Bertholi 'Fire Vine' aka Parrot's Bill.

Parent Plant
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/PAND692/pbill2.jpg

Soft wood cuttings taken in June this year,
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h143/PAND692/pbill1008.jpg

 

That is a wonderful plant! Is it very tender? It looks it.

 

It can be quite tender but if you have a nice sheltered spot it can get to quite a size as I'm regularly having to work around this plant at Ventnor botanic gardens it's almost a weed but it grows rather well in pots or hanging baskets as long as it's in full sun and not to exposed it will be fine. On the BBC plant finder site (link below) it says that you have to experienced to grow it but my next door neighbor has pots of the stuff and all she does is water it:p

More info
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/3586.shtml

 

I used to grow it a lot, dont know why I stopped really.
Its a good plant.

There is another commonly available one lotus maculatus, its very similar with slight yellow in the flowers, but I think Lotus berthelotii is slightly better in growth habit.

 

I have it in two in-wall planters (surrounding the property), in two planters up on the deck and under an Iochroma mingling with some Osteopermums under a Jacaranda. I actually find the ones in the shade do better and I do cut them back just after flowering and they regenerate immediately.

Mine are a mixture of both varieties. The ferny foliage is wonderful. :thumb:

Here is a pic of one of mine on 2 April ....



.... and one taken last year in a little hill village we frequent and it's on a wall on a roundabout going into the village (this plant must be at least 20 feet across) and it is now, like mine, cut back to the top of the wall ....

 

Hi all, I have had one of these for a few years and over-winter it in a cold greenhouse. Do any of you have any suggestions for how to propagate it and when it should be done? Ta.

 

Hi Blackthorn, long time no speak ..... How's everything with you?

Was it not you who sent me some seed of this a year or more ago of a different colour? If it was, sorry I had no luck with it!:(

I can't advise you on how to over-winter it there as it just does so here ....

 

Hi Blackthorn.
I used to take cuttings of slightly ripened stems about four inches long in late spring or summer.

Might take now with bottom heat.

It roots fairly easily as I remember.

 

Just a thought, can you guys not cut it off to the ground like we do and perhaps cover it up?

Okay, I'm in a different climate but I cut mine back about two months ago to near nothing and it's really come back with fulll force now .... but that is with me.

 

Might be a possibility LoL, but it could rot if it was cut back now and covered.
Just guessing.
A light trim might be OK though.

 

Sorry, pete, don't understamd that you can do the light cutback but not down to the ground .... I am obviously missing something here. If you left ot imcut, would the frost not get to it rather than if you cut it down and 'cosseted' it like one does with palms and such like thee>

This should be in our new section ......

 

Ah but should it, a grey area I believe.
Its a bedding plant over here.:D


I think you need to keep it frost free.

Cutting hard back now would mean that it cant make any growth for about four or five months, until things warm up next spring.
As I said, just guessing, but thats a long time without leaves for an evergreen plant.

 

Sheesh, me, get your fingers on the right keys .... "If you left ot imcut,~"....,.

Sorry, often forget normal plants here are houseplants / bedding plants there .... :dh:

 

well at ventnor botanic gardens it's left out all year round (but it's allot warmer on the undercliff) but there always worry about if this winter is going to be the coldest on record kind of thing because they have a few huge mature bananas which they don t really protect and have been here for 20 odd years... personally I leave some slightly tender plants outside but take cuttings/seeds were I can as I dont really have room to bring plants inside:thumb:

 

Ola again Lady of Leisure, nice to speak with you again, sorry about the seeds not doing anything, lotus hirsutum as I remember.

Hi as well pete, and thanks for the advice.

I think I will bring the berti into the cold GH for the winter and have a go at rooting a couple of bits in the prop. If I can get a few to root as an insurance, I will have a go at planting the main plant outside to see what happens.
Kalmia, I do believe the met office is predicting a cold dry winter!