[gardeners] Free Madeira Vine
Bob Kirk (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 3 Aug 2000 20:09:07 -0500 (CDT)
Boussingaultia baselloides. Or probably Anredera ?baselloides - not going
to look up either that or whether these are fleshy rhizomes/whatever. Pencil
to felt-tip marker thickness, will probably be mailed in a taped-up soup
can. Just rediscovered ~1 month after reducing the old pot to an 8x8x18-inch
"tree pot" in a 2x4" wire cage 8x8x48" - many have new shoots, and probably
none should be planted out directly in colder areas but rather grown on and
held dormant over winter.
Baselloides = similar to Basella alba or "New Zealand spinach" -- which
really makes me want to plant & eat a mess of that, let me tell you. Nice
enough smallish green leaves, but let's just say that *latex fetishists
would go crazy over these, and **no assumptions will be made about any of
the first 4-6 innocent gardeners who respond to me directly with their
postal address to ask for a short handful of them (a gallon pot's worth or
so).
Probably quite hardy in USDA z5a/Sunset z4, though it couldn't hurt to
provide light mulch for the first year or two while some of the ?rhizomes
go vertical to 8-12" deep. Supposedly can climb 20' in a season, but here
in eastern north-central Kansas it's happy enough on a 4' fence or 7'
carport post. Masses of scented tiny white flowers (same aspect as Autumn
Clematis or Silver Lace Vine) in late summer/fall. Not exactly what I'd
call "fragrant" but more people would rather smell this than, say, privet.
bk---
"The future enters into us in order to transform itself in us, long before
it happens." --Rainer Maria Rilke (but is that - heh - your take
on "the future", or mine?)