Fwd: For anyone who might be interested
gardenchat@hort.net
  • Subject: Fwd: For anyone who might be interested
  • From: J* S* <i*@q.com>
  • Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:39:00 -0800
Begin forwarded message:

> From: Pacific Horticulture Society <pete.pacifichort@gmail.com>
> Date: December 28, 2011 10:04:42 AM PST
> To: inlandjim1@q.com
> Subject: Pacific Horticulture Newsletter 12.28.11
> Reply-To: pete.pacifichort@gmail.com
>
> Dear Friends and Subscribers:
>
>
> Northwest Flower & Garden Show: A Floral Symphony   Seattle, February 8-12,
2012
>
> Mark your calendars for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in the Washington
State Convention Center in Seattle. This show has been inspiring garden
enthusiasts since 1989 with ideas, plants, tools, and accessories for every
gardening need.
> You may find your vibe at the Funky Junk and Living it Up features, where
you can learn to blend art with functionality. Or maybe strolling the Plant
Market and Artists Alley is where you will find your treasures.
>
> The show is renowned for offering the largest roster of free horticulture
seminars of any garden show in the world! No matter your interest or level of
expertise, there will be a talk that will appeal to you.
>
> Pacific Horticulture is proud to be be sponsoring Wednesdays seminar
series. Plan a stop at our booth #2411 next to the Northwest Horticultural
Society booth to say hi. We always enjoy meeting our readers and friends.
>
> Make a day of it and let the symphony of floral displays get you excited for
spring!
>
> For more information on the show, seminar schedules, or to purchase tickets
click here or go to http://www.gardenshow.com/.
>
>
>
> Winner of the Pacific Horticulture award at the 2011 Northwest Flower &
Garden Show was this design created by the team of Roger Williams, Phil Wood,
and Bob Lilly for The Arboretum Foundation. Photograph by RGT
>
>
>
> Plant Portrait: Bottlebrush
>
> Among the genera highlighted in Erle Nickels article on Australian shrubs,
appearing in the January 2012 issue of Pacific Horticulture, is Callistemon.
Known commonly as bottlebrushes, these vigorous shrubs provide months of
colorful flowers in California gardens, where they have been grown for a
century or more. Tough, sclerophyllous leaves help the shrubs survive drought
with ease. Masses of small flowers, made up mostly of colorful stamens, wrap
around the stems like a brush and provide seemingly endless supplies of nectar
for hummingbirds. Other birds are attracted to the tiny insects that also feed
on the nectar.
>
> Of the two-dozen species native to Australia, the most frequently grown in
California is lemon bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus), found along miles of
freeways. Some find its bright red flowers a bit harsh in the private garden.
The rosy crimson flowers on a specimen in my San Francisco garden are a
delight, appearing almost year-round, with a dependable display each year at
Christmas. Planted four decades ago, it was irrigated in its first years but
has thrived on nothing but natural rainfall for the last thirty years. The
growth habit is upright until about eight feet tall, when the branches begin
to droop in a graceful manner.
>
>
> The name of this cultivar is uncertain, and it may actually be the hybrid
Violaceus, which is derived from Callistemon citrinus and C. pallidus. There
have never been any seedlings produced, suggesting this hybrid origin. Most of
the selections derived from C. citrinus are adapted to Sunset zones 8, 9,
12-24, are best in full sun, and will tolerate almost any soil. Its best to
purchase plants in flower at your local nursery to be sure of a color that
will suit your garden; some species offer flowers in pinks, greens, yellows,
and white. All of them attract hummingbirds.
>
>
>
> A rosy crimson selection of lemon bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus),
flowering joyously in the editors San Francisco garden in December.
