Re: Philadelphus "Natchez", shade, and garden size
- To: s*@gladstone.uoregon.edu, m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Philadelphus "Natchez", shade, and garden size
- From: "* l* <m*@hotmail.com>
- Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 01:15:52 PDT
I planted a Philadelphus,I believe "Natchez", a couple of years ago as part
of a landscape planting at my community garden plot here in Sacramento,
California. It's done pretty well for me, and in this past spring, its
second, was literally covered with blooms for a period of three or four
weeks. I've noticed no tendency toward mildew on it or any of the various
Philadelphus clones planted at the U.C. Davis arboretum near here. It's
supposed to go to 6-8 feet, but so far is still only about three feet tall
and as wide. Seems to grow to size relatively slowly.
That said, consider the following points:
1.I'm assuming from your e-mail address that we have
somewhat different climates. However, I know they grow well back east so,
if anything, would probably do better in your climate than in mine. Once
established, you could probably forego watering. I have to irrigate mine
every three or four weeks at this point, although it does appear drought
tolerant somewhat on the order of a lilac. 2. Mine gets
about six or seven hours of full sun daily. I don't know how dense the
shade but I'd guess that unless you thin out the tree in question somewhat
(which isn't all that difficult) the plant will grow but flower sparsely.
3. Think of it like a lilac, a
deciduous shrub that for a brief period in spring is just a knockout, then
doesn't do much but take up space (and quite a bit of it when fully grown),
but with less chilling requirement for good bloom . Possibly not the best
choice for a small garden, but workable if you really want it.
4.Wherever you plant it, dig in some sort of potassium and
phosphorous , I think I used wood ash and superphosphate. You'll get better
flowering. Much luck.
Yours most respectfully,
Michael Larmer
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