Re: a bit more on the philosophy thread
- To: t*@torrens.tafe.sa.edu.au
- Subject: Re: a bit more on the philosophy thread
- From: d* f*
- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 07:57:55 -0800 (PST)
Trevor,
I was surprised to see Sedum'Vera Jameson' and other
Sedum spectabile cultivars on your list of plants
doing well with little water. I would never be able
to get these to look good on a minimum water routine
here in the Bay Area, although they can certainly go a
week without once established. When you spoke of
grasses, have you considered some of the various
Muhlenbergia species? These are mostly extremely
drought tolerant in Arizona and California. Some of
my particular favorites:
M. dumosa, from the southwestern USA which grows 3 to
6 feet tall and has the weeping appearance of a wispy
bamboo, slightly woody stems, and a pale green with
tints of wheat color appearance, and billows in the
wind
M. capillaris, a lower growing species from the
southeastern USA, which forms clumps to 3 foot tall
and wide, and has beautiful violet purple panicles in
fall, which extend several feet above the foliage.
Especially showy with backlighting, when it just
glows. Not as drought tolerant as the first
M. rigens, a California and southwest native, called
Deer Grass. This forms a quite dense green mound of
foliage, which can be 3 to 5 feet across and tall.
Does very well with little water, thriving even in the
desert climates of Las Vegas and Phoenix, Arizona.
Elymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince', another California
native from the Channel Islands off Southern
California, and introduced by the Santa Barbara
Botanic Garden. This has the same silvery blue
foliage of Elymus arenarius 'Glaucus', but is taller
growing. Foliage may become 2 to 4 foot tall, it is a
slow clumper, (may spread to 4/5 feet across in 3 to 5
years), and serves well as a foliage accent or for cut
foliage in flower arrangements
You might also consider some of the other southwestern
USA and California natives plants of architectural
form:
Agave stricta-narrow foliage, tight rosette, A.
parryi-beautiful blue foliage and clump forming, A.
parviflora- bluegreen foliage with interesting
whitethreads extending from leaf margins
Dasylirion longissimum and wheeleri, both form perfect
spheres of narrow blade like foliage to 3 to 5 feet
across, with eventual small trunks. D. wheeleri has
steel blue foliage, D. longissima is with larger less
stiff foliage that arches, and moves kinectically in
the wind. D. longissima appears similar to your
Australian Grass Tree/Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata
Euphorbia xantii- from Baja California, and has a
tangled network of slender, 1/8" diameter stems 6 to 8
feet across and tall, and with a mass of winter bloom
of bright pink color, which gradually fades to white.
This shrub almost looks like a flowering quince when
in bloom, it is so showy. Chris Rosmini in Los
Angeles was an early proponent of this shrub, and
great examples exist at the Huntington Botanical
Gardens
Yucca filamentosa- similar to Agave parviflora in
appearance but larger, Y. whipplei- a S. Calif. native
with bloom spikes 8 feet tall
>
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