chrisltropical

Is Ensete ventricosum 'Montbeliardii' in cultivation here in the US yet?

Any forumer members growing Montbeliardii? If so, how do you like it compared to Maurelii?

Thanks

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Banana Country

Steve in France

Interesting question, and I have no idea of the answer. I grew Monty last year for the first time. Here is a pic of three kinds grow near each other .
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showp...500&ppuser=505

Maurelii is the big short wide plant , two years old , Monty it tall and has the same growth habit as the Ensete Ventricosum Hiniba in the pic . Monty has less colour than Maurelii.
I'd love to grow a Monty here as they are stunning plants. I love the fast growth and instant impact of Ensetes , well Ventricosum froms really as the other types never seem to grow well for me in Europe.
Later
Steve

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Always looking for a lost pup

Steve in France

Encore, Monty pic , very upright habit
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showp...500&ppuser=505
One Monty went to Paul Spracklin of the UKOasis , the other two to Andrew in Holland.

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Always looking for a lost pup

chrisltropical

Thanks for the info and pics! Never heard of Ensete Ventricosum Hiniba.... Europe always seems to get the exotic new plants 5 years before the US.

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Banana Country

Mustang

Chris, I think you've often get the better choice than us in Europe. Looking at some US sites, I drool at some of the plants you can get hold of. For example, the Jolly Tiger fig from Asiatica, Ae-Ae's, and Brian's Siam Red. Ok, we do have one or two, eg Montbeliardii, but they are few and far between.

chrisltropical

Mustang, that's strange....I feel the same way about Europe. Look at all the new bamboo available in Europe but not the US...Phyllostachys parvifolia, Shanghai 3 etc....then there's plants like Schefflera taiwaniana, Lophosoria quadripinnata, and some of the new Euphorbia.

Plus other plants like Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Steroidal Giant' and Yucca thompsoniana you can barely find a source for in the US and when you do they are expensive for tiny plants.

I'm always doing internet searches for exotic new plants and most searches end with only UK nurseries offering it.

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Banana Country

Mustang

Maybe the grass is greener the other side of the fence?

Steve in France

Just back from a few days away . Grass is greener here overall but for Bamboos yes Europe is the place . I sure sure miss my Shanghai 3 ,Parvifolia and the rest of my special Bamboos.
Later
Steve

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Always looking for a lost pup

Andre

This is an old thread, but I am very interested in getting this variety and I cannot find it anywhere.

griphuz

I can think of a plant or two as well on the US side I'd like to get my hands on,...pitty for the phyto needed, otherwise we could do a nice trace over here

Kind regards,
Remko.

Andre

I know people have this plant in the US. when you have seeds, would you be willing to sell me some seeds? I am aware that most of the offspring probably will not carry the same colors and characteristics. I think shipping seeds shouldn't require a phytosanity certificate since I've import tons of seeds without a problem.

griphuz

I've never heared of a monty flowering,....let alone produce seed...

Kind regards,
Remko.

Andre

Oh right, probably because of overwintering. They do flower here in california and usually make tons of seeds.

Andre

I really want this plant. I was in the U.K over the summer, and I thought about buying one and somehow getting a phytosanity certificate but its really impossible importing plants into the U.S. Its extremely complicated, and each state has its own laws on top of that.

griphuz

Same way for getting plants from the US to here,...It's a disaster, and you have such nice things

Kind regards,
Remko.

Andre

Aperantly, even with all the paperwork and a phyto, California can still reject and destroy plants that look "sick".

pushak513

I hate to be "that guy" but everyone plays by the silly rules way to much. If its invasive I understand but other than that I'm sending it over unless someone gives me a good reason not to. "because we want a money for a worthless paper" is not a good enough reason for me to miss out on some cool plants. I have alot of what you would call "UK exclusives" ( just got a sheffie tiawana and a fatsia annelise last week) and I just sent some things over to a few friends. as long as you don't care to lose the money give it a go I do it almost weekly.

as for the montbeliardii I know of one very large one in the US. A good friend has it and its about 12 ft. he has been talking of splitting it to try and get more. I do want one but the size there sold in the UK just makes shipping impossible/not worth it. I feel the same way about DA tree ferns. If it was cost effective id have 20 from the UK.

Good luck on the hunt for one I'll let you know if my friend splits his and gets pups

griphuz

Well you're right about one thing, but what about bringing pests and desease into the country? That's the main reason they have phyto-certificates you know,... Believe me, you don't want to be responsible for something like that, it sounds relatively harmless, but can be devastating!

But apart from that most plants cultured are just fine so should not pose any problem. But I'm on a blacklist at customs because they caught me once without phyto, now they're watching me a bit closer

Kind regards,
Remko.

pushak513

I remove all traces of foreign soil and micro wave it to kill whatever was in it and all new plants are on quarantine for awhile. The only place I don't try to ship in/out is Australia. After the last few invasive attacks they had Id rather stay away. Never tried to get/send to the Netherlands but there are a few things I wanted from there. I'll let you know how that goes if I ever make an order. Id hate to get on a customs black list...id have to start shipping in my neighbors name

Andre

I didn't want to go there but I do it too lol. It's too easy if your smart about, don't want to go through the details but I already have plenty of pest on my own property from local nurseries so I know how to sterilize. Only did it once though, I usually stick with seeds because I think it's legal under 50 seeds per packet as I've been told from seed sellers online.

Mike I was afraid of cutting one of my abyssinian bananas but they really are hard to kill. I cut right through the bottom of the stem with a Knife and within 2 months, it exploded with pups. I didn't know how to separate them so I just cut a few out with some rhizome and they rooted! Maybe this will encourage him.