Category: Interesting Plants

I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have…

Patience: A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.
– Ambrose Bierce

We just completed our annual student/hort garden spring plant sale.  I spent the better part of three days encouraging, suggesting, wheeling, dealing, and dispersing information, most of it sound, and all for a good cause. Generally enjoyed my legitimate excuse to sell some plants and also stay away from my ridiculous desk/computer.  My “Ornamental Plant Production and Marketing” seniors have a unique interest, as they not only grow plants for the sale, the last bit of the semester has been spent discussing cost accounting and (much more fun) marketing, including garden center management.  Through the hort club sale, they get to deal with real people with real questions.

One of these real people accosted one of my students late in the day Friday. Off in the distance, I saw an animated exchange as he nervously pointed her in my direction (ask Dr. Holly!)

“Is this a cultivar?” the rather intense lady barked (yipped, actually) as she marched over and shoved a quart pot of Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens) up to my face.  Close enough that I could read the big ol’ label quite clearly – which did not list a cultivar name.

“Doesn’t seem to be,” I deduced, rather brilliantly.  Did I mention it’s perilously close to beer:30.

I processed for another moment, and then noted “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a named selection of this.”

“Are you sure?! Because I don’t want any cultivars, you know, things that have been MESSED WITH!”

Here we go. 

“Ma’am, many of our perennial and woody plant cultivars are simply selections identified by some eagle-eyed and knowledgeable plantsperson as perhaps more compact, or more floriferous, more vigorous, maybe a different color, etc.  Nature, in many cases, has already done the work.”  Working under a suspicious glare, I go on that plenty of named cultivars are virtually indistinguishable from the straight species or botanical variety; for better or worse; it’s mostly just a marketing thing. Echinacea purpurea var. alba just doesn’t sing like Echinacea ‘White Swan’.  Though there are (obviously) plant breeders out there working to create new/superior/weird stuff (usually patented), but really, the historical bulk of what we have in our gardens is the stuff of perspicacious serendipity.


Said species, courtesy of NPIN.

She pursed her lips, stared hard at the tag, and repeated “But how do I know this hasn’t been MESSED WITH? And when it says native – that means to here, right?” 

*Pop* goes yet another can of worms.

I guess I could have said “Yep.”  Pachysandra procumbens appears on everyone’s “native groundcovers” list east of the Mississippi.  However, it is not native to Southwest Virginia, despite our location on the eastern edge of the Alleghany Mountains. It’s fairly rare, mostly found in the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee and assorted limestone-y bits of Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky. I take a deep breath and commence with the disclaimers.

I thought I was doing pretty well; then behind me I hear a familiar voice – Dr. Stephen Sheckler, lauded botany professor emeritus, poobah in the Linnaean society, and loyal plant sale shopper. He stepped in with an “I couldn’t help but overhear” and proceeded to explain the effects of glacial episodes on native flora distribution a mere twenty thousand years ago and Pachysandra may have indeed been native here if you look at the broader picture etc. etc. etc. Five minutes later, he was explaining why we have similar ecotypes to the Yunnan Provence, and I excused myself and wandered off to sell a Japanese maple. We’d both tried to answer her questions to the best of our ability. My utmost respect and admiration goes out to those of you in retail who do this on a daily basis.

My student was pleased to reported that she went back and bought the entire tray.

Pause for effect…

Spring (in either hemisphere) is an incredibly busy time for anyone even remotely associated
with horticulture – a frenzy of growing, selling, buying, planting, and
information-disbursing.  If gardening were this wildly popular year-round, there might even be some money to be made. For us Hort faculty,  spring means field trips,  student plant sales, cramming even more plants
onto an identification test (heh), tons of consumer questions, research projects coming and going, and many many speaking engagements. As gardeners, we’re also trying to get all that stuff done, too – weeding, mulching, planting recent purchases or gifts from plant-sharing friends (the best kind). It’s hard to slow down and enjoy spring.  Joel and I did a “forced pause” last evening before dusk. We put down the implements, poured some white wine, and simply wandered around our garden.  So many things coming up and out; it was breathtakingly lovely, all the fresh foliage and flowers, basking in the last of the day’s sunshine. Please don’t let spring rip past without stopping to sniff the
Convallaria. Unless it’s still under snow (sorry Bert!).

My favorite little Japanese Maple – Acer palmatum ‘Tsuma gaki’. Looks like she just got her nails done.

Mystery teeth revealed

Friday’s puzzle was tough!  Several of you were on the right track – this is a carnivorous plant. Right away Deb suggested a pitcher plant (then got sidetracked with chestnuts), but Derek was spot on with his guess of the “spiky bits” on a Nepenthes pitcher:

What the function of these spiky wings are is not clear to me; I did a little checking in the literature but failed to find anything convincing.  It does seem to suggest a close relationship with fly traps.  Perhaps the ancestral type was a fly trap type plant, which eventually evolved to an enclosed pitcher?  (Perhaps someone out there has a better grasp of carnivorous plant evolution than I do?)

And the scientific name?  Nepenthes alata, or “winged Nepenthes.”

Thanks for playing!

The Hottest Thing in…Veg!

Vegetable transplants and herbs were a bright spot last year (and the one previous) for most retail growers and independent garden centers.  Seed and transplant companies have taken note – saw lots of veg and herbs at the normally-ornamental trade shows.  As always, some good ideas, some a bit far-fetched…

Pelleted lettuce seed (much easier to handle) mixes for the grower to create patio-size planters. Not bad! Snipping a few leaves will be fine, but if you eat salad more than once a month, you’re gonna need a bigger pot.

