Re: Schefflera Schweethearts

Moira -

>Stretching towards the "impossible" as usual eh?
>
How well you know me! Certainly, I'm not letting one bad winter put me
off... Well, not much. Actually, Bleddyn Wynne-Jones reckoned S.
taiwaniana would be hardy to -20C! I put 10 degrees of that down to
introducer's enthusiasm but even so it ought to be quite feasible for
many gardens with moist warm shady corners - and it is a most handsome
tree.

Hugo -

S. arboricola plus some forms of it are offered in the UK but by v.
few  nurseries in fact. Basically, just the usual suspect. Viz.,
Bridgmere. 

And v. few species are offered by anyone else - though frustratingly
The Plant Finder  tells me that several more *have* been offered in
the recent past. Maybe they were tried and failed to cut the mustard
of British outdoor life but I'd be prepared to bet that in fact
nurserymen couldn't persuade people to try such unknown plants.
Bleddyn W-J waxes eloquent not to say apoplectic about customers'
conservatism. 'If they haven't seen it in a garden centre or a glossy
magazine.... and if they don't already know the plant's name....,
forget it. It doesn't matter *how* handsome or hardy or easy the plant
may be...' 

Discuss, with examples?!

Best wishes from a marginally sunny but not at all summery Solway
Tim


Tim Longville
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