Category Archives: Plant collector

flowering this week, tried and true plants

Plant Collector: Magnolia Iolanthe

The inimitable Magnolia Iolanthe

The inimitable Magnolia Iolanthe

I cannot let the season pass without celebrating magnolias. At this time of the year we live and breathe these flowering trees and the settled weather has meant a particularly good season this year. Not all of them get as large as this glorious specimen of ‘Iolanthe’. In this country, it is a lucky tree that is permitted to survive into its sixth decade without being unceremoniously severed from its roots.

Iolanthe was the product of Felix Jury’s first attempts to hybridise magnolias. He was looking for larger blooms with good colour. Certainly the bloom is still exceptional with its large cup and saucer form. The colour has been criticised for its lavender hue, but I can tell you that it remains spectacular. Because it sets flower buds down the stem, it has one of the longest season of any of our many magnolias here. Some only set buds on the tips where they all come out at once. As soon as they pass over – or if they are hit by strong wind, heavy rain or frost – that is it for the year as far as floral display goes. Not so with Iolanthe. Twice we have seen the display turned to mush by extraordinary frost events but a few days later, a fresh flush of blooms has opened and the display is back. From first to last spring bloom, we get about two months of flowering, of which maybe three weeks is full glory. It repeat flowers in summer, though as the tree is then in full leaf, it is nowhere near as showy or prolific – more a bonus than a mainstay.

Iolanthe and Serene are the only plants for which Felix ever received external payment. We recall this because it was in our early married days when we were impoverished students. He gave the fee of a couple of hundred dollars to Mark. It was not the sort of event one ever forgets.
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First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Romneya coulteri

Romneya coulteri - the Californian tree poppy

Romneya coulteri – the Californian tree poppy

I wish I could tell you I photographed this splendid Californian poppy in our garden here. We tried, we tried hard to get it established here but failed. That is because it grows in Californian desert and coastal conditions and we can not emulate those in lush dairy farm country. It is the dry open situation that is most important, summer heat less so. Good drainage and light soils are key. Readers in coastal areas might find it viable but be warned that it needs space. It is a giant poppy and the plant will reach around that 2m mark in height and a good 1.5m in width. It grows from seed but the plant develops rhizomes and will be perennial in the right conditions, spreading ever wider.

Look at that flower. It is just a typical poppy with six petals and golden stamens, but looking like tissue paper or crinkle fabric, each flower about 10cm across. It is the sort of plant that will stop you in your tracks. You will sometimes find it offered for sale in this country but probably only from specialist nurseries.

The coulteri in the name is a tribute to an Irishman, not a Californian celebrity. Thomas Coulter was a botanist and explorer who served as a physician to the armed forces around the Californian and Mexican area in the early 1800s. Apparently he botanised in his time off which seems a constructive activity.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Hellebore Anna’s Red

We are very impressed by Hellebore 'Anna's Red'

We are very impressed by Hellebore ‘Anna’s Red’

It takes a special plant in a garden centre to make us think immediately that we must have it there and then. This new hellebore is one.

There are three stand-out features. It holds its flowers well above the foliage and they are outward facing so displayed well. The foliage is beautifully marbled and interesting in itself. The flower colour is an attractive magenta-burgundy but without brown tones that often mute those colours.

I did a search to see if I could find the breeding but all the internet tells me is that it is one of the “Rodney Davey marbled group”, Davey being the breeder. Fair enough – it is the work of a dedicated hellebore specialist and if he does not wish to disclose the breeding, that is his right. Looking at it, our guess is that it probably has quite a bit of H. niger in it, in which case to get this strong colour into that species is a real triumph. It is the way the flower is displayed that makes us think of niger (some of you may grow “White Magic” with its upward-facing flowers). While there are similar burgundy colours in the H. orientalis group, none of them display their flowers as well and we have yet to see these combined with such attractive, marbled foliage.

The breeder lives in the south of England and the plant was named for prominent garden writer, Anna Pavord. Fortunately, due to the wonders of micropagation (tissue culture), the plant has been multiplied hugely and is available everywhere that I can see, in both this country and overseas. It is worth having and no, I was not given a plant to review. We truly did spot it in a garden centre and buy it.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Carpenteria californica

Carpenteria californica - but in Yorkshire, not Tikorangi

Carpenteria californica – but in Yorkshire, not Tikorangi

This is my photograph but not taken in our garden. We saw a number of carpenterias flowering in English summer gardens, none lovelier than this specimen in Yorkshire. We tried growing it here when Top Trees Nursery near Clive were selling plants in this country. Ours did not thrive and eventually gave up the ghost. It’s failure to thrive will in part have been that it hails from California and is better adapted to a Mediterranean climate – dry summers and cool, dry winters.

There is only one species of carpenteria, which is a large, evergreen shrub. However it is a relative to philadelphus which we do succeed in growing here. In the wild, it occurs in a very limited geographic area and is apparently endangered but it is so widely grown as a garden plant that its survival is guaranteed. Unlike philadelphus, there is no fragrance.

The common name is a tree anemone and those lovely big white blooms with golden stamens are indeed an anemone form.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Fuchsia boliviana

Rewarding but a weed here - Fuchsia boliviana

Rewarding but a weed here – Fuchsia boliviana

“You can’t write that up,” Mark protested when he saw me photographing this plant. “It’s a weed.” This may be the first Plant Uncollector. We have had the plant for several years but it has never made it out of the nursery, being left to its own devices in the somewhat wild area of plants waiting to be put in the garden but not urgent. There it has seeded down freely and it won’t be going out to the garden because we can see it has serious weed potential. This is a shame because it flowers pretty much all the time and the hanging clusters are showy, while the foliage is velvety to touch. Our neglected parent plant is about 3m high and a somewhat rangy shrub but it can get bigger.

This is a variable species. There are red and pink, even and pure white forms. It is South American – not just Bolivia but also southern Peru and northern Argentina so presumably parts of Chile too. It is highly prized internationally but it will be somewhat frost tender which may curb its escaping tendencies in colder climates. We have enough imported weeds in this country. Just because it is attractive and has rewarding blooming habits is not a good enough reason to knowingly unleash another weed. This plant, along with its multitude of seedlings, is destined for the mulcher and compost. The seeds are spread by birds and because the plant can establish in heavy shade, it has a wide habitat. It is on the National Pest Plant Accord so can’t be sold legally but we arrived at the conclusion of its weed pest potential all of our own accord. If there is ever a sterile version of this plant released, we would welcome it but until then, no.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.