Rhodochiton

Has anyone any experience of growing this please?

 

yes, have grown it but not recently.
Its a bit slow from seed early on, so an early start, Feb. might be a good idea.
I always found it was better in year two, if you overwinter it.


OH, and it likes it warm.

 

Thanks Pete. Sounds like I'd better give this a miss, lack of warmth and I hope not to be here for year two.

 

Sheal , I have grown these a few years ago . Found them tricky to germinate , and quite a slow grower as Pete said. A very pretty climber , but did not grow to a great size in one season. Long flowering though !

 

Thanks Harry, if it's a slower grower then there's no point in me growing it. I need a performance from it earlier rather than later here. I'll stick with the Asarina I already had my eye on I think.

 

I am going to disagree with @pete (which I rarely do) on the matter of heat. My feeling is that once they get reasonable periods of about 20°c and the longer daylight hours of June onwards they romp away and flower strongly until the first frosts. Over the ten summers that I've grown them I've found that they do best in the shelter of a south'ish facing wall and they also make a great trailing plant for hanging baskets.
As @HarryS points out they don't grow to a great size so they're best grown up a wigwam in a pot as a feature plant.
As far as seed germination goes bought seed has low germination rates. Don't buy seed from T&M or Suttons for two reasons;
1] The seed has been husked. The outer husk of the (very small) seed probably protects it from rot.
2] The seed has a short period of viability which is probably reduced even more out of the husk.

If you buy from Plant World Seeds it still has the husk and germination is improved considerably. Once you've grown it you can collect seed and this has a massively increased rate of germination. As Pete says an early sowing is best. Once you've moved I recommend trying it.
Interestingly, it is very closely related to the far more rampant Asarina/Lophospermum that you are going to grow.

 

Yeah, a south facing wall, my idea of a bit of heat.
20C is not real heat, I agree.


Agree regarding germination, my own seed always germinated better than any I bought.

 

Thanks Longk. What you have said makes it even less viable here. I don't have a south facing wall and if we have a bad summer again temperatures are likely to stay under 20C. I'll stick with the Asarina and see how well it does.

 

ergo...................

Seriously though I think that you'll love it when you do try it

 

Thanks. I'll see what my eventual new garden allows me to work with and take it from there. Going further north isn't going to help either.