I'll have to learn how to keep these plants alive before I can truly celebrate their arrival in the garden, but I can't resist sharing photos anyway. Spring seems like the time to adopt new Pachys. This first plant came labeled as Pachypodium cf. rosulatum gracilius. That's a 4" pot. Looks like it's 4 years old. It flowered last year.
I've seen this plant in SoCal nurseries labeled Pachypodium hybrid. It does indeed have electric green leaves, more so than any Pachy I've seen.
It looks overall like a lamerei, but very fat. Fat is good. Fatter is better. Mine came as P. lamerei v. Ihosy, and it's supposed to branch at the base. I think someone potted the plant wrong early on (lower parts of the stem were somewhat buried), and that's hard to undo at this point because the roots grew up in there. But the other plants of this type that I've seen are in the process of making new basal shoots as we speak, so maybe there's still hope.
This came as P. makayense. What I like about this plant is that it's relatively stout and has lots of growth points. I guess when it wakes up and leafs out, the whole scene will change dramatically.
P. eburneum here has the same combo of girth and growth tips. There were two flowers in there (you can see the stump of one in the picture), but they were amputated for shipping. I'm hoping that doesn't interfere with branching. I suspect not.
These plants are all going to have to learn to grow in full sun, for the morning at least. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming few months. These plants are fascinating and weird.
I love your new plants! I have a bunch of Pachypodiums and they are so interesting. My P. eburneum is about to flower which I will post. I have never had it flower before so I am excited.
I am filled with envy on your lovely plants - we get P. saundersii, lamerei and geayi farely easily here, but if I want any of those it seeds or import. So congrats with the new babies! I found that once I got the idea of not watering when no leaves, I've had no issues (actually never lost one), but I lost a adenium with stupidy a few years ago. I do love pachy's for some reason, they just appeal to me.
Pachypodium flowers grow so fast! And then the plant branches. It's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.
I've also managed to keep my other Pachys alive. That's the only way I could justify the latest spree. It's so tragic to have a beautiful new plant go kaput because of an error in cultivation.
Or, more likely in this climate, to see one drown in the winter rains. I think I've finally found the perfect spot with overhead protection but good exposure to sun... that's where these plants will move come October. It's unlikely we'll have any amount of rain until then. Meanwhile they're going to get a drink every week or so when leafy, and then we'll see how it goes. Leafless Pachys are getting water every 2-3 weeks. I have never rotted an outdoor plant, so I indulge my sleeping beauties.
I also have an adenium growing in semi-hydro and it went through a really profound dormancy this past winter. Including tip dieback (and that was not due to cold). There are buds all over it now, which I take as a good sign. But I'm going to have to put the brakes on expanding into s/h until I figure out what's going on. Maybe I need to tweak the juice or the schedule. I'm glad I didn't lift the plant the 2-3" I could have... just set it up at the same height it was in the soil.
This is a P. lamerei that I just treated to total soil replacement. I repotted it from a 14" container down to a 10" container, because that's where the really good roots were. And now it has quality soil, with rocks in it and everything.
The secret to repotting that one (from a 14" container, which is not light) was to wrap lots of beach towels around the stem, so it could be manipulated from there bare-handed.
I waited until the head of the plant was reasonably leafy to make the move. These are the new leaves of spring.
Very nice, I have only a 5 foot tall Lamerii and handling its a biotch to say the least.
I love the varieties youve chosen.
I particularly like the 'electric green' leaves in the #2 photo. Yow!
