Alberta magna

[fastfeat]

I saw the elusive Alberta magna the other day at Hawthorne Nursery near LAX. It seems somewhat underwhelming from a distance, but the big sprays of red flowers are especially impressive up close and come at a time of year when not much else is eagerly blooming. Seems best in coastal areas; I'm not sure how it likes heat and cold of inland valleys. (Nor have I seen in Florida).

This plant is notoriously difficult from cuttings, but supposedly not too tough from seed (though the one time I tried twenty years ago was unsuccessful. I don't know if the folks at Hawthorne will try again to propagate; this (and one other stock plant) are the sole remaining ones of a good collection from about five to six years back.

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/albertamagna.htm

I also was able to find a couple of big 1gal Rondeletia cordata, also Rubiaceae, from Central America. It too is becoming very rare, though it is considerably easier to propagate. Also winter-blooming, it grows well in SoCal and SoFla (though easier in containers to avoid limestone); flowers are very sweetly fragrant, esp. in the evening.

Edited December 15, 2010 by fastfeat

[LJG]

Ken, this is a hard plant for me to grow. And they are not cheap to buy. I did try all mine from seedling size. They rot easy and the one that grew to plantable size died in a heat wave. I think I need to find them bigger like what you found.

[Eric in Orlando]

That red one is nice !!!

We are growing this Alibertia, unknown species from Black Olive.

[bahia]

There is one of these Alberta magna growing in the San Francisco Botanical Garden(old Strybing), that has been there for years and blooms reliably every fall into winter/spring. Since I have been watching it for the past 10 years of visits, it seems barely to have grown any larger. I looked up the comments about this plant in the Southern California Horticultural Society's book, Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens,(an excellent reference book, by the way, even for us northern Californians), and they repeat the same comments about easily rotting roots when young, demands acid soils, doesn't like hot or cold extremes, and very slow growing,(also one at the Mildred E.Mathias UCLA Botanical Garden). Very showy in bloom at the SFBG, and it must also be as difficult to propagate here as I never see this one offered for sales at their annual sale. Maybe this is just one of those South African plants that is too fussy to adapt to garden culture?

[bubba]

It seems the Alberta magna is extremely rare and difficult to grow in it's native habitat in South Africa. Beautiful specimen and must be one of the few in California. What I could find does not indicate that this variety would adapt to Florida. Whatever Eric is growing is as close as we can hope and it is likley a distant cousin. Does anyone in Florida claim to have one of these?

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

We have two different genera here, Alberta and Alibertia, both flowering trees/shrubs in Rubiaceae. The white flowering Alibertia was being sold at the TFTS sale a couple years ago as Augusta rivera. It seems like a pretty reliable bloomer but I never tried propagating it.

The red Alberta magna at first glance looked like an Ixora Super King. Neat looker.

[LJG]

There is one of these Alberta magna growing in the San Francisco Botanical Garden(old Strybing), that has been there for years and blooms reliably every fall into winter/spring. Since I have been watching it for the past 10 years of visits, it seems barely to have grown any larger. I looked up the comments about this plant in the Southern California Horticultural Society's book, Selected Plants for Southern California Gardens,(an excellent reference book, by the way, even for us northern Californians), and they repeat the same comments about easily rotting roots when young, demands acid soils, doesn't like hot or cold extremes, and very slow growing,(also one at the Mildred E.Mathias UCLA Botanical Garden). Very showy in bloom at the SFBG, and it must also be as difficult to propagate here as I never see this one offered for sales at their annual sale. Maybe this is just one of those South African plants that is too fussy to adapt to garden culture?

Well thank you for this. I was beginning to feel like an idiot with this plant

I have found that a few South African plants are tough to grow - many from around KwaZulu-Natal. Many I have given up on and some are still growing lame in my garden as I wait for a sudden explosion to go off - which has not happened yet. Bolusanthus speciosus being a good example. Duvernoia adhatodoides was one I gave up on.

