RE: Sparmania africana

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I moved into a house on the western slope of the Oakland Hills 5 springs ago, and a Sparmania was growing in a dry, sunny location behind a pond.  It was HUGE! With lots of branches.  We had a freeze two? Winters ago and it too, froze to the ground.  Very quickly new shoots sprouted from the base and many new shoots sprouted from the roots away from the main stem…so I had ten teeny plants where once I had a huge one.  Since I liked the plant, but not it’s location, I dug up one of the shoots and planted it in a shady spot where I wanted to fill in a tropical-look patch.  It is growing slowly, but strongly.  It is planted under tall Japanese maple trees, so it is getting too much shade for this time of year (I’m in the fog belt), but it looks great in the winter when all the surrounding trees have lost their leaves.  It’s nearly the height I want, soon I will prune off the top to encourage side branching.  It blooms in the winter here.

 

Ronni Brega

Oakland,

SF Bay Area

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu]On Behalf Of grant
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 3:44 PM
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Sparmania africana

 

Twenty years ago I planted Sparmania africana in a dry, tough part of the garden. It did well until the 1990 freeze, when it froze to the ground. It came right back. Now it is nearly 20 ft. high and there are little ones springing up near it. What experiences have any of you had with this most attractive South African? bill grant, central coast California   g*@ebold.com