Re: luma apiculata (or myrtus apiclata)
Dave: It's a beauty. As Gay said, the bark is magnificent. So is the
whole sinuous serpentine form of plants allowed to grow as individual
specimens rather than trimmed into hedges. Mature trees look more like
cuddly cartoon-giant CREATURES than plants - you can see folks who're
walking round gardens containing'em suddenly stopping alongside,
looking around quickly to see if anyone's noticing, then being unable
to resist giving'em a good long sensuous stroke. Quite right, too.
Worth a trip to Southern Ireland (go on: spoil yourself!) just to see
the magnificent ancient tree-size specimens luxuriating in that damp
mild climate. It's a species which does certainly seem to do best in a
moist atmosphere and a richish acid soil. I don't know how it would
cope with a lot of dry heat, for instance - I suspect not too well.
There's also, incidentally - tho I don't know if these are available
in the US - an 'ordinary' variegated form (l.a. 'Variegata') and a
paraticularly magnificent variegated form called 'Glanleam Gold,'
named for the wonderful garden at Glanleam on Valencia Island, Co
Kerry, where it first occurred.
Tim
Tim Longville