[bahia]

Len,

I empathize about feeling like a failure with certain South African plants, while in the majority I do so well with most of the ones I grow from this region, and others from Kwazulu-Natal even seem to thrive in Berkeley! I've heard claims from some in southern California that they find Bolusanthus easy to grow, and also that theirs bloom well, but I haven't seen the photos of said plants to prove it. I have heard that this tree is difficult to grow and bloom well in Capetown, which is more similar in climate to Vista/San Diego than here in northern California. In any case, even in South Africa Bolusanthus is said to be very slow to gain size as well. As to the other, Duvernoia, after having seen how well this one grew at nurseries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I would surmise that your missing ingredient is lack of sufficient heat! It grew like a weed there, but in my opinion was a bit too rank for most gardens in any case.

Some successes from Kwazulu-Natal would have to include Begonia sutherlandii, Streptocarpus, Aloe thraskii, to name a few. I am sure there are others I grow, if I took the time to check on their provenances, but I am feeling too lazy. One of the biggest failures for me personally is how I can't seem to get Euphorbia tirucallii 'Sticks on Fire' to really succeed here for more than a year or two. They always go downhill here in winter, even when I keep them as a container plant against a south or west facing wall and protect them from the winter rains. It just doesn't feel fair that these look so great down in coastal southern California!

[LJG]

Len,

I empathize about feeling like a failure with certain South African plants, while in the majority I do so well with most of the ones I grow from this region, and others from Kwazulu-Natal even seem to thrive in Berkeley! I've heard claims from some in southern California that they find Bolusanthus easy to grow, and also that theirs bloom well, but I haven't seen the photos of said plants to prove it. I have heard that this tree is difficult to grow and bloom well in Capetown, which is more similar in climate to Vista/San Diego than here in northern California. In any case, even in South Africa Bolusanthus is said to be very slow to gain size as well. As to the other, Duvernoia, after having seen how well this one grew at nurseries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I would surmise that your missing ingredient is lack of sufficient heat! It grew like a weed there, but in my opinion was a bit too rank for most gardens in any case.

Some successes from Kwazulu-Natal would have to include Begonia sutherlandii, Streptocarpus, Aloe thraskii, to name a few. I am sure there are others I grow, if I took the time to check on their provenances, but I am feeling too lazy. One of the biggest failures for me personally is how I can't seem to get Euphorbia tirucallii 'Sticks on Fire' to really succeed here for more than a year or two. They always go downhill here in winter, even when I keep them as a container plant against a south or west facing wall and protect them from the winter rains. It just doesn't feel fair that these look so great down in coastal southern California!

Bolusanthus is slow for sure. It also must be sprayed with Spinosad in summer as it gets attacked by moth larvae which will eat it bare - which I witnessed a few years back on mine. I am not sure what the issue is. I tried less water, more water, a few ferts, etc. It still just does not do more then keep it to where I just don't want to rip it out. I have talked to Vista Tree farm. I believe the old man (For Evan's dads name right now) was the one the started selling this tree amongst many other first before he sold off to Miramar Wholesale. Anyway he told me they were slow and not easy to grow both in pots or in the ground. I would love to see some large samples of nice looking ones to give me hope.

Duvernoia was an odd one. It always looked anemic. The leaves were shrunk up and folded. It grew fine and even flowered and gave me seed. So I grew some up in my greenhouse. Those looked great. Nice big dark green leaves. I planted some outside. Same dang thing. All new growth was small and folded leaves. So I gave up. Heat might have been the issue.

Your knowledge obviously surpasses what little I know but it seems to me a lot of the SA stuff really has a limited growing range with strict requirements. Almost reminds me of the cloud forest stuff from Central America and northern SA. Not that extreme, but enough to where they don't like what little deviation they have from San Diego to SA.

[fastfeat]

Your knowledge obviously surpasses what little I know but it seems to me a lot of the SA stuff really has a limited growing range with strict requirements. Almost reminds me of the cloud forest stuff from Central America and northern SA. Not that extreme, but enough to where they don't like what little deviation they have from San Diego to SA.

The largest Bolusanthus I've ever seen (in CA) are/were at UC Irvine Arboretum a few years ago-- maybe 15'/5m with a 5" DBH. Some caterpillar activity evident, but generally controlled. These specimens looked reasonably vigorous, but they clearly had been there for many years and weren't going to double that size in my lifetime.

