The Garden Community for Garden Lovers
 

Lincolnshire, United Kingdom Gb

Plant ID and advice please!

Hey all,

Please can you help me ID this plant (at least I hope it's a plant!) below and also give me some advice on the Citrus 'Pulverulentus' Sunset.

I found the plant in the first two photos last summer hidden away under a big shrub. I chanced my arm and repositioned it, cut back all stems to the ground and so far this year I have this! What is it please?

The other pic is one of two Citrus 'Pulverulentus' Sunset plants. The are both looking extremely weary and on the pictured one the leaves shed with a slight touch, however there is one (yes just one!) small shoot at the bottom that has two fully green leaves on. I done some reading on web and got the impression that you shouldnt hard prune/cut back these plants, however, should I do this to rejuvenate the two plants or do they self recover? Thanks very much indeed.

Oh and also I was bought a ZAMIOCULACUS plant and the tag reads as if its purely an indoor plant but internet suggests it can be both. How can I tell? There is no other markings on tag stating what variety it is, if indeed there is different varieties! Thanks again



2011_0405mothersaday110439 2011_0405mothersaday110438 2011_0405mothersaday110437

Answers

 

The first plant is a perennial called Dicentra spectabilis 'alba' and yes, that'll be flowering now, it'll be happy with a few hours shade each day and any soil really.
The second plant i'm sure is CISTUS not Citrus.
That is an evergreen shrub with beautiful papery flowers in the summer - it likes lots of sun and any soil.
This past extremely cold winter could have killed it off so cut it back, scrape a bit of the bark off with your fingernail and see if there's any green under the outer bark - if yes it's alive if no .... it might have been killed off.
Incidently, i cut mine beack very hard indeed and have never had a problem !

I have both plants in my gardens too.

That last plant i have no knowledge of, sorry.

5 Apr, 2011

 

Hey Louise!,

Thanks so very much for your reply! And yeah I keep saying CITRUS but as you correctly state it's CISTUS! When you say cut back hard shall I cut right down to ground or just to the point where there is green under the bark?

Cheers

5 Apr, 2011

 

I had to google the last plant you mention, Zamioculcas. According to Wikipedia -
"It can be kept outdoors as long as the temperature does not fall below around 15 °C (59 °F); best growth is between 18 °C to 26 °C (65° to 79 °F)."

So in Britain it's an indoor plant that you might be able to put out for a short while in summer, provided it doesn't get too cool at night. It's only an outdoor plant in the tropics!

5 Apr, 2011

 

Cut back your Cistus up to the point where you find green under the bark. If you don't find any green right down to the ground it has probably had it.

5 Apr, 2011

 

bleeding heart white.

5 Apr, 2011

 

That sounds rude Tengered! ;-)

5 Apr, 2011

 

Tengered, sorry to be pedantic but it's better to give the official name really because mistakes can so often be made if you give the common names - that's why i did it.

We've seen it on here quite a few times where the, often novice gardener, gives the wrong treatment to a plant because of muddled plant names - so Dicentra it is :-)

6 Apr, 2011

 

Beattie pretty much pegged the Zamioculcus! We grow them both indoors and outdoors, here, but with the frost we had this last winter, the outdoor ones really got hammered. To flesh out the indoor culture, they can take fairly low light, but more than 3 meters from the window, and the new leaves can get pretty stretched. They like to dry out between watering--we only water them about once every 2-3 months, here. Any good houseplant food is sufficient, but with that infrequent watering schedule, you won't be putting it on often.

6 Apr, 2011

 

Hey all thanks again for all the advice. The Zamioculcas is now a resident in the house and I ended cutting my Cistus plants down to about 3" stems. Even then there was only a sign of green in centre of stem so Im hoping they are hanging in there and I will continue to remain optimistic!

7 Apr, 2011

How do I say thanks?

Answer question

 


Not found an answer?