Friday, January 30, 2015

My favorite plants in the garden, for January 2015

It's that time again, the end of the month (January is over!!!) and a wrap-up post of my favorite plants in the garden...

This beauty, Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea', took my breath away while I was working in the shade pavilion greenhouse (written about yesterday). Those leaves, those tiny yellow pom-pom blooms.

In fact the only thing I don't love about this plant is that it's not hardy in the ground here in Portland, so it has to live in a container.

Native to Australia this small tree is rumored to be hardy to USDA Zone 7 but I'm not going to experiment, it's too hard to find. I think the 20-25F quoted by San Marcos Growers is a little more realistic, although in their written description they then say 15-20F (nurseries never can agree it seems!). New growth in the late spring/summer has a purple cast, hence the name.

In the ground it will eventually reach 20-30 ft tall and wide, and of course likes full sun.

It's a keeper.

The week before this yucca caught my eye...

That one there, up against the neighbor's garage.

I got it from a friend, who (if I remember right) called it Yucca aloifolia 'Variegata'. I planted it where I did so that it would be a focal plant as you entered the back garden. Of course (once again) I failed to consider that it would be buried behind the Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue' several months of the year (I just cut back the melianthus, which is why the yucca is now shining bright).

Hardy to USDA Zone 7a this yucca can eventually reach 7 ft tall and 3 ft wide. It likes the usual things, sun and well draining soil. It's a winner!

Unlike this wimp of a plant (Yucca 'Bright Star' aka Yucca gloriosa 'Walbristar') who I am officially done with. Who needs a plant that looks like this until July when it finally grows out of it?

So those are my January favorites, along with the Mahonia gracilipes I wrote about back on January 16th. I know you must have a favorite or five in your garden, even in January! Please tell us about them...

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

25 comments:

  1. Oh dear, oh dear! That poor Bright Star. Mine do get a few blotches, but nowhere near that bad. And the rest of their growth is vigorous enough that I can cut the blotchy leaves off and it still looks ok. The variegated one is gorgeous, though.

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    1. This seems to be it's worse year yet. Last year it wasn't quite so bad heading into the summer, thus it got to stay.

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  2. I continue to be amazed at the differences between plant behavior at different locations. If I were to plant that acacia it would be forest in no time. However, it looks gorgeous in your greenhouse, and fragrant, too. How nice. Right now I am looking at my jade tree for for cheerfulness: http://janestrong.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-january-gem-jade-tree.html

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    1. Different locations and in ground vs. in container. I almost planted it out last spring, and our winter has been mild enough that it would have been okay. Still, one never knows.

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  3. Put that Yucca 'Bright Star' in a pot and you will be surprised how it comes back. I now I have 2 of them, which I keep outside under the eaves in the winter. So far so good - as long as they stay dry dry dry!

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    1. Nope, been there - done that. One in a container went under the sp greenhouse eaves last last winter, inside during the extreme cold, and it still looked so bad that I tossed it. I'm just officially done with them. There are too many other, better, plants out there!

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  4. Loree, I get it, I have reached my limit with plants as well, BUT, if you want to give it one more try, I would suggest getting some of Kent Houser's stock from Mysterious Gardens in SD. We did some plant trades last year and he sent me a really nice one that was probably 3 gallon size. I have it planted on a south facing slope and it is doing really well -- no blemishes and turning really coral colored.

    We have had a really wet winter and the plant has had no protection and taken lows of 9F once and many nights in the mid to upper teens.

    I think our conditions are comparable enough (except summer) that you might have a shot with a big plant from his stock.

    If not, and you have crossed the Rubicon with this plant, I totally get it.

    aloifolia looks good there, when it finally takes off, watch out!

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    1. Thank you for the source Daniel, it's always nice to know of respected nurseries selling quality plants. 'Bright Star' has such a bright presence in the winter garden, it would be nice to get one that can stay looking good. What part of the country are you in?

