Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation

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John

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #30 on: September 30, 2012, 11:02:31 PM »
Alice I don't think that the seeds have to be fresh, I had germination from poorly stored seed after a few years. Many legumes store well for long periods even without careful treatment.
Alisdair you suggest putting this into (herbaceous?) perennials but Ebenus creticus is a shrub.
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

Alice

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #31 on: October 01, 2012, 08:20:15 AM »
Good to know, John. Thanks.
Amateur gardener who has gardened in north London and now gardens part of the year on the Cycladic island of Paros. Conditions: coastal, windy, annual rainfall 350mm, temp 0-35 degrees C.

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Fermi

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #32 on: December 21, 2012, 03:01:54 AM »
Alice I don't think that the seeds have to be fresh, I had germination from poorly stored seed after a few years. Many legumes store well for long periods even without careful treatment.
We got some seed from Marcus harvey in Tasmania last year before going to Europe for 7 weeks; we returned home to a house where mice had taken up residence and one of the seed packets they devoured was the Ebenus! >:(
What was left was sown in a 7.5cm pot and topped with gravel - eventually 2 seedlings germinated but one rotted off in the winter.
The remaining one is still in its seedpot and I wonder if I should try planting it out now (summer) or leave it till the weather cools off.
Any advice would be appreciated,
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

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John

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #33 on: December 21, 2012, 09:02:15 AM »
I assume it is dormant now even in its pot so I should wait so it can take off when you plant it as soon as the weather changes.
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

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Fermi

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #34 on: January 06, 2013, 05:12:12 AM »
Hi John,
actually it's still got green growth so I'm watering it very sparingly to keep it going (we just had 40oC 2 days ago and will be due for another scorcher this week!); I'll plant it out once the heat is over - only another 2 months!
I hope I can find a suitable place where it can remain un-watered in future summers! Perhaps amongst some spring bulbs?
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

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John

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #35 on: January 06, 2013, 10:10:50 AM »
Well your'e nearly there now and as you only have the one you can't experiment so good luck!
John
Horticulturist, photographer, author, garden designer and plant breeder; MGS member and RHS committee member. I garden at home in SW London and also at work in South London.

Joanna Savage

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #36 on: January 06, 2013, 11:55:46 AM »
On the subject of the latin name Ebenus cretica. Help please. It looks as though Ebenus is masc. and cretica fem. Shouldn't they agree in gender, or are taxonomic rules rules unto themselves?

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Alisdair

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #37 on: January 07, 2013, 04:46:12 PM »
Confusing, isn't it! Quite a few Latin nouns in the 2nd ("feminine") declension end in -us, so need to have the feminine version of the adjective decribing them. Ebenus is one of these.
Alisdair Aird
Gardens in SE England (Sussex); also coastal Southern Greece, and (in a very small way) South West France; MGS member (and former president); vice chairman RHS Lily Group, past chairman Cyclamen Society

Joanna Savage

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2013, 06:49:01 AM »
Alisdair, Thanks so much for sorting my puzzle about the latin name Ebenus cretica. Your comments sent me back to my ancient and much neglected Kennedy's Latin Primer and my old school dictionary of classical latin.

Interestingly Arbutus, Laurus, Myrtus and Quercus  also  seem to be feminine nouns.

Somehow I have been thoroughly confused about the Ebenus in E.cretica and the ebony in ebony wood. The latter , it appears is usually a Diospyros (the same genus as persimmon). My small school dictionary defines ebenus as m., the ebony tree. That doesn't seem to be right in contemporary terms. I wonder how the name Ebenus attached itself to E. cretica. Is there something very hard about it? Also, it seems to have been an Onobrychis at some stage in its nomenclature.

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JTh

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2013, 10:34:39 AM »
Onobrychis cretica was not an earlier name for E. cretica, but a synonym for the the plant with the accepted name Onobrychis aequidentata.
The name Onobrychis is easier to explain, it means: which is devoured by the donkey (from ancient Greek). Maybe the stems of Ebenus were too hard to be digested and used as fodder by domestic animal, and thus got the name ‘ebony’?
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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Fermi

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #40 on: December 06, 2013, 07:32:36 AM »
Well your'e nearly there now and as you only have the one you can't experiment so good luck!
Hi John,
I planted it out in a raised bed at the end of spring and it's still looking okay as we head into summer!
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

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Fermi

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #41 on: February 09, 2014, 03:54:20 AM »
It's looking very dehydrated - are you sure I'm not supposed to water it?
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #42 on: February 09, 2014, 10:59:26 PM »
Well...the established plants at Sparoza never get watered and by the end of the summer they look quite dead to the untrained eye. When the autumn rains start they slowly come back and the shrunken leaves fill out again. I on the other hand don't have a strong stomach so I give my plants a little irrigation and they never look quite as dead.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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Fermi

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Re: Ebenus cretica cultivation and propagation
« Reply #43 on: February 23, 2014, 04:56:08 AM »
Thanks, Fleur,
I'll wait to see if it revives!
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!