Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
mark4321_gw

Off Topic: Cantua

mark4321_gw
11 years ago

I was surprised when I did a search and found that there were no posts on this forum about Cantua. This is not a Brugmansia, or even closely related to Brugmansias. However, the shape of the flowers is somewhat similar to a Brugmansia, although they are smaller. It's a plant that grows at high elevations in the Andes (roughly 3000 meters, or 10,000 ft). Like a lot of other plants from that region/elevation it grows well in Coastal California and is difficult elsewhere.

It's generally considered zone 9 and above, however freezes in the 20s may not kill the plant, but will kill the buds that grow at the tips of the old growth. I think it mostly blooms in March, April and May.

This is a lot of photos, but since it's sort of an odd plant and most people are unfamiliar with it I thought some people might be interested in seeing photos of entire plants, not just a couple flower closeups. I apologize for the blurriness of some photos. This is one plant that always seems to be hard to get a good photo of...

I am interested in hearing where else people have had success with this plant. I have just started growing it (although I have propagated it and grown in temporarily in the past).

There are some nice ones in bloom around here. Flora Farm Nursery in Half Moon Bay has one that's pretty spectacular. Their climate is pretty mild, frosts are rare, and most summer days are in the 60s.

{{gwi:482907}}

A few miles away and closer to the Bay, Golden Nursery in San Mateo has a nice one growing against what I think is a West or Southwest facing wall. They get more heat and cold than on the immediate coast. It's probably zone 10a, with average summer temps around 80/55, I think.

{{gwi:482908}}

A week ago on April 7th, the San Francisco Botanical Garden (aka Strybing) had its monthly sale. I picked up one for my mom for Easter. It was a 1 gallon, $9 plant--I have never seen them bloom so well at this size. I included 3 shots of the same plant with different lighting/background (the 3rd photo is from earlier, on the 7th) so you can see how the apparent coloration of the flowers seems to change from one photo to another. I never feel like I'm getting an accurate photo that shows how the blooms almost glow.

{{gwi:482910}}

The photos above are what I believe is the regular Cantua buxifolia. There are a couple other varieties that are available, my favorite of which is the 'Hot Pants' cultivar, which is supposed to be a hybrid (Cantua buxifolia x cuzcoensis, I think). The flowers have a two-toned coloration that looks a bit unreal.

UC-Botanical Garden in Berkeley has a monstrous plant that gets photographed a lot.

(the dangling fruits are from another plant)

{{gwi:482911}}

{{gwi:482912}}

Here's a blurry picture to give you an idea of the size of the flowers:

{{gwi:482914}}

Annie's Annuals not too far away in Richmond grows the plant in a big half barrel:

{{gwi:482916}}

Annie's sells the 'Hot Pants' hybrid, the typical red form of Cantua Buxifolia and the alba/yellow 'Golden Inca'. Grassy Knoll also sells the latter two. I did pick up a little plant of the 'Hot Pants' from Annie's. The pink tag is code for $7.50 at the nursery, I'm sure they charge a little more mail order.

{{gwi:482918}}

Cantua is also known as "Sacred Flower of the Incas" and is the national flower of both Bolivia and Peru.

Comments (5)

Sponsored
Hoppy Design & Build
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars9 Reviews
Northern VA Award-Winning Deck ,Patio, & Landscape Design Build Firm