gardening question

[emorata]

i grow podocarpus here in north calif as a windscreen...they are not invasive here and are easy to trim to make them thicker/shrub structure instead of tree shape.

taking cuttings should be easier in your area with rootone and soil/cinder mix and maybe in a covered area/or shady area to get the plant roots established....relatively slow growers until they have an established root stock and they grow moderately a foot a year here, probably more in your area...the more you take from the top will create side branches to make it fuller. it does make a very nice windscreen with lots of texture and bamboo like appearance.

noel

[Les C]

Noel,

Northern California's and Hawaii's climate are so different that you can't expect the same results from growing the same genera/species in both areas. The volumes that I referenced, "Permacopia", are written about the native and non-native species found in Hawaii, and the authors' opinion is that podocarpus has very strong "weed potential". Some have written in these forums (or on the other side's forum) that the gardening issue in Hawaii is more about how to keep plants under control than whether or not something will grow.

I'll bet you'd have trouble growing plants like Kahili Ginger and Tibouchina (Glorybush) in No. Cal., or at most, they would not be invasive. Here, they spread like wildfire.

Les

[Fishboy]

Les,
As long as we're on the subject of what we can grow and where, it's remarkable how horticulturalists are coming up with new hybrids of tropical plants that are "engineered" for cooler zones. I'm in Seattle and have a banana, fan palm, and now a hybiscus in my garden. While the windmill fan palm is the outlier in that it is not a result of selective breeding, this new hybiscus is a patented plant that is good to planting zone 9 (I'm in 8). Just a kick to grow these special reminders of warmer climates, but it's just remarkable in both good and bad ways that science is spreading these tropical species from pole to pole (so to speak).

Warmest regards,
Brian (Fishboy)

[emorata]

hi brian,

how exciting that you can get your hybiscus to flower in zone 9? there are hardy relatives in the hybicus family of malvas in particular the various rose of sharon which have the same flowering look/characteristics of hybiscus....in my area of sonoma county, i can actually grow bananas, kahili ginger bamboo, various cannas, toubochina and other sub-tropical plants outdoors.

in regards to podocarpus, what i was relating to was that this along with many shrub/tree like plants grown in hawaii one can grow plants quickly but regular maintenance is required to keep it in check/grown to your requirements...things do grow quickly there so it is mostly being able to allocate space and maintenance to those particular plants that have a faster growth cycle (which is exciting for those of us who like saving money and growing plants from starts)...from growing podocarpus here in norcal- i didn't see how they spread through seeds, runners,divisions or other propogation methods - this may be a totally different scenario to the same species grown in hawaii..

best,

noel