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| TOAD LILIES HARDY FALL-BLOOMING PLANTS | |
| Published: November 18, 1997 | |
Unusual flower is white with purple specklesQ:Do you have information on the care and hardiness of toad lilies (Triciptis hirta)? I remember these from my childhood.A:Denyse Cummins with the Cooperative Extension Service grows toad lilies and recommends them as hardy, shade-tolerant plants that bloom in October and November. The purple-speckled white flowers bloom on three-foot stems that form perennial clumps. These spread but are not invasive. Denyse says that the plants are rarely available in nurseries, but may be ordered from garden catalogs as stolens or seeds.Good pecan varieties for areaQ:When is the best time to plant pecan trees, and which varieties are best for this area?A:According to L.C. Cambre, most pecan trees are grown now in containers so they may be planted any time of year provided they are watered well during periods of dry weather. Traditionally, the bare-rooted plants were planted December through February during dormancy, and this is still an ideal time to plant trees, whether container grown or not.Varieties best suited to the area and most commonly available in nurseries include Desirable, Candy, Elliot, and Sumner. Identifying tropical plantQ:I bought a plant identified on the tag as Pachira aquatica. There was little information on the tag other than it is a blooming plant. Do you know whether or not it is hardy or anything about its care?A:Very little except that it is cultivated as an ornamental tree in the tropics and in southern Florida, which means that it will probably require winter protection here. Some of its other names are shaving brush tree, Guiana water chestnut and wild cocoa. In the tropics the tree grows to 50-60 feet tall.Flowers are large and tubular with greenish or yellowish-white petals to 14 inches long with conspicuous stamens. Sounds like a very interesting plant. Keep in touch on this one! Looking for an update on Home and Gardening TV channelQ:Do you know anything about the possibility of Lafayette getting the gardening TV channel? A while back I heard it might happen. We would enjoy this in Lafayette.A:Glad you asked! I called Col. Russell Mann who has been active in trying to get a gardening channel for the area. He reported that franchising negotiations with the city had been the cause of delay in the past, and he will find out and report the present status this week. In the meantime, the person to call directly for information is Steve Creeden, manager of Cable TV, at 232-6323Col. Mann jokes that Baton Rouge gardeners love their gardening channel so much that they have gotten hooked on watching it. Now, little time is left for gardening. Strange pods on mandevillaQ:There are two strange looking "antennae" growing out of my mandevilla plant. They are very narrow and dont seem to have any seeds in them. Have you seen anything like this?A:Not on my mandevilla, but the literature supports this type of pod on the vine. I did have a similar pod growing on my desert rose, ultimately to a length of a skinny seven inches. I called my desert rose expert, Dena Frost, who made regular house calls to watch over it and to wait until the proper moment to remove it. |