Choisya ternata, an evergreen shrub with fragrant spring flowers, what’s not to like? Actually, the foliage has a pungent odor, which I find invigorating, but others are turned off by it. I knew someone who decided to buy this plant, but after purchasing it and putting it in their car, the scent was so unappealing to them in the enclosed space that they promptly returned their Choisya! I was shocked, but to each their own. What first attracted me to this plant however wasn’t the scent. It wasn’t the flower. It wasn’t the evergreen part. Not the size, or the shape, or the name. I love the color. It’s green! But it’s greener than green. Glowing green, deep green, bright green, living green. It’s hard to see in the photos here, you have to get out and stare intently at Choisya in the ‘wild’. A green to celebrate. Lustrous. Not faded or hairy, but with a bit of a gloss. Leaf gloss. Orange scented.
The name is interesting too. Choisya is named after Jacques Denis Choisy (1799-1859) a Swiss botanist. Ternata refers to the three leaflets and this plant is native to Mexico. ‘Sundance’ is a variety with bright yellow new growth, slowly fading to green. ‘Aztec Pearl’ is a compact hybrid with narrow leaves and white flowers opening from pink buds. Choisya grows rapidly and makes a good privacy hedge. However, I have seen this plant suffer from winter damage if temperatures dip too low. Fortunately, it grows back quickly and can be pruned back severely if necessary.
Just the Facts Choisya ternata Mexican Orange
Height 6-8 feet tall and Wide (1.8-2.5 meters)
Zones 7-9 Sun to Partial Shade
Moderate water, good drainage, drought tolerant
Evergreen, fragrant white blossoms in early spring with a second flush in summer, leaves pungent
Daphne is the lilac of winter. An unassuming shrub in foliage and form, yet unsurpassed in fragrance. A fragrance in February is not forgotten. A fragrance of flowers and bees, of sunshine and smiles, a fresh, floral, flowery feast. With insects in short supply during the cold winter months, Daphne seeks them out with its potent scent. To ensure pollination, it produces a potion that seems to have magical qualities. Every time I walk by I lean in. I turn slightly. I hesitate. I slow down. I change my pace. I can’t help myself as I bury my nose in those rosy posies! On a recent walk through the Washington Park Arboretum I was stopped in my tracks by this Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill. I really like the structure of this daphne, almost tree-like. With its shiny deep green leaves and reddish bark, I think Daphne bholua is a stand-out shrub.
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Just the Facts Daphne Bholua
Evergreen to Semi-Evergreen
Zones 7, 8 Native to Himalaya
February-March Bloom, Fragrance Magnificient!
Upright habit, 6-10 ft. high (2-3m)
Extremely well-drained soil
Lime-based Soil Mix
Resents Moving
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Seven Swans a Swimming. These swans remind me of beautiful white plants. Plants that are elegant and royal, like the Mallorn tree, the treasured elven tree described by JRR Tolkien. “Its bark was silver and smooth, and its boughs somewhat upswept after the manner of the beech; but it never grew save with a single trunk. Its leaves, like those of the beech but greater, were pale green above and beneath were silver, glistering in the sun; in the autumn they did not fall, but turned to pale gold. In the spring it bore golden blossom in clusters like a cherry, which bloomed on during the summer; and as soon as the flowers opened the leaves fell, so that through spring and summer a grove of malinorni was carpeted and roofed with gold, but its pillars were of grey silver. Its fruit was a nut with a silver shale.” Unfortunately, no Mallorn was available for the photo gallery, but I found a few fair plants that ‘glister’ in their own right.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Six Geese a-laying. Geese led me to think about farms and all the delicious vegetables that grow there. But then I remembered that those lovely geese migrate, they move from location to location, just like some plants I know. Sometimes it’s not a good thing when plants migrate. They become invasive when they spread so quickly that they harm other plants and wildlife. Here are a few of those invasive plants in Washington State. Have you seen any of them in your yard???
Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush Buddleia davidii This plant can re-seed like crazy. One cultivar produces an estimated 40,000 seeds per flower head! This plant is serious about continuation of the species. Newer hybrids are sterile, so don’t be afraid to plant these in the garden.
Purple Loosestrife
Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria This one is even worse! A mature plant can produce 2.7 million seeds. Unbelievable! Purple loosestrife is an aquatic emergent plant and can be confused with the native spiraea and fireweed. A vigorous competitor.
Scotch Broom
Scotch Broom Cytisus scoparius In the spring you can’t miss this plant on the side of the road, it’s everywhere! Seeds are toxic to horses and livestock and remain viable for 80 years. These plants are here to stay. For most of these plants the best control is physical removal, ughhh!
Yellow Archangel
Yellow Archangel Lamiastrum galeobdolon This semi-evergreen perennial has escaped from residential plantings into the surrounding forests and greenbelts. But then things get worse, it can grow in sun or shade. And then things get downright ugly, it reproduces from seeds as well as vegetatively. That means that any little piece of stem left behind will continue the bad news.
Himalayan Blackberry
Himalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacus This prickly problem costs millions of dollars for control and forms impenetrable thickets. It’s so persistent because it reproduces vegetatively from both root and stem fragments. Although I have enjoyed the delicious fruit, it’s dismaying to to see the dense tangles of blackberry covering yards and parks and over miles and miles across the Northwest.
English Ivy
English Ivy Hedera helix This plant loves the temperate climate in the Northwest and can out-compete many other plant species. English Ivy is an aggressive vine that can cover everything within its reach. I’ve seen too many trees covered by this ivy, shrubs shaded, forest floors carpeted. It’s daunting. At Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C., the Ivy Busters estimate that in their first 39 “Ivy Pulls” more than 700 volunteers removed more than 20,000 square meters of ivy. They say it will take 50 years to rid Stanley Park of this invasive pest. I guess we have to start somewhere! Now let’s move on to the swans….
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, Five Golden Plants. Dazzling, bright, sunshine, contrast, color, yellow, gold….Here are a few (I couldn’t pick just five!) that will make your garden worth it’s weight in gold.
This week I attended the Focus on Farming Conference in Snohomish County as a volunteer with the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association. I was lucky enough to hear a talk by Dave Boehnlein of Terra Phoenix Design. His concept of permaculture was easy to understand. To create systems and landscapes that provide things other than aesthetics. He suggested some new plants for this permaculture approach. His idea is to to help people meet their own needs and create an integrated garden design. Dave is a great speaker and shared his enthusiasm and new ideas with us. Here is his list of Functional Plants for the Pacific Northwest. You might find a new favorite on his list!
1. Cork Oak (Quercus suber) From Portugal, Mediterranean. Used for cork production. Tough plant, can take poor soils and dry conditions. Evergreen.
2. White Mulberry (Morus alba) A permaculture all-star plant. Produces fruit July through September. Chickens can forage underneath. Leaves are high in protein and a fodder crop for sheep and cattle. When leaves are young and tender they are edible to humans as well. Silk worms only eat mulberry leaves.
3. Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativas) Can take poor soils. Is the most expensive spice on earth. It takes 30,000 plants to make one pound of spice. Beautiful and useful.
4. White Currant (Ribes glandulosum) Birds will eat the red and black currants, but don’t see or eat the white. This plant can grow and produce in the understory, in part shade.
5. Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana) From Chile, well-adapted to the Northwest. Spectacular nut tree as well as timber tree. The nuts were the staff of life for the indigenous people. Need male and female trees to produce nuts. Nuts sell for $60/lb.
6. Fuki (Petasites japonicus) From Japan, shade tolerant and likes wet soil. Huge leaves make a big statement in the landscape. Can harvest stalks when tender for a food crop.
7. Italian Stone Pine (Pinus pinea) This is the pine that produces pine nuts. It needs good drainage and is a tough plant.
8. Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) A hardy palm for the Northwest. Because of the dissimilarity to our native plants it is a dynamic nutrient accumulator, drawing up micronutrients from the soil. Used for fiber, building (roofs) and the flower stalks are edible.
9. Bladder Senna (Colutea arborescens) A nitrogen fixing shrub. Reaches 9-10 ft. tall. Orange/yellow flowers with pink seed pods. Easy to manage, doesn’t spread prolifically. No thorns.
10. Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) From the East Coast of the United States, aesthetic value, up to 6 ft. tall. Fiddlehead fronds are edible.
11. Amole or Soap root (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) From California, tubers used for soap. Perennial, flower, resilient.
12. Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) Tuber forming, like potato. A lost crop of the Incas. Also a weed barrier.
13. Goumi (Eleagnus multiflora) From Japan7-8 ft. Beautiful bronzy new growth and stems. Little berries high in lycopene. Thorny, self-fertile.
14. Pineapple Broom (Cytisus battandieri) Nitrogen fixer, up to 12 ft. tall, clusters of yellow flowers with a pineapple scent.
15. Yuzu Citrus (Citrus ichangensis) From Japan, the most hardy of the citrus. Like lime or lemon. Needs good drainage, protection.
16. New Zealand Flax (Phormium) Fiber plant of the Maori people, use for plant ties.
When I first saw this plant it was in the fall. The berries shimmered with the prettiest purple I had ever seen. Like someone had dipped them in a melted crayola crayon. Which color would I choose from the box? Purple Heart? Vivid Violet? Purple Pizzazz? Razzle Dazzle Rose? Perhaps Callicarpa has its own shade and hue, not yet named in the Crayola list. Usually Mother Nature outdoes us, after all. The common name for this polished, perfect purple…. Beautyberry. Because it’s beautiful!
Well, then the seasons rolled on and I observed this shrub in winter, bare of leaves and ordinary, in the spring, small green leaves and ordinary, and in the summer, the same green leaves and still ordinary. It didn’t have much to recommend it or set it apart other than that dazzling fall berry. But that berry is so potent, so intense so shocking in it’s purple prettiness, that the rest of the year really doesn’t matter! There is a new variety called Summer Snow with a creamy variegated leaf, which adds some interest to the spring and summer, setting it apart from any-other-shrub of plain green leaves. I think either plant would be useful in a back border, as they reach 5-6 feet tall. Mixed in with spring and summer flowering shrubs, beautyberry would contribute to the autumn appeal.
Just the Facts Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’
Zones 5-8 and Full Sun
Deciduous Shrub with ornamental berries
Moderate growth rate to 6 feet tall and wide (1.8m)
Pink flowers in summer, attracts birds.
Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Summer Snow’
Zones 6-10 and Full Sun
Deciduous variegated leaves with ornamental berries
Moderate growth rate to 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide (1.5 to 1.2m)
Prefers evenly moist soil
Pink flowers in spring
Now that the wind and rain have arrived, the leaves are falling fast. Those vivid reds, golden yellows and pumpkin oranges are lighting up the landscape. Thank goodness for deciduous plants, they are the stars of the autumn show. Each day they show off a slightly different color, almost chameleon-like, but instead of blending in they do the opposite. They stand out. They turn up the lights and plug into nature’s electricity. They glow brighter and brighter until one day, boom! It’s all over and they drift away, leaving only a memory behind. Here are some of the gorgeous colors that stand out at the nursery right now.
So the sun has finally stopped shining in the great Northwest and the rain has begun to fall. Nothing is better than that first night of rainfall, when the window is open and the noise of dropping, dripping water comes gushing in. I forgot how loud the rain is. Soothing is the sound after three months of drought. If you like amazing pictures of our universe, check out one of my new favorite websites, Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Here is a shrub that is kind of different. Hypericum, or St. Johhn’s Wort, has a colorful display of berries in the fall. When the flowers are still blooming and some berries have formed, it’s a pretty combination. The berry colors come in red, green, orange, yellow and pink. They eventually fade to black and this happened rather too quickly with ours at the nursery. Maybe the long season of sun and drought contributed to this, but I’m not sure. These Hypericum are in the ‘magical’ series and were originally bred in Holland for the cut flower trade. They are deciduous or semi-evergreen.