Though I've never been to SA, I'd imagine that you're probably correct about the strict requirements of some plants there based on the difficulties of culture here. I'd suspect they've got microclimates and local soil variations that we may not be able to recreate easily. Of course, such plants are often the ones most vulnerable to destruction of native habitat as well.

[bahia]

Can anyone say what month the Bolusanthus speciosus typically blooms there at UC Irvine's Botanic Garden? Or whether there are any at the Huntington or LA Botanic Garden or Quail or San Diego's Balboa Park/Zoo that are blooming size and what month? I would really like to see this tree in the flesh one day and catch it in bloom, and no possibilities of that up here in the SF Bay Area! Reading about how easily this blooms as a young tree in Florida, and how its habitat is from the more tropical parts of South Africa up into Zimbabwe, it sounds like the high summer heat/humidity and summer rainfall climates are advantageous for growing this tree and getting it to bulk up more quickly. I would suspect it also would do well in the Palm Springs area or Phoenix with sufficient irrigation.

[LJG]

Mine bloomed great in summer of 2009. While the flowers do not last long, they are certainly a nice purple and add a nice element to the garden while blooming. This year the tree did not bloom, in fact it looked liek it was going to and the blooms just died off. I would assume it was due to the fact it was the coldest spring/summer since 1933.

[Justin]

I've had a couple of Bolusanthus bloom, but despite the really nice blooms, I'm not a big fan of the tree. The trunks are not very stiff, so all but one of mine except for one have to be staked. They grow really slowly, and they do get chewed on by bugs. All in all, the blooms don't seem to be worth the effort. I have one that is doing better than the rest, so will probably keep that one, but I have yanked one already and may yank three more.

When they bloom, it's generally in May. I remember them blooming at roughly the same time as the Pseudobombax and the Erytrina crista-galli.

[PalmsZA]

Hi all

I live in Durban, Kwazulu-natal. To give you a brief descrition of the climate in the province:

The coastal belt is sub-tropical, cooler in the S and cooking up near the Mozambique border. Crops along the coast are sugar, bananas, pines, litchi and mango. Much of the coastal belt was forest. Rainfall varies but Durban is about 1200mm PA falling mainly between Sept and April. I dont think there has ever been any frost at sea level. When leaving the Durban coast and travelling inland the terrain is very steep and 50km out of Durban the altitude is already 600m ASL. The higher you go the more colder winters get. The Drakensberg area does have some beautiful plant species but for those you would need a mild montane climate.

[bahia]

A lot of California's and England's most favored introduced plants come from the Drakensberg mountains, as maritime Mediterranean and Cool Maritime Temperate climates seem to favor their growth. Bulbous plants in particular from this mountain range have done very well in California, such as the many Agapanthus species, Dierama species, etc. Even though the rainfall periods between the Drakensbergs and California is competely out of sync, as long as good drainage can be provided, it seems many South African bulbous species are amazingly tolerant. South African plants from the Eastern Cape Province seem even more tolerant of whatever you throw at them in California, I suppose because the rainfall seasonality is more variable there being intermediate between summer and winter rainfall. On the other hand, many of the more tempting Aloes, Euphorbias and other succulents from the more tropical parts of the Kwazulu-Natal climate greatly resent our cool and wet winters here in northern California, and fail to thrive, while many do much better in warmer/drier southern California.

In any case, California wouldn't seem like California to me without all the wonderful South African plants that we tend to take for granted here, having become so ubiquitous over the past 100 years. Hopefully some nurserymen will be able to crack the mysteries on some of the harder to grow species, so that we can continue to share the wealth, and hopefully help preserve some of the rarer species ex-situ.

[Palms1984]

It seems the Alberta magna is extremely rare and difficult to grow in it's native habitat in South Africa. Beautiful specimen and must be one of the few in California. What I could find does not indicate that this variety would adapt to Florida. Whatever Eric is growing is as close as we can hope and it is likley a distant cousin. Does anyone in Florida claim to have one of these?

Alberta magna is commonly available for sale in San Diego, CA. I've seen it for sale at least 5 years at Walter Andersen's Nursery in Point Loma. They keep them in stock all year.

