The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Perennials => Topic started by: John J on March 02, 2014, 09:24:32 AM
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In Nov 2012 I was lucky enough to get a baby Acanthus arboreus from Sparoza. Ever since I have been impatiently watching it grow and when it began to show signs of flowering I became even more impatient. Today it started to show a hint of colour and I could wait no longer to take a photo and put it on the forum. If impatience is a great gardening sin then I'm guilty as charged.
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That looks marvellous, such a terrific colour. Do the flowers open further? Chantal will be pestered for seed for sure. Does it set seed in the wild? I guess it would. Is the form you have standard for the species, or a special selection?
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Trevor, I have to admit to knowing very little about this plant. On a visit to Sparoza I had the opportunity to get hold of a baby of this plant and after Sally described it to me I jumped at the chance. I had never seen it in flower and have waited with bated breath for over a year for mine to mature and produce buds, there are 3 on it at the moment. This one is just beginning to colour up and I assume will open further but I was impatient to share it on the forum. Any other info about it will have to come from someone who knows the plant better than I do.
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After having had this plant for another year since first posting about it I can now say that it does not behave like the more common Acanthus mollis that disappears for the summer. I can only describe it as an evergreen as it remains all year round. It also reproduces very readily, spreading outwards from the base.
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Seeing a posting about this plant today in another thread prompted me to look it up on the internet. To my surprise the first thing that came up was this. It seems the plant has escaped and naturalised in parts of Italy?
https://www.actaplantarum.org/ specific page https://www.actaplantarum.org/galleria_flora/galleria1.php?aid=6003 and
https://floraitaliae.actaplantarum.org/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=71931&hilit=acanthus+arboreus
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David, I'm surprised by that. The only other plant I have ever seen is the one at Sparoza that produced the baby that Sally gave me. They are massive plants that just grow and grow, ours is well over 2 metres tall. I have never seen any seed but they reproduce readily from the base and we have to keep an eye on that in order to make sure it is contained.
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I was equally surprised. I have never seen it for sale anywhere here. How I wish we had something like the "RHS Plantfinder" here in Italy. As things stand, you either know of the existence of a nursery or you don't. It will be even more frustrating if plant exports from the UK become difficult/impossible after Brexit. I think it might be time to stock up from the UK while we have chance.
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You definitely don't have room for that though David surely?🤔