PUSHING THE BORDERS

Good evening! I'm toying with the idea of getting it but read several conflicting views regarding hardiness. So my questions to anyone growing it:

Will it really survive outdoors in an average winter (this year we have been down to about -8°C, according to forecasts);

Is it as nice as the photos appear to show (I'm recalling the images shown of Laburnocytisus adamii in quite a few of the popular seller's adverts!!!);

Will it do OK in a pot, as some suggest? If it is relatively tender, i certainly don't have space to plant it in my greenhouse but at a push could make room on the path within for a pot when temperarures are set to plummet;

It looks like it would be easy to propagate as an insurance policy!?

Cheers,

Martin

Most of the pictures exaggerate the colour. The 'pink' wasn't really visible from a distance.

With me it was a straggly shrub, and behaved better with annual stooling to give a flowering shrub by the autumn, behaving like a stooled Hypericum Hidcote.

Easy from cuttings, but they didn't sell when I tried to sell them at Tregrehan

It was OK in a pot outside for a couple of years, and then I lost it to neglect.

I've been thinking of replacing it for its quiet charm.

It originally came to me as 'Rostrinuncula species' and keying it out I wasn't convinced it fitted on the key!

The trade has settled on R.dependens and I'm content with that.

Chad

ps.
John wrote it up in October 2018.

Thank you Chad. The fact that you might get it again suggests it is worth having so I will put that on my list.

New growth, especially if stooled so it is at ground level, was very prone to slug damage. I think that is what finally finished it off here.

Chad

I bought a Rostrinucula dependens from Burncoose and it is now just starting to flower. I have kept in a [bigger] pot this year and will plant it out in the spring.

It keys out in the Flora of China to be Rostrinucula sinensis, and I understand all the plants in the UK do too.



Rostrinucula sinensis.



I also have in flower its near relative, Leucosceptrum canum, which is probably less hardy, but I haven't tested it to destruction yet.




Leucosceptrum canum.


Chad

Got mine from Shrublands as a leafless, small, inch long stump way back in spring. It has made 1 short stalk of about 4 inches in length so I’m very disappointed with it. Yours look great.

You should get a decent flowering plant in one season from a spring cutting. Mine 'took off' once in a 15L pot. It was sulking in a smaller pot when bought.

I'll be doing some cuttings now, and again in the spring. Do you want some cutting material in your spring cuttings box Martin?

Chad

This box of cuttings is growing ever bigger! However, yes please. I’m planning a revamp of the garden and greenhouse so all new material greatly appreciated. Donating my bigger Agaves has freed up considerable space. It goes without saying that if ever I post about something you haven’t got Chad, let me know. Indeed this applies to anyone to whom material can be posted. I’m always happy to share.