What do you see on your garden walks?

[McDonough]

On my garden walk recently some of the plants just want to sleep but some are visibly preparing for next spring - just can't wait to get on with things..e.g. Arum italicum.  Brought back as a plant (bare rooted of course) from Wisley Garden in UK, it has not only survived but just got better and better.  I must be doing something right??  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Fran, that's a noteworthy report... if Arum italicum is hardy for you it must be hardy here too, lovely winter foliage. As I walk around the garden this time of year, it is mostly the few evergreen plants that provide pleasure, the many evergreen Epimediums looking fine right now, some coloring up nicely.  It gives me an idea, to consider introducing Arum to a mixed planting with variegated Cyclamen purpurescens and variegated Viola grypoceras var. exilis, see:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=781.msg11521#msg11521

For those who have grown this in a fairly cold northern climate, how hardy is it, and can someone comment on how aggressively or moderately it spreads. 

[Tim Ingram]

If it likes you Arum italicum can spread alarmingly by seed and can be prone to appear in the middle of more choice plants! It delves very deep. On the other hand it makes very nice company with other woodland perennials and I wouldn't be without it!

[McDonough]

If it likes you Arum italicum can spread alarmingly by seed and can be prone to appear in the middle of more choice plants! It delves very deep. On the other hand it makes very nice company with other woodland perennials and I wouldn't be without it!

Thanks for the advice Tim.  It might be something similar to warnings about Pinellia pedatisecta, or the genus Pinellia in general, however I've had P. pedatisecta for many years, it has barely spread at all.

[Fermi]

We're heading out of spring into another hot summer but maybe not as dry as our drought years. There are still plenty of flowers to see when we walk in our garden.
Firstly, here's a bulb from North America, good ol' Triteleia laxa


Another Triteleia, this time T. ixioides with the magnificent Habranthus robustus "Russell Manning"


A "volunteer" in the bulb bed - some sort of Salvia and quite attractive.


A marvelous ground-hugging banksia, B. petiolaris,


cheers
fermi

[Hoy]

Fermi, the last one, the Banksia, is a gem! I have always wanted to try some Banksias and other Proteaceaes but never succeeded.
How hardy is B petiolaris?

[Harold Peachey]

A. italicum appears perfectly hardy here in Centra lNew York and has not spread aggressively in the three years it's been in the ground.  We are in the snow belt and usually have good snow cover in winter.  They are looking quite beautiful right now.

[Weiser]

How hardy is B petiolaris?

Yes I want to know also.

[Tim Ingram]

Hardly any banksias could be said to be really hardy - the only species grown in the UK (except in the very mild south-west) is the Tasmanian B. marginata. A few others are probably nearly as hardy (maybe to -10°C or a little below) but so few gardeners grow them. But the more tender species do very well in large pots kept overwinter in a cool greenhouse, and the foliage of many of them is spectacular, let alone the flowers! In 'Banksias' by Kevin Collins, Kathy Collins & Alex George B. petiolaris is described as 'quite frost hardy', which probably means short intervals to around -5°C. Some of the dryandras are very good too, and smaller and more manageable in a greenhouse.

[Nold]

  Hardly any banksias could be said to be really hardy   

True. Life isn't fair. If someone wants to take up a collection....for me....to buy a decaying villa on the Italian Riviera, I'll be happy to grow as many banksias (and hakeas and proteas) as I can, and report back.

One of Cindy's most prized books was a signed copy of Celia Rosser's banksia book. Stunning watercolors of some totally cool plants.

Bob

[Fermi]

Fermi, the last one, the Banksia, is a gem! I have always wanted to try some Banksias and other Proteaceaes but never succeeded.
How hardy is B petiolaris?

