Tuesday, February 17, 2015

SEEDS FOR HIPPO

Recently I suggested to my friend Tom from A Hippo on the Lawn blog that a couple of the lovely flowering trees we have in Brisbane would be a nice addition to his resort in the making.

I suggested these:


 
A Poinciana Tree
 
and a Jacaranda Tree.
 
 
Neither of these trees are native to Australia but both play a big part in beautifying the suburban landscape of Brisbane.
 
Tom was very receptive to the idea so I set out to collect some seeds to send off to him in Angola.
 
Both trees produce huge numbers of seeds so Tony collected some Ponciana seeds for me as he worked around the neighbourhood.
 
 
This is one of the large seed pods.

 
Inside each little channel holds a single large seed.
 
I selected 5 or 6 of the seeds ( he didn't want many !!) from one pod and posted them off to Tom via his brother in Germany.( there's plenty more where they came from Tom if you need them !!)
 
Then to test them out I stuck a few into a spare pot to see if and how long it would take for them to germinate.
 
Two weeks later I remembered them and looked into the pot to find this !


 
This one had popped itself right out of the ground !
 




 

 
 
Looks like they'll be easy to grow Tom !
Hope they manage to reach Angola soon.
 
 
I'm off to collect Jacaranda seeds now.
 
Cheers.

19 comments:

  1. The seed pods certainly are interesting.
    Anne

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    1. Very big and lots of them and the seeds germinate very easily.

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  2. Oh, I do love the jacaranda trees. What a great idea to send the seeds.

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  3. How beautiful and colourful those trees are!

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  4. Look at those sprouts ... by their second set of leaves, they are already fancy. I'm wondering if the poinciana tree is trimmed and trained to its shape, or if it naturally grows low and wide.

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    1. No trimming required, this lovely umbrella type shape just comes naturally to these trees. My cousin was married beneath one whose branches touched the ground making a natural "church" inside with all thee flowers on top. Beautiful !

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  5. Well at least I now know what to look for! Micky is on a trade fair at the moment so I don't know whether the first batch of seeds have arrived in Germany yet. I am really looking forward to the riot of colours I can expect with all the different trees I will have. Once again, thanks for this, I really appreciate it!

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    1. I only posted seeds to you, not the whole pod and only a few as instructed. Plenty more here though if they don't work out or you want more !

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  6. I love both poinciana and jacaranda trees...they are absolutely glorious. The sight of them always makes me smile and they, for me, have such a calming effect.

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    1. Me too Lee. They make Brisbane look lovely too.

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  7. Aren't you clever? The one thing I miss about living at altitude is how few flowering things we are able to grow. And if we can grow them, they only grow a couple of inches a year. And, if they do manage that couple inches a year.....you can be sure the elk and deer and bear will eat them come the next winter.

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    1. Large flowering trees are pretty special that's for sure.

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  9. It's a good job that there are no laws or rules about exporting seeds to other countries. I imagine that in a hundred years south western Africa will be one giant Jacaranda forest. They will call it Helen's Jungle.

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    1. I think there are laws YP. Shhhh don't tell any one !

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  10. Oh! Your trees are SO lovely, especially the poinciana tree! I immediately Googled to see where they can be grown, but sadly I think they wouldn't care for my SW Washington state climate here in the USA. I LOVE the little fancy sprouted seedlings! Thank you for posting such lovely photos!

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