Re: Schefflera Schweethearts

Tim,

I think you could well find yourself on the cusp of something here, with
Schefflera, as several of the guys have been experimenting with them here in
Cornwall. Personally I think they're fabulous looking trees. I've seen them
growing in two of the more sheltered inland gardens belonging to a
couple of notable collectors committed to plant-hunting in SE Asia.

Tom Hudson, the Kiwi owner of Tregrehan Estate, recently showed me a couple
of examples of the plant described to you as Schefflera taiwaniana (can't
remember the correct ending either!). He described collecting the material
as seedlings growing on a log, indeed you'll probably find a few of the
species have epiphytic leanings and a yearning for humid places.

Another, more reclusive chap, has several fast maturing species
approximately 18ft (6m) in a sheltered valley garden. Unfortunately my
notebook is lying on my desk at work but I recall S. arboricola and S.
digitata (New Zealand) being among their number. The main problems as far as
obtaining propagation material seems to be that (i) they've yet to flower
and form seed, and (ii) only when this happens will the leader divide and
provide a chance to take vegetative cuttings ( as yet the guys don't wish to
take a chance and hack the things back to see if they'll sprout from the
base). One thing that has been mentioned to me is that they  have been found
to have divaricating foliage as they mature - indeed one of the chaps
prefers the juvenile leaves.

Hardiness wise, conferred opinion seems to open on their prospects, I've had
a tentative browse through Thurston's British & Foreign Trees and Shrubs in
Cornwall (1930) and I've yet to spot a historical reference to the genus
although I'll check the synonyms.

Might be worth leaving you with the news that the commonly found (in DIY
centres) indoor Schefflera (umbellifera? - usually given a cultivar tag) has
steadily grown away at Lamorran for some years now. I would have thought
Schefflera would of interest to those gardening in Northern California, for
instance.

regards for now,

Mark, St. Mawes, Cornwall.

p.s. belated thanks to those who responded to the Carissa macrocarpa thread
a while back.



----- Original Message -----

From: Tim Longville <tim@eddy.u-net.com>
To: <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2001 10:02 AM
Subject: Schefflera Schweethearts


> >
> I've only just discovered these aralia-relative trees from places such
> as China, India, Vietnam, Taiwan. Few are grown in the UK though
> cheery and adventurous optimists such as Dan Hinckley's collecting
> colleague, Bleddyn Wynne-Jones, reckon many should be hardy down to
> -10C or lower. They are certainly striking foliage plants, whether
> with huge undivided leaves like the blades of an old-fashioned
> aeroplane propellor or with delicately pinnate leaves of exeptional
> size and elegance (as in the species from Taiwan which is either  S.
> taiwaniana or S. taiwanensis but memory doesn't tell me which: my
> absolute favourite in the genus so far but, of course, not
> commercially available in the UK - though there's a splendid specimen,
> the one I fell in love with, in the garden at Bleddyn W-J's nursery in
> North Wales).
>
> I've never seen one in flower. I assume aralia-style flowers??
>
> The notion seems to be that they flourish is moist, warm, humid,
> semi-shade. They certainly do at Bleddyn W-J's and at the fine garden
> of Jim and Jamie Taggart, The Linn, on the mild Roseneath peninsula in
> S.W. Scotland.
>
> Not perhaps conditions easily found in Californian gardens? but in
> some in NZ, perhaps?
>
> *Are* any species grown in 'Mediterranean' gardens? If so, any
> information about species worth trying, about hardiness levels, about
> 'cultural requirements' - and about seed-sources, too, of course! -
> gratefully received.
> Tim Longville
>
>
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