Re: Plant people
- Subject: Re: Plant people
- From: d* f*
- Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 10:56:14 -0700 (PDT)
--- Marina & Anthony Green <green@pangeanet.it> wrote:
> After I brought home a Eugenia myrtifolia plant to
> try it out and see whether it keeps looking OK
> through the winter there, I
> thought I'd try and find out something more about
> the plant, but I have hardly been able to find out
> anything - no-one's talked
> about it on this list (except for a slightly
> disparaging reference to Eugenias being oh-so-common
> in
> California, though I don't
> know what species).
This plant is the same one commonly grown in
California as Syzygium paniculatum, Australian Brush
Cherry. It is/was very commonly used throughout
coastal California up until the Eugenia psyllid
arrived that horribly disfigures the foliage, and is
very difficult to control. Even though there is now
an introduced predatory wasp for control, which I
think was first released at Disneyland in Orange
County, this shrub is still very subject to being
attacked and disfigured, and therefor out of favor
here. Hardy to 25F/-4C ith leaf burn, it is
moderately drought tolerant in more coastal parts of
California once established, but is used to summer
rain and winter drought in its native range along
Australia's east coast. It is not the easiest shrub
to garden next to, as the surface roots are very
greedy. The insect problems will probably not be a
problem in your area, as the plant is not as
overplanted as it was here, giving it better
opportunities to spread so rampantly. In a similar
vein, The California Department of Transportation
better hope that Parthenocissus tricuspidata does not
fall prey to a new insect pest, as it is the most
commonly planted vine along all the 100's of miles of
new freeway soundwalls throughout the state.
You can still see many mature plants of this
throughout California, but it is not often planted
these days due to the psyllid problem, (at least I
would never recommend it to clients). It will do
fairly well in shade, but tends to grow taller there,
and can become a 40 foot tall tree if left unsheared.
Even the RHS Dictionary of
> Plants doesn't mention it, nor does Heidi
> Gildemeister's drought-tolerant
> plant book. Has anyone got much experience of the
> plant or is my nurseryman a real trend-setter? Do
> you think it'll work in
> some fairly heavily dappled shade in zone 9-10?
>
>
> Anthony
> Torre a Mare, Bari, on the Adriatic coast of Italy
>
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