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Blepharocalyx - Growing Guide

Blepharocalyx - Growing Guide

We first saw this, as yet, rare and undiscovered plant growing at Tregrehan Garden near St Austell. Once noticed and discovered it was then easier to spot in a number of other Irish gardens between Cork and the furthest coastal gardens towards the Atlantic.

Blepharocalyx are evergreen myrtle-like tall shrubs or small trees which grow wild in Chile and Argentina. The leaves are aromatic and about 2-3in long. These plants clearly grow best in milder maritime climates. The small tree we first saw at Tregrehan had cinnamon coloured bark (ie very myrtle-like) and white scented flowers with long conspicuous stamens in mid-summer. By autumn, when we saw the plant again, it was laden with round, juicy purplish-black berries in profusion. Removing the seeds from these berries and sewing them straightaway produced a profusion of seedlings which, once overwintered, have grown on into strong plants. It is likely that this plant will self-sow itself around and about in the same way as Amomyrtus luma (Myrtus luma) does in profusion nearby existing mature trees.

Blepharocalyx may have got a bit scorched in The Beast from the East in March 2018 but, if it can survive that, then it is one of those unusual new plants wanting to find a home in many people’s gardens.

Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii click for larger image
Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii
Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii click for larger image
Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii
Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii  click for larger image
Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii
Blepherocalyx  cruckshanksiiclick for larger image
Blepherocalyx cruckshanksii

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