[mppalms]

I grow Alberta magna (picked up a while back at a SFBG sale) in a pot so that I can protect it when it gets cold. I'd say it has roughly doubled in size (to about 2 ft. tall) since I've had it. It grows well for me, no problems, and has even flowered twice. It seems to be pretty happy with our typical summer temps of 80 deg. F (27 C) during the day and around 57 deg. F (14 C) minimum, and it gets half shade in its current location. It has taken our handful of heat waves in stride, and I've never actually moved it since its current location has a bit of overhead cover. I think it has seen 31 deg. F or so. I'm hoping to get it to a more presentable size (maybe 5 ft. tall) in a pot before planting it in a very protected location.

The flowers are pretty cool, and my resident hummingbirds give them a thumbs-up.

Jason

[HawthorneNursery]

Nice photos of the Alberta.

The original cuttings were taken some thirty years ago from a sad looking plant along the stream in the Midred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA. Dave Verity, then senior museum scientist at the MEM Bot. Gard. now retired, asked me if I would or could root some cuttings from the plant. With a considerable amount of help from a top propagator in the area, we were able to get a few to root. I still have a plant from those original cuttings. The plant in the photo is a much younger plant and is about five years old. It, too, is a cutting.

The best growing medium that I have found for Alberta is a mixture of 1/3 sandy soil, 1/3 peatmoss and 1/3 medium orchid bark. Alberta is not difficult to grow for me here in So. Calif. provided that it is grown in containers in light, cool shade. It has done poorly for me in the ground, however, two of the plants that I donated to the MEM Bot. Gard. at UCLA were planted in the ground and, so far, they are doing well.

I feed them like you would a gardenia but making sure that there is NO urea in the fertilizer.

To the person who saw the albertas at Walter Andersen - check the label to see if it has H.N. Quality in small print on the lower right corner.

Kei Nakai

Hawthorne Nursery

[fastfeat]

Nice photos of the Alberta.

The original cuttings were taken some thirty years ago from a sad looking plant along the stream in the Midred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA. Dave Verity, then senior museum scientist at the MEM Bot. Gard. now retired, asked me if I would or could root some cuttings from the plant. With a considerable amount of help from a top propagator in the area, we were able to get a few to root. I still have a plant from those original cuttings. The plant in the photo is a much younger plant and is about five years old. It, too, is a cutting.

The best growing medium that I have found for Alberta is a mixture of 1/3 sandy soil, 1/3 peatmoss and 1/3 medium orchid bark. Alberta is not difficult to grow for me here in So. Calif. provided that it is grown in containers in light, cool shade. It has done poorly for me in the ground, however, two of the plants that I donated to the MEM Bot. Gard. at UCLA were planted in the ground and, so far, they are doing well.

I feed them like you would a gardenia but making sure that there is NO urea in the fertilizer.

To the person who saw the albertas at Walter Andersen - check the label to see if it has H.N. Quality in small print on the lower right corner.

Kei Nakai

Hawthorne Nursery

Hey Kei--

Thanks for the input and continuing to grow some of the rarer plants locally. I try to stop by whenever I'm in the area and hopefully steer a few collectors your way. Hope business picks up for you in 2011.

Ken.

[JasonD]

I planted an Alberta magna I bought at the SF Botanical Garden sale at my cousins' ranch right on the coast of Sonoma County, Northern California, where winters are slightly colder and rather wetter than San Francisco's and summers are more consistently cool & foggy. The Alberta has thrived, growing at a moderate speed and maintaing good color despite zero heat and salt air. It's not yet bloomed. Soil there is impoverished, somewhat acid, well-drained marine terrace substrate that proteaceous plants do very well in, it so happens.

[daxin]

I went up to the SFBG today and took a few pictures of a specimen in the South African garden. It is about 3' tall, not in tiptop shape, with quite a few dead branches. There might also be a little too much root competition from the aggressive Chasmanthe bulbs behind. Despite all these, this plant is still blooming. Here are two shots from today:

[fastfeat]

Good to see one in the landscape, though were it mine, I'd clear a nice patch underneath it and mulch heavily...

[Darold Petty]

bump this old thread !

I just ordered seeds over the innertubes.  Any advice about germination would be greatly appreciated !