Fwd: Re: Acanthus

Loren Russell asked me to post this for him -- evidently, the listproc @UC Davis rejected it (but not him).


Nan


I have several plants of Acanthus balcanus in my garden.  They are grown from
seed collected in a friend's garden in Connecticut [where it had grown for 20
or more years], and I have the first blooms now on one of my 2 year old
plants.  This species is of the A.mollis persuasion [not spiny], but much less
leafy, and I think more attarctive. The mature plant that I took seed from was
perhaps 3 feet across, with foliage no more than 30 inches high. There was
significant slug damage when I first planted the seedlings out, but little
feeding on mature leaves or on this year's growth.

A. balcanus is widespread on the Balkan peninsula, and as its growth in
Connecticut and Oregon suggests, is hardy and adaptable to both wet-
Mediterranean and summer-rain climates.

loren russell
corvallis, oregon, usa
>This is a Mediterranean genus that I have yet to try in my own garden. I'm
>now toying with the idea of trying one or two, with the proviso that they are
>neither overly spiny (so farewell then, A.spinosus) nor overly invasive (so
>that's A. caroli-alexandri out of the question - "dangerously
>invasive" [GST]). I
>don't really have the space for something such as A.mollis, impressive though
>it is, which seems to leave me with the reputedly very free-flowering
>A.hungaricus (syns. Aa.balcanicus and longifolius) and Aa.
>dioscoridis and hirsutus,
>both short-growing plants.

I have a. mollis and A. spinosus. Mollis is indeed large and spreads
around a bit but spinosus is not that spiny. They look spiny but
they are not sharp. Go see one in the nursery before you decide.
--
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Nan Sterman Plant Soup (TM)
Please note new mailing address:
PO Box 231034
Encinitas, CA 92023 760.634.2902 (voice)
NSterman@PlantSoup.Com 760.634.2957 (fax)

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