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Re: UCB Botanical Garden Holiday Sale (12/6)

Cyndi Norman wrote:
> 
> I want to thank Sean for tipping me off to this great event.  I had a
> wonderful time and bought an armload of plants.  (Snip) I'll ask you all some questions
> if you don't mind.

Cindy
Glad to hear you had such a great time. I'll try to answer some of your
questions. 
> 1) Bay Laurel.  Laurel Nobilis "Saratoga."  A nice specimun in a 1 gal
> pot.  The last one they had too :-).
The  problem about planting this tree out in a garden is that it will
sucker like mad and eventually grow into a  very tall thicket. However,
it makes a really nice pot plant. It will need to go in a somewhat
bigger container -say 2 gallon- but should last in that almost
indefinitely.

People oftem train them into a mop-top standard. I have one which
someone else started and got the bare stem and the head more or less
establsihed before it came to me. If one was starting from scratch, one
would presumably prune short any side branches for about say 15 inches
from the base and then gradually, starting from the bottom remove these
altogether. At the same time branches which are to form the head would
need to be kept from growing too long and once there are enough of them
the terminal bud of the stem should be pinched out. From then on all
shoots which have grown two or three leaves should have the tip pinched
out so as to  gradually form a thick much branched head.

I pinch my new shoots each season and get rid of any suckers, but there
really isn't a lot of other work apart from yearly feeding. I have
stopped buying dried bay leaves for cooking and use a green one off my
little tree instead when a recipe calls for it.

Being in a pot does not stop suckering altogether, but a few will come
to the surface each year and should be pulled out or cut well beneath
the soil.
> 
> 2) Lavender.  Lavandula "Goodwin Creek Grey."  I forgot to note what kind > of lavender this was.  Does anyone know?  The leaves are ruffled at the > edges (L. dentata, French?)

Sorry, don't know that variety
 
 3) Thymus "Woolly Thyme."  This would be T. pseudolanuginosus
Correct 
> 4) St. John's Wort.  Hypericum Perforatum (the species isn't in Sunset but
> is listed in herb books)
> 
> 5) Santolina green.  It didn't say anything else, but of course this is > Lavender Cotton, the common varient form.  S. rosmarinifolius I assume? or
> would it be S. ericoides?

Depends on the leaf and flower colour. S. ericoides is grey-green with
creamy flowers, S rosmarinifolia has distinctly blue-green leaves and
yellow flowers. I grow one which the nursery simply calls "Lime Fizz".
This is a rich green with lemon coloured flowers and I suspect it is a
form of S. virens.
> 
> 6) Kalanchoe species.  Not a very useful description...*which* species?
> >From the choices in Sunset, it sounds most like K. uniflora.

As far as I know they all need similar conditions anyhow.
> 
> 7) Feverfew.  Chrysanthemum parthenium, presumably. 
Now renamed Tanacetum parthenium!
> 
> 8) Oak-leafed Geranium.  This is the main one I wish I had written down.  I > know it's Pelargonium, but which one?
Can't help with this.
 Moira

Happy Christmas everyone.
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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