Pachypodium and Alludia outdoors in SoCal

[Justin]

I'm contemplating planting Alludia procera and Pachypodium lamerei, rosulatum, and geayi. Anyone have experience growing these? Planting these without impaling yourself?

Thanks in advance.

[MattyB]

Hey brother! Pachypodium can be handled at the base, with thick gloves. I guess you can handle then anywhere with thick gloves, at the base you will not notice damage to the spines

[OverGrown]

depending on size.. roll up in a carpet, movers blanket, or towel to handle.. I have both growing outdoors.. no problem yet. First winter for my young pody but have seen beautiful mature specimens looking perfect outdoors. I would have preferred to stake my Alluadia but didn't so they criss cross each other..

[Peter]

Both should do fine for you Justin; just keep them dry in the winter. And not too much water for the pachypodiums in the summer either. I've used newspapers to wrap around their trunks before to good effect as well. I've got a friend in Costa Mesa who's got the best touch with his pachypodiums; they are over 15' tall and look better than the ones at the Huntington. He says he waters his fairly aggressively in the summer but I've had no luck with that strategy. He is one of the best gardeners I've encountered however, so I guess he must know some things I don't

[Gonzer]

Alluadia procera grows like a weed in the ground here. A. montagnaciiis very slow but actually is the more attractive of the species. A. dumosa is very slow slow too but its lack of leaves makes for a garden conversation piece. Also try Didierea trollii, it grows like A. procera and if planted in a corner of the yard is a great barrier against neighborhood cats and inquisitive kids. I've never had a problem with rot as they only get water when they are in full leaf or showing vestiges of new growth.

Pachypodiums can be succeptible to freeze and overwatering. I never water when temps are below 70º. P. rosulatum, horombense, succulentum and gracilius have proven to be the best species here outdoors in the ground. P. namaquanum is a touchy one but can be grown successfully. Stay far away from P. brevicaule, don't even go there! Lamerei and geayi are easy too but I prefer the other species due to their caudex forming nature.

As for handling these genera, a newspaper folded and rolled to form a sling works best for me. Towels can get hung up on the spines. Use two 'slings', one at the base and another near the middle. Alluadia and Didierea are exceptionally easy plants that provide many, many cuttings over the years. (except A.montagnacii)

Here's one of my D. trollii clumps.

here's an A. procera in full leaf next to another before leafing. On the far right is A. montagnacii and in the lower right you might be able to spot the brown naked branches of A. dumosa.

[Justin]

Is now an okay time to plant? Or should I wait until springtime?

[Peter]

I'd wait on the Pachypodiums for sure.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Pachys can do pretty well in SoFla as long as you give them perfect drainage and not too much irrigation. P. rosulatum makes an excellent clay pot specimen.

[Gonzer]

Is now an okay time to plant? Or should I wait until springtime?

Just hang tight 'till Spring Justin. The ground right now is a little too cold and saturated for optimal planting. They're also one of those (potted) plants that can be stashed and forgotten in the netherlands of your yard for ages and suffer little or nothing at all.

[MattyB]

I agree, you can keep em potted way long. I had to cut the pots off of mine they we're so root bound. I plant in winter though...dont care.

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Here are a couple photos of a friends plants in OC. These pictures were taken a couple of years ago so, they are much bigger!

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

[Gonzer]

Damn Junior!!!

[Peter]

And that's the yard in Costa Mesa I was referring to. Those pachypodiums are about 15' tall, and he has seedlings coming up all over his yard. He has lamerii, geayii, and what we think is rutenbergianum, plus others. The seedlings might be hybrids as they vary a bit in size, leaf shape, etc...

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Whoa! We have Pachys in Florida, but I never saw anything like that!

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

I am growing some of the seedlings and they are very fast. I wonder if they are hybrids like Peter was saying?

[MattyB]

I got three P. lamerii in 2" pots at the .99 cent store a couple of years ago. They were bursting out their 3 gallon pots when I planted them out last week and they now stand 2 feet tall, and are about 3" in diameter!