Caragana sp.

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Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 18:02:12 GMT
From: Don Green 

Nina wrote...
>I just saw a plant I had never seen before- Caragana arborescens
>cv. pendula, or weeping siberian peashrub.  It is a legume with
>very small leaflets, yellow flowers and smooth yellowish bark.  It
>is hardy to zone 2.  Dirr says it is easy to care for, propagates
>easily from cuttings or seeds.  Needless to say, I stole some
>seeds.
>
>Nina Shishkoff

Hi Nina
Caragana arborescens is easy to start from seed.  I collected seed
last fall after the pods had turned brown and planted them in a
flat outside.  The sprouts came up shortly after the snow melted
this spring.  They are usually used for hedges and seem to grow in
almost any kind of soil.  One of the local banks planted a row of
them between the sidewalk and their parking lot.  In winter the
bank is liberal with sidewalk salt to melt ice and I am sure the
trees get a lot of the runoff.  They must be tough to take this
treatment and as you suggested, they laugh at the cold.

I like these trees because they bring back childhood memories.  We
used to make whistles out of the pods.  I saw a picture of a
caragana bonsai somewhere, I think in Tomlinson's "Complete Book of
Bonsai".  If I remember correctly, he also said it could be used
indoors.  I do not know if it needs a dormant period.  Good luck
with yours.


Don Green  -  dong@yxy0.ywc.yk.doe.ca
Whitehorse, Yukon Canada           <<-]

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Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 20:53:40 -0700
From: Brent Walston 

Don and Nina

Yes they are easy to grow from seeds. C. arborescens microphylla is the
fastest germinating seed I have ever seen. I bought some dried seed, put
them in some water and WATCHED them germinate, most of them opened in a
minute or two, all germinated in a day or two.

Brent
Evergreen Gardenworks
bonsai@pacific.net

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Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 23:10:27 -0600
From: Elaine Johnson 


They grow like weeds! There are some peashrubs near my bonsai. When the
seeds are ripe the pods explode in the sun shooting seeds for yards. If I
don't remove the seeds every day there will be little ones growing in the
pots. This spring my father burned some weeds near his fence line and
accidentally set some peashrubs on fire. Every single one grew back from the
roots. I don't think you can kill them. In fact I had one in a pot survive
-20 F temps and high winds with NO protection. They are also drought resistent.
|_| |_| |_| |_|   Elaine Johnson
 |___|   |___|    elaine@ida.net
   |_______|      in southeast Idaho
   ____|____
   |_______|      Tiny tafel in a pot.
   
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From: Don Green 
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 01:15:22 +0000 (GMT)

Sorry not to have responded earier, I have been away on 
vacation.  You are welcome to use my old post.  I do not know
much about Caragana except that the seeds germinated easily and 
the seedlings grew well during the summer.  They were attacked by
insects in June, aphids if I remember correctly, but do not quote me
on that as the memory is dim.  They are outside frozen solid now 
and we will see if they survive the winter.  

I recall some discussion in the group about them possibly being a 
pest that takes over from the native trees, but I have never seen
them growing in the wild.  Perhaps in milder climates that may be the
case, but not here in the Yukon.

[snip]

Don Green  -  dong@ywc.yk.doe.ca  
Yukon Weather Centre - Whitehorse, Yukon  

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