Schefflera, a dime a dozen?

A couple weeks ago I was up in Seattle, visiting a friend, and found myself with a completely free Sunday. Sure I had to drive back to Portland but why not break up the journey with a few nursery stops? Indeed! I had three nurseries on my route…City People’s Garden Store in Seattle, Furney’s in Des Moines and Yard ‘n Garden Land in Vancouver (all in Washington). City People’s is a long time fav but I’d never been to the other two, what would I discover!? As it turns out the answer is Schefflera… at every nursery! I never dreamt this day would come. City People’s had several gorgeous S. taiwaniana…

And a few S. brevipedunculata…

At Furney's I first happened upon a pair of S. taiwaniana…

And later a display of S. brevipedunculata.

I stopped at Yard ‘n Garden Land because I’d heard they had S. taiwaniana, I figured that was an accurate indicator of the nurseries “cool factor.”

They did indeed have S. taiwaniana, and even though they were the third nursery at which I’d seen them that day it was still a thrill.

As I was photographing the S. taiwaniana I noticed this, Daphniphyllum macropodum…

Looks a little like a Schefflera no? I was awe struck. I felt like I was seeing it for the first time but as it turns out I’ve seen it before in this garden.

According to the tag it gets big, 20 – 30 ft tall and wide. As I was standing there staring at it a friendly employee came up to talk to me, asking if I liked the “rare,” of course I had to admit that was the case. As we talked he seemed doubtful this one would prove hardy and let me know he was trailing it in his garden.

The Schefflera abundance continues. Just last week I stopped at Portland Nursery on Stark Street here in Portland. What should I see but an entire display of S. brevipedunculata.

I’m still enamored but realize for some the attraction is the rarity itself. What about you? Is it less desirable when it’s easily found? Does "the chase" make it all the sweeter when you find it?

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Schefflera-land, all planted up…

When last I posted about Schefflera-land it had just earned the name after having been planted up with both S. delavayi and S. taiwaniana. Since then I’ve been busy adding to the plantings and I’m happy to say things are filling in nicely…

My only frustration is the plants on either end are so much larger than those in the middle, having been in place long before the hydrangea was removed. Hopefully the new hostas and ferns will catch up (maybe next season?) and the prized Schefflera delavayi will attain its rightful status as king of the border sooner rather than later. The S. taiwaniana has a couple of years on it though...

You might remember when the hydrangea was first removed I was unhappy with the fact I could see all the way to the patio from the backdoor and entrance to the garden. It's not quite so bad anymore…

Of course the fact that Clifford (the Magnolia macrophylla) has leafed out helps too.

Here’s a close up look at the entire planting border starting at the east side as you enter the garden and walking towards the patio. I’ll try to name as many plants as possible. (L-R) Fatsia polycarpa ‘Needhams’s Lace,’ Solomon’s Seal working its way through Disporum cantoniense 'Night Heron,' a couple of hostas whose names I don't know, and up against the garage and rusted metal trellis is the Schefflera delavayi (S. taiwaniana peeking through on the far right).

I love the blue hostas! Unfortuantely so do the slugs and other critters.

The S. delavayi has pushed out several new leaves…

Notice the leaf stems of the older growth have turned red. I love the way this looks and it never occurred to me that it could be a problem until just now when I tried to find the proper plant term for the leaf stems. I found several cannabis forums addressing red leaf stems and evidently it’s a sign of nutrient deficiency. Anyone care to share their thoughts on the red stems, should I be concerned??

I’m very happy with the placement of the Impatiens omeiana peeking out from under the Schefflera.

There are also a few Alchemilla mollis tucked in here and there. These were divisions from my mom’s plant. I wonder did the small hosta come from her garden or somehow from mine?

Here’s the middle, where the smaller plants start; Rodgersia ‘Bronze Peacock,' next to it a painted fern (Athyrium niponicum, not sure which one), planted at the base of the trellis and just starting to grow up is a 'Cardinal Climber' Ipomoea multifida, and Epimedium wushanense in the lower center of the photo.

That same area but with the camera pulled back a bit.

I repeated the Rodgersia (here it’s R. podophylla ‘Bronze Form’) and painted fern combo a few times.

I moved my (long abused) Metapanax delavayi here where it can finally get a little more light and be better appreciated, lots of new bright green growth!

At its feet another Rodgersia ‘Bronze Peacock’ with Pyrrosia hastata (on the left).

In the middle between the two trellis are a Disporopsis pernyi fronted by Ligularia 'Osiris Cafe Noir.'

