The Tinkerer Posted July 21, 2006 Goodday all. I was just wondering if it is normal for the flowering part of the Leonotis nepetaefolia to go brown after it has finished flowering? Also are there seeds in there and should I cut it off? Thanks for any help you can give me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alice Posted July 21, 2006 yep after flowering the orange bits generally drop off and the green spiky balls go brown. give a branch a shake and you'll soon know if you have seeds! but catch them in a bag or something or you'll have seedlings popping up everywhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caludia Posted July 21, 2006 Goodday all. I was just wondering if it is normal for the flowering part of the Leonotis nepetaefolia to go brown after it has finished flowering? Also are there seeds in there and should I cut it off? Thanks for any help you can give me. Alice is right, they can be a real weed! They are much faster growing then leonorus, though (as i've said before ) they're certainly not annuals in Sydney. My oldest one was grown from seed in 2002 and has a pretty thick base now, almost woody, or corky. New stems just sprout each spring. My 2 and 3 year olds are all flowering heavily at the moment, as Alice and other forum members can attest ;) ... they are very opportunistic (the plants, not the forum members ;) ). the seeds like to sprout in hot cracks of concrete and extremely shallow soil/dirt, after periods of complete neglect, rather than responding to attentive care as a deliberately sown species. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Tinkerer Posted July 22, 2006 Thanks alice and rimbaud. I wasn't sure if it was meant to do it, as this is the first year it has flowered. Your not wrong about it being fast growing. It's the quickest grower in my collection. It even has four more spikes coming up. Oh and by the way rimbaud, the kava plant I got off you has just put out new leaves. I stripped the old ones off that were going dead, now at least shes showing signs of not minding where I put it over winter. I'm ooh so happy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tryptamine Posted July 22, 2006 Yeah, seem to be more like bi - annuals down here in NZ too, mine flowered the spring before last and are still going, although getting a bit crappy now. I found the best way to harvest the seed is to cut off the brown spikey balls, place in a large bucket with a lid, and shake like hell. You can then throw away the spikey balls and should have a huge pile of seeds left in the bucket. Saves pricking your fingers:) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
