Calliandra surinamensis

[gurugu]

I´ve had this plant in the ground, outdoors for 2 years now. It blooms heavily since late spring, early summer. This is its second blooming with hundreds of flowers. Certainly, hardier than haematocephala, which I´ve tried several times with no luck. It is under a polycarbonate cover nailed to four wooden sticks against the winter rain.

[Silas_Sancona]

4 hours ago, gurugu said:

I´ve had this plant in the ground, outdoors for 2 years now. It blooms heavily since late spring, early summer. This is its second blooming with hundreds of flowers. Certainly, hardier than haematocephala, which I´ve tried several times with no luck. It is under a polycarbonate cover nailed to four wooden sticks against the winter rain.

Interesting that C. haematocephala is a tough grow there..  Fairly common in landscapes around S. California... to the point of being a bit too common in certain places  Had one up in the Bay Area that did well there too.

Too bad it is tough to send seed to Europe.. Thinking Calliandra californica would likely do well there in Spain.. Very tough plant that takes both extreme heat and quite a bit of cold.. Flowers almost non stop and can attain heights of 10+ft if watered well. Planted one at my grandparents house in San Jose as an experiment to see how it would handle more winter rainfall / slightly cooler winters than S. Cal.  Did fine... Grew almost to the height of the roof ( 10ft )

[gurugu]

15 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Thinking Calliandra californica would likely do well there in Spain.

I didn´t know californica. A beauty. I always thought calliandras came from tropical countries.

15 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Too bad it is tough to send seed to Europe

That´s very true. Would you believe that it is more difficult for us to bring/buy a plant or  seeds from the Canary islands than from any country in the EU? And the Canary islands is Spain!

Nothing to do with back in the 90s. It was much easier then. Nowadays everything is rules and regulations.

15 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Planted one at my grandparents house in San Jose as an experiment to see how it would handle more winter rainfall / slightly cooler winters than S. Cal.  Did fine

I´m afraid it woudl suffer a lot here, due to our (sometimes) endless winter rain. That´s why I have to cover mines from rain.

[Silas_Sancona]

10 minutes ago, gurugu said:

I didn´t know californica. A beauty. I always thought calliandras came from tropical countries.

That´s very true. Would you believe that it is more difficult for us to bring/buy a plant or  seeds from the Canary islands than from any country in the EU? And the Canary islands is Spain!

Nothing to do with back in the 90s. It was much easier then. Nowadays everything is rules and regulations.

I´m afraid it woudl suffer a lot here, due to our (sometimes) endless winter rain. That´s why I have to cover mines from rain.

San Jose ( California ) can get a ton of rainfall during the winters there ( ..though it has been awhile since they've had a super wet winter )  December thru about mid- Feb.  can be really chilly as well..  I'd planted it to see how it would handle those exact conditions,  expecting it might suffer.. since many consider it a " Desert " plant..   Results were the exact opposite, to my surprise.

  Had both C. surinamensis and C. tergemina var. emarginata out there as well, fully exposed to the weather and both did fine.. C. tergemina  actually flowerd it's head off out there at least 3x's a year.  Can't remember what happened w/ my surinamensis, but lost the other last year here..  Not to the cold, but our heat / dry air ..and forgetting to water it one week before we started getting our summer rains.

We've got a native sp. here that grows both in the desert and up in the lower foothills that occasionally get dusted w/ snow and can get down into the lower 20s at times..  Looks kind of sad / stays short and scrappy when tortured by full sun w/ very little water most of the year out in the desert, but can get pretty big and lush if given a little shade from the sun and watered a tad more.  There's a popular cross between it and C. californica called " Sierra Star " seen in landscapes all over the area. Blooms a bit more / flowers are larger than either parent species, and has slightly larger foliage. Flower color can be bright red, or a unique shade of glowing Magenta. Neat when different colord forms are growing near each other.

If anyone there in Europe might have access to seed of C. californica,  Rare Palm Seed would be the place to check into.

[gurugu]

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

San Jose ( California ) can get a ton of rainfall during the winters there ( ..though it has been awhile since they've had a super wet winter )  December thru about mid- Feb.  can be really chilly as well..  I'd planted it to see how it would handle those exact conditions,  expecting it might suffer.. since many consider it a " Desert " plant..   Results were the exact opposite, to my surprise.

  Had both C. surinamensis and C. tergemina var. emarginata out there as well, fully exposed to the weather and both did fine.. C. tergemina  actually flowerd it's head off out there at least 3x's a year.  Can't remember what happened w/ my surinamensis, but lost the other last year here..  Not to the cold, but our heat / dry air ..and forgetting to water it one week before we started getting our summer rains.

We've got a native sp. here that grows both in the desert and up in the lower foothills that occasionally get dusted w/ snow and can get down into the lower 20s at times..  Looks kind of sad / stays short and scrappy when tortured by full sun w/ very little water most of the year out in the desert, but can get pretty big and lush if given a little shade from the sun and watered a tad more.  There's a popular cross between it and C. californica called " Sierra Star " seen in landscapes all over the area. Blooms a bit more / flowers are larger than either parent species, and has slightly larger foliage. Flower color can be bright red, or a unique shade of glowing Magenta. Neat when different colord forms are growing near each other.

If anyone there in Europe might have access to seed of C. californica,  Rare Palm Seed would be the place to check into.

That's very true. Mine withered within a few hours the first day of the heatwave. It was full of flowers and despite being watered, all the flowers died at 38ºC and southerly winds for some days in a row. Today is again in full bloom as you can see in the picture and lasting longer. 

Maybe I'll give a try to California someday. 

Thanks. 

My tree ferns also suffered, especially Cyathea Felina. 

[Tomas]

I have the other parent of Sierra Star, Calliandra eriophyla. It is a tough plant, growing in full sun and in a particularly well drained place with no water.

 

I think Sierra star is not in cultivation in Europe, if someone can deny, I will be happy.

 

On 7/28/2022 at 11:19 AM, Silas_Sancona said:

Had both C. surinamensis and C. tergemina var. emarginata out there as well, fully exposed to the weather and both did fine.. C. tergemina  actually flowerd it's head off out there at least 3x's a year. 

Silas_Sancona, does the emarginata set seeds for you? I wonder why it is so difficult to find seeds

[Silas_Sancona]

13 minutes ago, Tomas said:

I have the other parent of Sierra Star, Calliandra eriophyla. It is a tough plant, growing in full sun and in a particularly well drained place with no water.

 

I think Sierra star is not in cultivation in Europe, if someone can deny, I will be happy.

 

Silas_Sancona, does the emarginata set seeds for you? I wonder why it is so difficult to find seeds

Yes, C. eriophylla is a super- tough plant..  have seen these things in areas of the desert where they are constantly grazed / trampled, don't seem to get much water, and are just scraggly, beaten up piles of  6-8" tall sticks. All it would take is one or two good downpours and those dried up- looking " sticks " became lush and full of flowers.. 

While it didn't produce tons, yes, my C. emaringata did set seeds. I'd often notice the pods just before they were ready to open, and miss collecting the seed by a couple hours. Not sure who was doing the pollinating, but Hummingbirds ( ..Think Sunbirds  fulfill the same role there.. )  loved the plant.