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Author Topic: Good nectar plant  (Read 1597 times)

Offline Finsky

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Good nectar plant
« on: October 27, 2007, 02:09:28 am »
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This autumn I realized the value of Eccremocarpus scaber from Chile.

We had -7C frost, and climber is totally alive on my wood shelter wall.  It's flowers can stand -5C.

The volume of nectar is huge. One bee gets whole load from 2 flowers.
The structure of flower is interesting. It collect nectar in the middle of  tube.
The hole of tube is a such that the bee just and just can enter into tube.


Offline Mici

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Re: Good nectar plant
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2007, 07:06:21 am »

The volume of nectar is huge. One bee gets whole load from 2 flowers.



how can you see this?
did you simply watch a bee land only 2 times, before returning or how?

Offline Cindi

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Re: Good nectar plant
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2007, 01:00:11 pm »
Finsky, now this is the weirdest thing ever.  This spring when I was carousing around the nursery I frequent, I saw this package of seeds.  The seeds were said to be unusual, so it caught my eye.

Chilean Glory Vine was the name on the package.  So I brought the package home and propogated the seeds.  I had about 30 plants that grew like wildfire, I put about 3 plants into hanging baskets (too many for a basket I know now), these vines grew and grew and I had to continually pull them off the wires that they wanted to climb up that held the baskets.  Eventually they all grew downwards and created a beautiful display of these beautiful trumpet flowers.

You cited the latin name Eccremocarpus scaber.  That is nice to know because this name was not listed on the package.  Finsky you will soon see the seed pods starting to form I am sure, when the seed pod turns brown and before it opens up, remove the seed pod from the stem, take those inside your house and then you do some seed setting yourself and grow your own for next year.  I am unsure if they are a perennial, probably only an annual.  But you say that even with the sub-zero weather, it is still blooming, perhaps a very tough perennial to be flowering in the freezing cold.  Yeah!!!!!!  I am going to do some research on the cultivation of this species to enhance my skill with this flower.

I have long since taken down my hanging baskets and cut the plants right off at the root, but now wish that I had not.  I bet they would still be growing.  They did not set any more blooms, but I collected hundreds of seed pods and within these seed pods are hundreds of seeds, I think I have about 4 million seeds, I lost track of count last time I was counting them.  Oh brother.

Funny thing though, here I never once saw a honeybee going into the flower, but I watched many a bombus put their big fat bodies inside, interesting how different areas have different flowers the bees like.  My vine looked like this in the picture, only much more full as this picture was taken earlier on in the year.  Next year I will grow them up the side of my Husband's garage, he will surely love that!!!!

Have a wonderful and greatest of days.  Cindi





There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service