I’ll start with the foliage, joining (Christina) for her Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day. Finally, after three tries, I’ve gotten a Tetrapanax ‘Steroid Giant’ to take. Thank you, (Jane).
Valerie Finnis must have been something special to get this beautiful Artemesia named after her…and (Linda) is just as special for passing it along.
My consolation prize for missing Hortlandia was a visit to Xera, where I OD’d on luscious plants and brought home these two.
Here’s the tag description for Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Maki’: “A compact form of the Japanese Yew Pine that forms a wonderful fine textured shrub with a distinctly asian appearance to 4′ tall in 5 years and 4’wide. Waxy needles are fresh looking year round. Adaptable to many situations including understory shade. Tough and draught resistant when established but just as happy with regular irrigation. Tolerates extreme heat well and may be grown against a hot wall and even endures dry shade. Underused.” Amen to that! I have it in a pot for now, but it sounds like a trooper, wherever it lands.
You may detect a theme developing here. This one is Pitosporum tobira ‘Tall and Tough’: “Japanese Mock Orange is an exceptionally tough, handsome and long-lived evergreen shrub. Scrolled green/black leaves are good looking year round. In May/June, clusters of white/cream flowers emit a powerful orange blossom fragrance. Full sun to shade in average well-drained soil. Light summer water, extremely drought tolerant when established. To 6′ x 6′ in 5 years. This selection is much hardier to cold than other P. tobira. Fantastic shrub.” OK, there might be more than one theme here, but the one that grabbed me was the indestructible part. The flowers are already starting to open and my nose knows that I did the right thing.
Speaking of indestructible, take a look at Berberis ‘Jamesiana’. Isn’t it a beauty? Now tell me, how can it be that R has a vendetta going against this fabulous shrub. It does have a very prickly personality, but that is just because he keeps hacking away at it to liberate a nearby Italian cypress (of which we have MANY).
On one side, it is complemented by Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’…
…while on the other a carpet of Ajuga ‘Black Scallop’ does the honors. Jim’s pendulous flowers will give way to pearlescent pale yellow drupes on their way to blushing red later on.
I hope you won’t tire of my going on and on about (Joy Creek), but how can I help myself, surrounded by plants like this Weigelia middendorffiana with its charming splashes of orange peeking out of buttery yellow blossoms?
That’s my roundup for this week. I hope you have a memorable weekend.
That’s a lovely Artemisia. Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Maki’ looks like a winner. Nice texture.
Texture is king in my book.
Having read the description of Podocarpus macrophyllus ‘Maki’ – I want one too! Great choices; the Pitosporum tobira is used a lot here, I’m not sure why I don’t have one. Some say it isn’t reliably hardy inland, by the sea there are huge hedges of them, lovely perfumed flowers too. Thanks for your contribution to GBFD this month; I don’t want to encourage you to buy new foliage plants to write about every month though!!!
I require very little encouragement to buy new plants, so no need for guilty feelings on your part.
My ‘Tall and tough’ has finally become quite beefy , I planted it to help cover my fence…it’s doing that nicely, and looks like blooming this year !
I’m pleased ‘Valerie’ has found a good home . I had to give her the “chelsea chop” , she gets very floppy .
Like so many things, Valerie is at her best right now. Must remember to give her the chop before she starts showing her age.
Even though I’ve temporarily sworn off yellow-flowered plants (due to their over-abundance in my garden), I have to say I covet that Berberis.
Never say never.
Ricki – I want to come out to you and admire that fabulous barberry some time after it gets those fantastic salmon pink drupes. I fell in love with it by seeing a photo, and managed to find a tiny one at Hortlandia. Other than my tiny one, I have never actually seen the real thing… R needs to learn to control his impulses. I would say in regards to that shrub, they are definitely wrong… It is so cool, I can’t wait for mine to get big!
You know you are welcome any time, Anna. It seems like that shrub was pretty fast growing, so you may not have to wait for long.
Oh my, your Berberis is spectacular! And your photos of it are stunning–took my breath away when I scrolled down to those photos! The Podocarpus does, indeed, sound like a win-win with all those qualifications. Have a great gardening week!
The week ahead looks promising, weather-wise…wish I had fewer indoor jobs to do.
‘Steroid Giant’ is an excellent name. I have a ‘Valerie Finnis’ Grape Hyacinth that is very nice – more evidence that she was a good person. I agree with you about ‘Jamesiana’. In our garden, some of those Italian Cypresses might suffer from mysterious “accidents”.
I like the cypresses: they make interesting exclamation points here and there. But REALLY…in competition with James? I rest my case.
Mmm, that artemisia — lovely! Looks like your garden has lots going on right now, Ricki.
Keeping up with it is a challenge…but a fun one.
Lots of delicious foliage, rickii! Love the berberis. Don’t know how you are able to work at Joy Creek and not bring home plants by the truckload.
And who says I won’t be bringing home plants by the truckload? Well, the back-seatload, at any rate.