Puya flowering
- Paul S
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Puya flowering
Not that common a sight in the UK, my puya is flowering this year for the 3rd time in 20 years. I bought it as P. berteroana, clearly it isn't - I suspect a hybrid with chilensis. Whatever its lineage it is a cracker! For scale I am around 6ft in those boots...
- Azuleja
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Re: Puya flowering
Wow, congrats! When you say third time in twenty, has it bloomed the last three years or intermittently?
- Paul S
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Re: Puya flowering
Intermittently. Seems to take a while to gather a head of steam in between times. Worth the wait, though.
- Melt in the Sun
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Re: Puya flowering
Awesome! I am still waiting on my first P. alpestris bloom...6.5 years in the ground now from a 3-gallon plant.
- Azuleja
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- Viegener
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Re: Puya flowering
I've had a clump of P. alpestris (might be P. bertronia though) for 10 years without a flower. It's growing in a very hot poor spot, and I keep thinking it would bloom if I put it on drip!
Might be 15 years old even...
Might be 15 years old even...
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Re: Puya flowering
Interesting. Puya is good genus for temperate climate but they really need a lot of space (too much).
This is an Echium pininana in the background ? Don't they need mild temperatures to thrive ?
What was the lower temperature they ( The Puya and the Echium) have had to undergo ?
This is an Echium pininana in the background ? Don't they need mild temperatures to thrive ?
What was the lower temperature they ( The Puya and the Echium) have had to undergo ?
- Azuleja
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Re: Puya flowering
Puya and dyckia can be crossed, which is exciting to me for the potential of smaller size plants with more interesting foliage and flower potential.
- Paul S
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Re: Puya flowering
I wonder how on earth one would spell or pronounce the resultant cross, depending on who was mum? x Puckia? x Puyckia? x Dyckya? x Dya?Azuleja wrote:Puya and dyckia can be crossed, which is exciting to me for the potential of smaller size plants with more interesting foliage and flower potential.
Luc - yes, echium hybrids. The lowest temp I have had since gardening here was -8C with a lot of wet snow (we get 'the wrong kind of snow' in the UK) and a week below freezing day and night. The puya survived that. I have been growing echiums here for 20 years and it seems there is a kind of 'speed evolution' taking place. Plants that survive below -6C seem to pass that on and gradually the plants are becoming more frost resistant. I lost them all at -8C but the seed is viable below that and up they came again. Also some years ago I had E. pininana and wildpretii both in flower at the same time - both are constantly covered in bees who seem to have made a race of hybrids. Then I flowered a white cultivar and now white is in the mix. I never quite know how they are going to look or what colour the flowers will be. This year I had E. gentianoides flower for the first time so I wonder if that intense blue might also enter the gene pool?
- Azuleja
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Re: Puya flowering
Yes, unfortunately they use puyckia and dyckipu, neither of which I can bring myself to say.
- Spination
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Re: Puya flowering
Thanks Azul. A good laugh first thing in the morning is a great start to a day.
And yes, I'd be careful too saying any of those names out loud. Could easily raise an eyebrow or two...or provoke an even stronger adverse reaction.