----- Original Message -----
From:
t*@btinternet.com
To: m*@ucdavis.edu
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:09
AM
Subject: Coprosma robusta
Outside NZ coprosmas do seem to flatter to deceive. 'Nice foliage, neat
habit,' and leave it at that... None of mine have ever flowered or fruited,
up on the NW coast of the UK. I've heard stories of them performing
properly in hotter and (oddly, given their origins) drier parts of the UK
- but I've never seen the evidence. Eg, UK nurseryman Graham Hutchins, who's
based in Essex, positively specialises in them, with 30+ species and
varieties. Those include 6 or more varieties of C. robusta, by the
way, Bill, such as 'Cullen's Point,' 'Sally Blunt,' 'Steepdown,' 'Tim Blunt,'
'William,' and 'Woodside.' I assume these are NZ forms he has imported? And
that the Blunts are NZ nursery-owners? Am I right, Moira? And what are we - or
our climate and conditions! - doing wrong?
My Field Guide to NZ trees says it is "found
throughout North and South Island in forests and scrubland" and the
Gardeners Encyclopedia of Native Plants has this to say. "It is rather like
C.repens, but the leathery leaves aee less glossy. It grows rapidly to 2-4m,
making it a useful shelter while establishing other plantings. It is tolerent
of a wide range of conditions and can be pruned to shape if required.". This
seems to me to be a case of "damming with faint praise"!
It is quite common in our local bush and I
have had seedlings appear in my garden, bur I have always weeded them out. It
does most years have quite big and attractive red berries in our
rather mild local climate, but I am happy just to admire them in the
wild. None of the forms whose names you quote seem to be either grown or
known in NZ. However there is one variegated form with rather pretty creamy
variegations which is usually ascribed to this species as 'Williamsii
variegata' I do actually grow this.
It is much smaller and frailer than the
green form and I have it as an undershrub in a patch of mostly
native trees where it brightens up the shade. I have never seen this flower or fruit, though I have
grown it for around thirty years.
Moira