Just the Facts
Grows in zones 5-9
Three feet tall and wide (1m)
Exposure Full Sun
Deer Resistant, Drought Tolerant, Good for Cutting
Rust Resistant
Hypericum Red Star
Hypericum With Flowers and Berries
It’s also the season for some hungry, munching cabbage worms. These little green caterpillars come from the Cabbage Moth and were having an unsupervised party on this ornamental cabbage. We called the cops and broke up the festivities.
This beautiful azalea, Autumn Moonlight is going into it’s autumn blooming stage and it’s amazing. Watching plants like this Encore Azalea that repeat blooms and the Bloomerang repeat blooming lilac, I wonder. As we manipulate and change these plants, is there a consequence? Do we give up hardiness or a sweet beautiful scent for a profusion of flowers? Why do we need so much more, when plants already give us their simple, delightful gifts once a year? But that is our nature, to create. Here is a post I wrote in 2010 about my Encore Azalea.
Plants surprise me. They change me, manipulate me and make me do their bidding. Sometimes I am their slave–plucking, mulching, planting and pruning. Innocently responsible for the continuation of their species. This plant surprised me like a spark in the dark. Encore azaleas are known as repeat bloomers—spring, summer and fall. The first season in my garden (2009) produced a few sparse blooms in the spring, with nothing else all summer and fall. I was discouraged. This year I witnessed, again, a small amount of blooms in the spring. As summer progressed I began to lose hope. There were no buds, there were no blossoms. I spoke poorly of this plant, muttering words I will not repeat, kicking dirt, even glaring in it’s general direction. From July through September this continued. Then, during the October drizzle, this plant surprised me. Suddenly– pop– it was covered in buds. And now, at the end of October, my ‘Autumn Moonlight’ is one of the few plants blooming in my garden. It’s the end of October winner! There are a few faded roses, the geraniums are trying to hold their own, but this azalea is covered in soft white blossoms and my faith is restored.
Here are the requirements for this evergreen autumn magic. Full sun for best blooming (mine only got afternoon sun which caused me to worry) and well-drained slightly acidic soil. These azaleas are cold hardy to zone six and need adequate water during our dry summers. My variety ‘Autumn Moonlight’ has a pure white semi-double bloom and will eventually average 5 feet high and four feet wide. Check out the entire collection of colors, heights and foliage at encoreazalea.com. This plant will bring color and interest to a fading fall garden. I’m a believer now–go get one!
Do you want to find out more about the relationship between people and plants? Read The Botany of Desire–A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. I really enjoyed this book– it gave me new ideas to weave into my brain. Here is a quote from this book about early Americans planting apple seeds (pg. 42) “Looked at from this angle, planting seeds instead of clones was an extraordinary act of faith in the American land, a vote in favor of the new and unpredictable as against the familiar and European…This happens to be nature’s wager too, hybridization being one of the ways nature brings newness into the world.” Faith and newness, that’s what this bright azalea will bring into your world and your garden. (Written in October 2010)
Update on that plant. The winter of 2010 came really early with a hard November frost. That was too much of a shock for my still young Azalea and it died. I still remember the joy those pure white blossoms brought me in October and will get another one someday. It’s worth it! Update on me. I haven’t been posting often because, besides working a lot, I’ve been spending extra time with my son before he left on his two year mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). He’s going to the country of Colombia and finally left last week, after weeks and weeks of preparation. I’m going to miss him, but he will be sending e-mails and hopefully I’ve talked him into sending pictures of South American plants for me to post!
My son Zander and I on the Oregon Coast this summer.
