - which had also bought this Kerria from them at some point! I agree with Alan, creamish rather than white, but a good plant!
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One year on and, as I split the contents of the pot I bought, I have small plants growing in three locations in the garden. Inside the pot, the roots had wound round the inner circumference several times and I cut these into sections to try root cuttings - my first attempt at this propagation technique. I enjoyed good success so I now also have a number of small plants in pots derived from these cuttings. I am extremely pleased with this outcome.
The nursery in France that sent me the plant has changed its web site to http://www.pcsdl.fr/ (http://www.pcsdl.fr/) but still lists the 'Albiflora' form that I bought. It is cream rather than white, but no less attractive for that.
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That's a charming plant, Alan,
will you now be supplying the industry with all that propagating? ;D
cheers
fermi
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All the nurseries in the UK that I contacted last year in search of this plant said that they had lost their stock. So I probably could re-supply the UK horticultural industry!
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Did they say why their stock is lost Alan?
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"Winter took it toll" from a nursery in Wales and "I’m sorry we don’t have Kerria japonica for sale any longer." from the nursery still listed by the RHS Plant Finder.
For the benefit of those elsewhere, the UK had enjoyed a succession of mild winters and with talk of global warming, many of us had grown complacent until we had a severe cold spell early in the winter of 2010/2011.