Paris polyphylla (Heronswood form), which was a gift from a garden visitor last summer (thank you Sutter!), it's come back even bigger this year...

The far west side of this border is made up of established plants, with the exception of a few hosta and a couple painted ferns…

...and this Peltoboykinia watanabei which is tucked in at the base of one of the trellis.

I hope I don’t fall out of love with painted ferns anytime soon. As you can see I included quite a few of them.

I also found room for a few more Adiantum venustum (Himalayan Maidenhair Fern).

Established hostas (I don’t know why but I’ve never managed to hang onto their tags and learn their names), Podophyllum peltatum, and Syneilesis aconitifolia.

And finally a shot of the Clematis tibetana var. vernayi on one of the trellis.

Make that two shots, that last one was kind of hard to see.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Schefflera-land! (which I probably should be calling Araliaceae-land with the Metapanax delavayi and Fatsia polycarpa in there too but that just doesn’t have the same ring does it?) I can honestly say I don’t miss that hydrangea one bit…

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Q. Andrew: “How many Schefflera do we need?”A. Loree: “as many as Mark & Gaz have...”

A quick stop at Garden Fever last weekend yielded an unexpected surprise…a new (for me) Schefflera!

We stopped in looking for the next office plant component for Andrew, but of course I had to do a quick once-through the nursery and what should my wandering eyes discover but a Schefflera! At this point they’re still so rare it’s like spotting a four-leaf clover or a double rainbow. Schefflera brevipedunculata…

Of course a quick Google search reveals that indeed I have seen this one before (I love that Google has a better memory than I do), at Molbaks in July of 2011. Never mind that one was an expensive 5-gallon. This was just a 1-gallon at $15.99. Ya, $15.99!!!

I have no idea where it will go but in instances like this you grab now, and think later; hopefully it can be happy in a container until I find a place for it in the ground. I love its strange leaf pattern of 7(ish) larger leaves on the bottom and 3(or so) smaller ones held above.

This raises the Schefflera species count to 3 (S. delavayi = 1, S. taiwaniana = 3, S. brevipedunculata = 1). Obviously I have a way to go before I can reach Mark and Gaz’s total of 6? 7? 8 different species, what is you guy's count? And why are they so much easier to find in England?

***new information, I just read this on the Monrovia website: "Newly recognized in the Flora of China, the name of Schefflera brevipedunculata is a work in progress. A close ally to Schefflera alpiinia this unique shrub may indeed prove to be a variety of it."***

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

So about finding that second Pineapple Guava…

Yesterday I mentioned it was the chance discovery of a nice little specimen Acca Sellowiana at The Gardener’s Choice that pushed me to go for it and do away with our established Pieris japonica. It wasn’t just the Pineapple Guava that caught my eye that day. For instance I’m still kind of obsessing about this Ligularia 'Osiris Cafe Noir'…

I have a springtime love affair with Eremurus ‘Cleopatra’ every year.

In my experience this is the way to plant them, when they’ve already emerged and have a nice bunch of foliage.

I’ve planted 5 or 6 tubers (corms?) and nothing ever happened.

This was the first time I recall seeing Euphorbia c. ‘Portuguese Velvet’ for sale in a nursery. Of course since then I’ve seen a couple.

Its leaves really do feel like velvet.

This was a new one too, and wow! So bright…Golden Zebra Daylily.

So when I went inside to pay for the Acca Sellowiana, that’s when things got really interesting! Because I saw this…

A Schefflera taiwaniana with HUGE leaves.

It’s not like you see one of these everyday (this is only the 4th time I’ve seen one for sale) and this one, with the big leaves, I’d never seen before. Do you suppose I bought it? Damn right!

And I managed to fit two 5-gallon shrubs in my car no problem!

Are you wondering just how much bigger those leaves are? Here’s a comparison to the plant I moved a few weeks ago…

New one…

Old one…

Why the difference in a plant with the same name? I was reminded of a slide from a talk given by Dan Hinkley. The photo illustrated the extreme variance in the plants growing at Monrovia, all were grown from seed he'd collected. From this batch they selected the plants to grow on to sell. So it stands to reason they probably released the others for sale and that's why the ones on the market thus far show so much variation. At least that’s my theory. I do have one other Schefflera taiwaniana, this one from Cistus Nursery. It has dark petioles…making it different too.

So that’s the story of how I came to have 3 Schefflera taiwaniana, all different, all loved.

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.