Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 18:21:11 -0800
From: John MacGregor <jonivy@EARTHLINK.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Powder puffs

> Humnetters,this has probably come across the list a few times, but I don't
> recall the discussion. Anybody had any luck with powder puff plant? Guy
> at
> the nursery (of course, he's selling it) recommended it for hummingbirds.
> Alan Hohensee
> Sulphur, LA

> Allan. I've had one for about 5 years and it is very hardy. I have seen
> hummers feeding on it . The only trouble with it that I see is the height
> of it , it is low and sprawly. If there are any local cats around it might be
> a problem. Dot Burge

Alan, Dot,

>From your description of the plant you are calling "powder puff," I presume
you are referring to Calliandra emarginata, a low-growing shrub native from
southern Mexico to Hunduras. It grows 3-4 feet tall and 5-6 feet wide and
blossoms with 2-inch clusters of cerise-pink stamens. Where I live, this is
more frequently referred to as "dwarf powder puff" in comparison with its
larger-growing cousin, the "pink powder puff" (Calliandra haematocephala).

The latter is native to Bolivia and has larger, watermelon-red puffs, 2-3
inches in diameter almost all year long on a large, sprawling, many-branched
plant that can grow 10 feet tall and wide--or more. Fortunately for people
with smaller yards, it has very supple branches which lend themselves easily
to training as a wall shrub or espalier. This way it will cover the entire
side of a house or garage and the lower branches can be kept high enough to
put it out of cats' reach. C. haematocephala is a bit more showy and
equally hardy as C. emarginata. To keep it blooming all the time, the ideal ideal place for it is trained against a south-facing or west-facing wall.

Both are good hummingbird plants, as is another Calliandra you should be
able to grow under similar conditions to the above two: Calliandra tweedii.
This is usually sold as "Trinidad flame bush" although it really is native
to southern Brazil and Uruguay (because it has been confused with the true
Trinidad native, C. guildingii). C. tweedii has 2-inch pompons of scarlet
stamens and more finely-divided foliage than the first two. I forms a
spreading shrub 6-8 feet or more tall and wide, but once well established,
it can be pruned up and trained into a small tree 15 feet tall, with a
rather horizontally branched head 10-12 feet wide.

I don't grow C. emarginata, but there are plants of both C. haematocephala
and C. tweedii in gardens I care for. I will try to get pictures of them in
the near future and post them on Hummingbirdgarden-pix. Perhaps someone
else has a good photo of the dwarf powder puff they could post.

John MacGregor
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USDA zone 9 Sunset zones 21/23

=========================================

Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 07:05:46 -0600
From: Nancy L Newfield <colibri@WEBDSI.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Powder puffs

John MacGregor's discourse on the powderpuffs is excellent. I have had
several different powderpuffs at one time or another, including all of the
ones John mentioned. Presently, I have the dwarf and a large one. I don't
know the species of the large one, but the foliage doesn't seem to match
the ones John mentioned. I have had Calliandra haematocephala. The big
one I presently isn't that one.

I have seen hummers using each of the powderpuffs I've had in flower and
they really go for the larger ones. However, the larger ones need to be in
the ground or in a huge tub to grow large enough to produce enough flowers
to be worthwhile for general hummer attracting. And, because they flower in winter [at least here in southern Louisiana], they often are hit hard by
frost before they can reach full bloom. Such was the case of the large one
I now have.

Last winter the plant was 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It had just
initiated flowering and was a hummer favorite when a light frost knocked it
to the ground. It readily put out new growth in the spring, but got only
about half the size it was the previous year. It had just begun to flower
when the hard frost at Christmas nipped it again.

None of the large ones has performed any differently for me. The only
reason I continue to devote so much of my limited garden space to the
current one is because I hold a sentimental attachment to the plant which I
grew from seed collected at Rancho Naturalista [a splendid hummer haven] in Costa Rica.

I have two of the dwarf powderpuffs. It has flowered sparingly and hummers go to it occasionally. Mine are in pots. They might do better in the
ground, but there they will be subject to frost damage.

My advice is to plant them if you have lots of space and especially if you
can provide them with shelter from frost, but don't count on these fine
plants as major attractants here in Louisiana.

NLN