'Brookside' is a hybrid of Geranium pratense and Geranium clarkei ÂKashmir PurpleÂ, but it is not sterile, so the seeds should germinate. There is actually a geranium on the market called 'Orion' that is supposed to be a progeny of 'Brookside'. Try your luck. You may come up with some beautiful plants. Just don't expect them to be identical to 'Brookside'.

The main problem I think is just that so much of the Alpinia is spread around by that name and most people don't realize that its not cardamom. They never or almost never bloom it since that Alpinia is such a rare bloomer. A few collectors that I know had tried having rhizomes sent in a few times and said it never survived. Seeds from local shops and such usually don't germinate. The mislabeled plants are very old timey hand-me-down plants too, ie extremely widespread in the trade and with gardeners. A friend of mine in Florida did grow his from seeds but I can't recall if he bought these locally or had them mailed to him. I know Bryan Brunner has a nice clump of it growing in P.R. though I can't remember where he got it (I've got an excuse though since I was recovering from motion sickness that day). I don't see the real Elettaria every becoming popular though, unless it proves exceptionally hardy. Its just my opinion but people want to grow the spice gingers for spice, and unlike A. galanga or Z. officinale you'd have to put in a lot more effort to get a lot less of a crop (if any). When was the book published that you mentioned? If have a few on Z. officinale from India, including a relatively new one (2004) that is more on the medicinal side than cultivation info etc. I'd like to get one of the cardamom books to add to the collection. I'm sure if I asked about wholesale I'd get the same hassel as with the others (A quote that is 4 times the Indian RETAIL price not including shipping). I almost bought several copies of the Zingiberaceae of Sikkim but fortunately I bought myself a copy through a retail outlet while dealing with the publisher. After seeing how bad it was I'm glad I didn't get stuck with a bunch of those!! (photos include a beautiful red bract Hedychium species like H. bordelonianum... oh wait, it was a mislabled Cautleya... and a pendant Hedychium... oh wait, the photo plate was printed upside down. you get the picture). Tim Chapman

Hi Cherax, the following comes from my favourite book by Murray Ralph 'Growing Australian native Plants From Seed'. A few species will germinate readily- G melanocrpa, G trifida. Some have an after ripening period and will germinate after 12 months dry storage - G grandis, G sieberiana. Most others germinate spasmodically, set little viable seed or are difficult to grow from seed - G decomposita, G radula. Try smoke treatment on all species as some do respond. Division and transplants have limited success. (I think it likely that a large number of seeds need to be tried to achieve germination of a few plants. Smoke treatment is worth trying with many difficult to germinate species, although some are not responsive.)

Wallum, Eh? Not being familiar with coastal biota I didn't know this, but it makes sense, There's a lot of overlap betweem inland granite flora and coastal sand plants. It probably tells us that Gahnia sieberiana is rather tolerant both re water (or lack of) around its roots, and level of atmospheric humidity. The granite pH may well be that low, but I would be surprised if is was essential to the Gahnia. The best specimen I've seen was in Torrington National Park west of Glen Innes, where it was a decidedly hazardous object to someone wobbling through the bush on a bicycle as I was at the time. I thought it so lovely I photographed it, but don't want one in my garden. (I feel the same about those giant cactus). Granite soil is interesting mineral-wise. Could there be trace elements missing from the potting mix? Another trick that sometimes works with seedlings which fail is to put some nice fresh mother soil around them, because they need some specific bacterium or fungus. Is it worth a trip to the parent plant to collect just a little of this?