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    2. I'm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is zone 7b, and the real problem for most of these plants is not the 7b low temps, but the MASSIVE amounts of rain we get in the winter. Hence my thinking we had comparable conditions.

      I should also have said that Kent is a really nice guy and an amazing resource for plants and plant knowledge. In addition to high quality stock of the usual suspects, he does habitat collections of seed from really cool plants. I believe in the not too distant future he might be releasing some of the AZ domesticate agave species that Wendy Hodgson of the DBG has been documenting over the past decade.

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  5. So sad about "Bright Star" as it is such a beautiful thing when it doesn't look like it's half dead! Mine outside have some brown spots but nothing as bad as yours. The one I have in the greenhouse is o.k. but still has a few spots. Maybe I'll take Daniel's advice to you - I'm not quite finished with it yet. That acacia is glorious I know I have one in a pot but forgot to bring it in. I'd better go check and see if it's alive or not. Happy weekend!

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    1. I think I've tried 3 of them now, this is the last one I've still got. Yikes! Forgot to put your acacia in the greenhouse?!

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  6. That Acacia is wonderful but its size scares me - I need more acreage! It's hard to believe your Yucca 'Bright Star' could be related to the pink specimens in my garden but maybe Daniel's recommendation is worth a try - it's certainly a wonderful plant. I have 2 favorites to offer this month, one of which can be found here: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-favorite-plant-this-week-solanum.html and the other here: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-favorite-plant-of-week-leucadendron.html

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    1. Y. 'Bright Star' looks so enticing in the nurseries, and I bet in your garden!

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  7. I like this collective favourite plant post, like bloom day and foliage follow up combined :)

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    1. Hoping you guys get a chance this weekend to take some photos of what's looking good in your garden.

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  8. The acacia is so beautiful. How does John Kuzma protect it? Because his is outside. Is it colder in your garden?
    Mmmm...I don´t know how my Yucca Bright Star is doing...last time I saw it on december was totally red but it had no spots...It has been colder since then.
    Great favorites of the month!

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    1. Great question Lisa. John works harder than I'm willing to. Our gardens are probably comparable in temperatures, if anything his might be colder because he's higher in elevation than I am. I believe this is one that he cut's back, wraps and heats with small lights. An especially effective treatment since the new growth has that lovely purpley hue.

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  9. I love love love your Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea'. I have just this year noticed two of them on the roadside on separate occasions and I think I scared the other people in the car with my squealing haha. I need one. I have a yucca which I think is called something like 'Bright Star' but I can't be sure. It is the saddest excuse for a plant I think I have. It just sits there, hanging on with two leaves while the rest of them die off. It's been in the ground for at least two years! I should put it out of its misery. My solo favourite for this month

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    1. I hope you can find one Amy, you need one!

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  10. Yuccas are picky at times, even our desert yuccas at times. Love the far picture of the thick moss on the roof with the Y. rostrata...

    Maybe I should do this for my public garden at UTEP...no / terrible design but great plants throughout.

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    1. That moss is left from when the big overgrown privet shaded the top of the neighbors garage. I meant to try and sweep it off last summer when it was dry but never got around to it. Now, it's happy and green again!

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  11. Acacia survived in my garden for 2 or 3 years, but one especially cold and windy winter killed it. It's such a pleasure to see its yellow flowers in winter!

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    1. Oh you've brought back memories of my Acacia pravissima which was over the eaves of our house when it finally died last spring, after that crazy winter. They grow so fast it's almost worth planting one every year.

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  12. Oh, Acacia baileyana 'Purpurea' is a beauty, I don’t know this one but from your photos it looks gorgeous. It would be fine in the ground here in my London garden but…..the size of it! I have no more room for gigantic plants, they can be tall, but not wide so sorry, not for me, I will just enjoy your photos me thinks :-)

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  13. That reminds me that I put in for one of those Acacias ages ago. Guess I'll give up on that source and start looking. I took some photos of a Yucca like that but never got around to doing the post. Suffice it say that I share your taste in favorites. I don't know how you keep up with all this with the kind of weather we've been having.

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