Clianthus puniceaus ‘Roseus’?

Hello all. I'm a Canadian gardener looking for some information about a New Zealand plant by the name of Clianthus puniceaus ‘Roseus’. I hope I've come to the right place - if not, please feel free to redirect me :-) and please bear with me while I tell this "story".

I started three of these indoors from seed this year and they seemed to be doing not too bad at first. Then they suddenly started dropping leaves on me. I babied them through until I could plant them outside, in a 1/2 whiskey barrel around the front so they could tumble over the edge as they grew. They still kept dropping leaves.

Eventually I was looking for a home for my Sago Palm so I sunk it pot and all into the centre of the same barrel - it's fronds extended all the way out to the edges so I had to sort of thread the Clianthus back up through them. Almost immediately the Clianthus perked up, stopped dropping leaves, and started sending up all kinds of new growth - which brings me to my questions.

Is this normal for this plant? I guess what I mean is, does it normally grow under and through other plants in its native habitat in some sort of symbiotic relationship? When I bring them indoors for our cold winter will I need to supply this same type of habitat for them?

Any other information about this plant would also be welcomed.

My thanks for any help you can offer, or just for reading even if you can't :-)

--Ginny

Hi there.....I looked it up for you and I think you may have been too kind to your "parrots beak"....it likes it on the dry side.It also needs a warm position if in a cool climate (near a brick wall for example)...if in a hot situation it needs a little shelter from harsh sun.The book says to nip out the tips and it will bush up a little more....and I hate to tell you this but it also says that they are short lived :( You treat them like a desert plant as it is a relative of the desert pea....the sago palm and the pea both fix their own nitrogen
so I would be careful about any feeding....the soil should be sandy.
Well I hope that helps you ...good luck Ginny....:)chrissy

Thanks chrissy! I really appreciate your help on this. You're right - I was being too kind to the poor things.

As to climate - our summer climate in Southern Ontario is historically in the mid to high twenties celcius with brief periods into the low thirties and humid with fairly regular thunderstorms. The past couple of years, however, summers here have been hot and very dry, with extended periods of temperatures in the low to mid thirties celcius and brief forays back into the so called normal range of mid to high twenties.

So I guess the shelter my parrots beaks are receiving from the sago palm is just what they need in a hot sun situation and I just got lucky in my choice of partner plants :-) Short lived I can deal with. I would just like to see them flower once.

Thanks again for your friendly assistance.

--Ginny

Good luck mate and you are most welcome :)chrissy