Vestia foetida
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Vestia foetida
- From: t*@eddy.u-net.com (Tim Longville)
- Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 18:12:17 GMT
Re Isabel's enquiry: evergreen shrub with glossy darkish green leaves
and pretty yellow flowers. Makes about 5-6 ft in height here by about
3ft in width. Bigger in a warmer drier climate? S. African by origin,
says memory (wrong end of house to look up books; wrong end of day to
look up books). Survives mild winters here. Ie, will stand down to
-3-4-5C even in a damp climate. Lower in a warmer drier one? Doesn't
like salt wind. Or STRONG winds of any kind. Does like sun and
drainage. 'Foetida' because the leaves do - stink, that is - but only
if you try quite vigorously to crush them. Quite easy either from seed
or cuttings so no problem to keep it going. In the end I didn't bother
- enjoyed it for five or six years - but, since it needed one of my
choicest corners, we finally came to the parting of the ways. I found
myself one day thinking, What does this shrub give me that, say,
Piptanthus nepalensis doesn't give me more of much more easily? No
sufficient answer came. So the Vestia went.
Tim Longville
