Re: Montanoa

Similar to Catherine, I also grow M. grandiflora in my own Berkeley garden, and 
it is located in an unwatered part of the yard, and the only maintenance it 
requires is pruning off the old seed heads when the winter rains have battered 
them beyond any further visual interest.  I think I enjoy the papery pale green 
seed heads at least as much as the white flowers with yellow stamens, and the 
foliage which smells like sugar cookies.  I epecially enjoy viewing the 
December/January flowers while seated at my office desk, as they are right at 
viewing height out of my second story window, and the shrub/small tree keeps a 
much better winter appearance than its cousins the Dahlia imperialis and D. 
tenuicaulis I also have in the garden.  As I may have mentioned  before, I seek 
out plants of all types that have a really strong flowering show in the middle 
of winter, as I crave floral color at the darkest time of the year, and my 
garden is nearly entirely shaded all winter long.

I'd like to find a garden to use the much larger growing M. hexagona that I 
visit regularly over at the San Francisco Botanic Garden, which is even larger 
and more tree like, and perfectly at home as an understory tree to the 100 year 
old Monterey Cypress and Pines in the botanic garden.  I would estimate that the 


M. hexagona are probably at least 40 feet tall with up to 10 inch diameter 
trunks.  In milder winters, it seems the M. hexagona are in bloom for up to 4 
months at a time, sometimes still in full bloom into early April.  By 
comparison, my unwatered M. grandiflora is only about 20 to 25 feet tall at 
most, with 4 to 6 inch diameter trunks.

I have recently also started to grow several other versions of the White Tree 
Daisy, which I know have been available down south for some time, and in the 
Quail(now San Diego Botanic Garden), and also sold at Buena Creek Gardens when 
Steve Brigham was still the owner.  Both of these I acquired from Annie at 
Annie's Annuals, and they were introduced to Annie by Don Mahoney of 
Strybing(now SF) Botanic Garden.  The first one, Rosasianthe superba, 

see 
link:http://www.anniesannuals.com/plt_lst/lists/general/lst.gen.asp?prodid=3616&prp_let=R,


is just starting to bud up with flowers now, and is also white flowering, but 
with a 

central ring of green and black at the flower center, and typically blooms from 
February into May, with flowers that are slightly lobed and look somewhat like a 

Sparmannia leaf and size.  The second one is Verbesina turbascensis, which is an 

all-white flowering tree daisy, also from Mexico, with large dissected and very 
attractive leaves that look prehistoric to me.  

see link: 
http://www.anniesannuals.com/plt_lst/lists/general/lst.gen.asp?prodid=3095&prp_let=V
 

Unfortunately, the snails seem to find the foliage on this plant very attractive 
as well, and I need to do more 

to protect it from being eaten alive, before its 20 foot height protects it from 
such direct attack.  One of the problems of having a garden full of 100's of 
bromeliads, which are perfect harbor for slugs and snails, and means that I 
can't really grow any plant that they will eat to nothing in my winter garden.  
So no winter flowering orchids for me, except the Cymbidiums which I love this 
time of year, and warrant the regular snail bait treatments to keep them looking 
good.  Although I have also discovered that some of the species Epidendrum 
orchids do very well for me here in Berkeley, and don't seem bothered much by 
the snails.

Anyone else care to share some favorite tree sized winter blooming plants?  Most 
all of mine seem to come from southern Mexico, except for the Tibouchina 
organensis still in bloom, and coming from Rio de Janeiro's Orgao Mountains.  I 
would dearly love to be able to grow T. mutabils and T. granulosa from Sao 
Paulo/Rio de Janeiro's coastal Atlantic Rainforests, but these two don't seem to 
take my winter climate as well as T. organensis, T. urvilleana and T. 
heteromala.  Anyone successfully growing T. mutabilis and T. granulosa in 
southern California?  I know of at least one grower in Portugal who is 
successful with both, so it may mean I need to try again here in Berkeley/San 
Francisco with larger specimens before I let them fend with the winter 
conditions here.  There are some wonderful images of these tree sized 
Tibouchinas on Flickr, if you care to do an image search.




----- Original Message ----
From: Catherine Ratner <tactar@verizon.net>
To: medit-plants Plants <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Thu, February 17, 2011 8:34:10 AM
Subject: Montanoa

I have grown Montanoa arborescens or M. grandiflora (the species name was 
disputed), and M.schottii.  They were extremely happy in my heavy, 
water-retentive black clay.  They grew huge and shapeless with charming flowers 
and fragrant leaves.  I removed the first because it required too much 
maintenance.  I tried to grow M. Schottii, which is smaller and more vining, 
against my fence but removed it also.  My note on it says, "Not suitable as 
espalier".  I was fond of both shrubs, but the watered part of my garden was too 


small to accommodate them, and they do like sun and water.

Cathy in Palos Verdes
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