Photograph by RGT
>
>
>
> Plant Portrait: Mahonia x media 'Charity'
>
>
> Walking through the garden in the first days of winter always brings a few
surprises. One of my favorites was seeing the sun shine on Mahonia x media
'Charity' with a hummingbird whirling around the flowers. This statuesque,
evergreen shrub is a stellar specimen for the winter garden.  'Charity' has
dramatic, frond-like leaves that grow in whorls along its coarsely branched
stems. Great sprays of soft yellow flowers appear in winter, developing into
grape-like clusters of wax-coated black berries by late summer and autumn. Its
inflorescences are somewhat lax. Beautiful foliage and upright growth habit
make this hybrid mahonia a strong focal point in the garden. Plant it with
Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata', Stachyurus praecox, Helleborus x hybridus,
Carex testacea and Cyclamen coum.'Charity' originated as a hybrid between M.
japonica and M. lomariifolia at Donard Nursery in N. Ireland. It usually
blooms after 'Lionel Fortescue' but its flowers are not as frost-resistant as
those of 'Lionel Fortescue'.
>
> Plant Mahonia x media 'Charity' in part shade with protection from winter
winds. Water it during summer dry spells, at least for the first few seasons.
Plants respond to a March application of slow-acting, balanced fertilizer by
producing more flowers and deeper green leaves. To produce more basal
branches, remove new leaf buds of young plants in early spring for the first
two or three years.
>
> 'Charity' is a vase-shaped shrub that can reach 10 to 15 feet tall if not
pruned. If pruned when young, the plant will reach 7 to 10 feet high and 4 to
5 feet wide. If a shorter plant is desired, it can be pruned back to a lower
whorl of branches after flowering.
>
> Hardy in USDA zones 7 to 9 and in Sunset zones 6 to 9 and 16 to 22.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Mahonia x media Charity. Photograph by Greg Graves
>
> Plant Portrait: Micromeria viminea
> Micromeria viminea, commonly called Jamaican peppermint, is not a true mint,
but a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) and closely related to the genus
Satureja, which includes the more familiar yerba buena (S. douglasii). There
remains some confusion concerning its proper botanical name: it is also known
as Satureja viminea and as Clinopodium vimineum. This shrubby perennial is
native to the West Indies and Central America (another common name is Costa
Rican mint bush). Jamaican peppermint is easy to grow where temperatures do
not routinely drop below freezing. My own plant, originally from a sale at the
Huntington Botanical Garden, is now ten years old and has withstood slight
freezes. This species grows to about two and a half to three feet tall and has
a stiff, informal, upright shape. It blooms most months of the year with tiny
white flowers that are always humming with bees.
>
> Jamaican peppermint is widely grown and used all over the New World tropics
as a base for teas, mixed with ginger and sugar as a treatment for colic, and
to flavor meats and drinks (it is used in Jamaica in mojitos in place of the
more common mint of herb gardens). Other common names are serpentine savory,
menta de palo, and (my favorite) kama sutra mint tree; the genus Satureja
probably derives their name from satyr, as they are thought to be an
aphrodisiac. On my heavy clay soil, Jamaican peppermint needs little watering
(every two weeks in hot weather) and light pruning in spring to encourage
fresh growth. It likes full sun and is fairly easy to propagate from greenwood
cuttings in warmer weather.
>
> Steve Gerischer, Board Member
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jamaican peppermint (Micromeria viminea). Photograph by Steve Gerischer
> Appearing Soon in Pacific Horticulture
>
>  The cover story in the January 2012 issue of Pacific Horticulture features
the many species of Ribes known as wild currants on the West Coast.
Outstanding garden shrubs, they are too little used, according to author Paul
Lee Cannon. His own love affair with the genus began a few years ago; his
shady woodland garden in Oakland is now graced by many of these
winter-flowering native shrubs that attract dozens of hummingbirds to the
garden. Wild currants can be grown in gardens along the full length of the
West Coast.
>
>
> Ribes sanguineum var. sanguineum White Icicle, a cultivar of red flowering
currant introduced by University of British Columbia Botanical Garden.
Photograph by Phil Van Soelen
> Best wishes for the holiday season and the new year from all of us at
Pacific Horticulture.
> To subscribe or donate to Pacific Horticulture, click here.
> To Unsubscribe from this newsletter, click here.

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