[Alisdair]

Thierry Verhaeghe writes:
"I would like to try sub tropical plants such as Brugmansia candida, Calliandra portoricensis, Pavonia hastata, Clerodendron myricoides,  Clerodendron fragrans, Murraya paniculata, Senna artemisoides on the island of Skopelos. I am looking for a nursery which could supply these plants in Greece."
Any ideas, anyone?

[David Dickinson]

Hi

I have tried repeatedly with Pavonia hastata in Rome but with no real success. The plants survive a year at most, the first flowers never open but produce seed (cleistogamy). The autumn flowers open but are few and far between because the plant is from a same-year seedling. So not really worth it for me, even treating it as an annual.

This year I will have lots of seed of Pavonia spinifex, if that is of interest. The plant does not have spines, it is the seed which is spiny. My plant has been with me for 5 years now. I believe I have Pavonia missionum seeds from last year that I can offer. I started new plants this year because a bush I had had for 5 or 6 years died. If the new seedlings produce seed I could offer those.

MGS seed bank offers seeds of all 3 and a fourth, Pavonia praemorsa. I find that Pavonia seed germinates easily in spring and the plants grow fairly quickly.

[John J]

Here in Cyprus we grow Senna artemesioides, Murraya paniculata and Rotheca myricoides syn Clerodendrum myricoides. We also have a variety of other Brugmansia, Calliandra, Pavonia and Clerodendrum.
Perhaps Ioannis Gryllis in Marathon might be worth contacting about acquiring the plants on the list.