Hi Trond,
Tim has given the best advice (apart from Bob's suggestion of moving!) for growing these in your climate. We experience occasional to frequent frosts of -7^oC but mostly around -3^oC, so it would hardly be the same for you.
Where we are on the east side of Australia we have problems with the flamboyant species from Western Australia but we're trying whatever ones come our way in raised beds and sand-beds with some success (and some losses!).
cheers
fermi

[Hoy]

Thank you Bob and Fermi.
Probably it is safer to grow Banksias and relatives in pots, however, if the temperature continue to rise like this fall I end up growing tropical plants in my garden
The coldest night and the only one below 0C so far this autumn is -0.7C! The last two winters were exceptionally cold, usually we experience -7 - -8C some days in row but not for long. The mean temperature for the coldest month is February with +0.5C. However the main problem is lack of high summer temperatures. . . .and of course getting seed/plants!

[Tim Ingram]

Bob -  I have a fine copy of Celia Rosser's 'The Banksias' Vol III published by Monash University. I don't think I've seen such fine botanical paintings, even from the masters of old. They are quite extraordinary. I've seen the originals at the Natural History Museum and they took my breath away. I had quite an interest in these plants some years ago and grew a number of species (along with the incomparable 'Silver Tree' from South Africa). They were quite amenable in very sandy acid soil in large pots and have fascinating adaptations for such poor soils. They are also very long flowering and intriguing to watch as the flowering head develops. The sort of plant that makes you wish you had the Mediterranean biome of the Eden Project in your back garden!!

[McDonough]

A. italicum appears perfectly hardy here in Central New York and has not spread aggressively in the three years it's been in the ground.  We are in the snow belt and usually have good snow cover in winter.  They are looking quite beautiful right now.

Thanks Harold, this is important feedback, exactly what I was hoping to hear, and since your climate is rather similar to mine, it's all the more encouraging to learn of your experience with Arum italicum. There are a number of plants like this, that in more southern climes plants grow and spread too aggressively, but when reaching their northern hardiness limit are much better behaved (they're in check or balance with the climate), thus perfectly reasonable to introduce into the garden without trepidation.  At the moment with the growing season at its end, I'm so enjoying evergreen plants that provide interest and color, such as evergreen and semi-evergreen Epimedium, Pulmonaria foliage, and Cyclamen foliage; hope to add the Arum in the near future.

[McDonough]

  Hardly any banksias could be said to be really hardy   

True. Life isn't fair. If someone wants to take up a collection....for me....to buy a decaying villa on the Italian Riviera, I'll be happy to grow as many banksias (and hakeas and proteas) as I can, and report back.

One of Cindy's most prized books was a signed copy of Celia Rosser's banksia book. Stunning watercolors of some totally cool plants.

Bob

I hear ya Bob, I've come to terms with what I can reasonably grow and not grow (although still quite willing to experiment).  When I visited Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco, California, my head spins with all of the fabulous plants like Banksia, Protea, Leucadendron, and innumerable others.  Even when I visit my in-laws in the Baltimore Maryland - Washington DC area, I marvel at spectacular Magnolia grandiflora trees, growing just like any other common oak or maple, each specimen is a horticultural spectacle.  Here in Massachusetts, I'm amused by the few examples of this species I see planted (near Boston), each year cut back and "bonsai'd", having no chance to even begin to replicate their splendor just 500 miles to the south.  So far, what I've seen of so-called hardy M. grandiflora in Massachusetts are pathetic, although I admit that I have not seen any on Cape Cod or the islands (Martha's Vineyard) where supposedly nice specimens do grow, but such areas are easily 1 full zone higher than where I am.  I'd rather rejoice in Magnolia grandiflora's magnificence when visiting my wife's family, than struggle with something that truly doesn't succeed this far north.

[Kelaidis]

I can't seem to find my picture of Magnolia grandiflora I took last year in Lakewood, Colorado (just west of Denver)...there are several large grandifloras around my area looking pretty respectable. The one in Lakewood is about 20 years old and nearloy 30' tall, and very full and showing no winter damage in our zoned 5B. As a consolation I am posting my picture of Magnolia virginiana v. glauca in seed: this is off the state champion specimen at Denver Botanic Gardens: I think both of these are viable trees in Denver.