Basil and Swiss Chard plugs (seedlings), grown by Rakers Acres in Michigan, and shipped to greenhouse growers for “bumping up” to bigger pots to sell.

Saw lots of garden center marketing ideas such as this one from Burpee. Unfortunately, I have a very strong aversion to the word “fixins.”

Oh just stop it. An onion, in a pot. What the heck are you supposed to do with that?!

Winter Trade Show Report

Disclaimer: The information and images below should not be construed as any sort of recommendation, remedy or advice. Just some cool and/or weird stuff I saw at a green industry trade show. Plus this blog needs more photos.

Was at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS… and yes, there is a Pennsylvania version…PANTS) in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to visit with past students (now gainfully employed – yay!).  I also get to personally thank the nurseries and other businesses that generously support our Horticulture Department and Garden.  I’m more "herbaceous" so I tend to get more (professionally…and emotionally) out of the floriculture summer trade show and conference in Columbus, Ohio (OFA)  If you dig hot new tropicals, annuals, and perennials – it’s THE place to be.  MANTS tends to be more landscapy/woody.  There are umpteen wholesaler booths filled with dormant, ball & burlapped trees and containerized shrubs. There are WAY too many Bradford pears still out there (see Bert’s post below).  Honestly. 

Foot traffic was good (10,000 + registrants) for the 300 exhibitors: wholesale nurseries, garden center suppliers, liner and plug growers, landscape and nursery equipment manufacturers.  Also, all of the allied businesses you might not think of – inventory software, nursery insurance companies, universities and colleges, grower organizations, tag and pot manufacturers, etc.,  always a fascinating vertical and horizontal cross section of this business of growing and selling plants.

On with the show…

Propagation nurseries make the world go ’round.
This IS the proverbial candy shop for greenhouse and nursery growers.  Each flat holds 36, 78, or 105 little plants.  Two flats…would fit in my tote bag. Heh.


Succulents continue to be hot. Here’s Kalanchoe thyrsifolia ‘Fantastic’.
Fantastically awesome.


Even better…check out the pot made from (very) compressed rice hulls. Nice color, pretty shape, biodegradable. You’ll probably see more of these in the near future.


Display promoting the book "Creating a Deer and Rabbit-Proof Garden".  Artificial flowers – that may be the ticket…no, wait, it’s an artificial deer, too.


WANT. My 1972 John Deere 750 is on its last legs/tires. Plus this one would fit down our blueberry rows, AND it has a cup holder.  The brochure is now pinned above my desk.

Great name for a nursery:

that’s Holly, Woods, and Vines if you can’t read it.

Also the home of…


Faux moss-covered faux rocks. Intriguing.

Finally, there’s always a peek at trends in pots (pottery pots), garden art (tasteful or not) and other items coming soon to your local independent garden center…


Lots of antique and rustic looks out there, also galvanized is big.
I loved the fishy pots. Alas, one can only look, and then place an order. Minimum quantity – one pallet. Maybe if we all went in together…

Cirque du Poinsettia

Last week I brought up the seasonal topic of poinsettias. There are so many cultivars to start with, it’ll make your head spin.  Twenty five new varieties were introduced in 2009 alone.  One
of the major breeders lists 36 RED varieties.

But for painting and glitter, growers
and retailers stick to “white” (actually a very pale yellow to cream –
see last week’s ‘Polar Bear’ post) or possibly light pink. The trend had a good start in Europe and crossed the pond in 2004. I

n 2005, I toured a Denver area greenhouse and saw my first air-brushed point. They were doing a specialty Broncos theme with bracts sprayed deep blue and orange and plopped into a football-shaped pot (with the season Denver’s having this year, I imagine sales are down).  The “team colors” theme is everywhere now.  Nothing says Christmas like maroon bracts (looked more like dried blood) with orange glitter – the interpretation of a Hokie poinsettia, available at our local Kroger. Different.  Please comment if you’ve seen a weirder color combo (are there Steelers ones yet?!).

Nationally, independent garden centers note they can’t keep pigmented points in stock, despite charging upwards of $9 more for a painted 6” point than a regular one. 

I'll have a bluuue Christmas without yoooooou

Blue poinsettias at McDonald’s Garden Center in Virginia Beach – a best-seller.

I’ve not seen any studies determining if the dye alters the post-harvest longevity or not; anecdotal evidence suggests it doesn’t have much effect. Just don’t splash them with water – the dye will run. Growers are careful to paint only mature poinsettias with fully-expanded bracts, or else suffer the poinsettia equivalent of bad roots (a la Lindsey Lohan). One of best-known of the poinsettia painters is at K&W Greenery of Janesville, Wisconsin.  The owners have carved out their high-end niche by employing an artist to do the air-brushing and glitter-sprinkling, treating each one as an individual work of art.  Art that will die in a heartbeat if you forget to water it, unfortunately. But the mother of all poinsettia growers/retailers in Ellison’s in Brenham, Texas. They’ve turned the season’s opening  each year into a hugely successful, candle-lit, wine-pouring party. The Today Show even stopped by a few years ago. The Ellison’s tree photo has been making its rounds on the internet for so long, I don’t even know who to credit.

 

Where's the damn partridge

Fa la la la la  (is that enough “la’s”?) 

Whether you take your poinsettias painted, straight up, or not at all – happy holidays!

It’s Poinsettia Time…

Love ’em or hate ’em, poinsettias are the number two potted flowering plant produced and sold in the U.S., only (very recently) surpassed by orchids. Especially amazing when you consider the five-week market window.  Commercial growers go at poinsettia (“points”) production usually one of two ways:  1) smaller pot, high volume, low margin for mass markets; or 2) larger pot, florist-quality, unusual varieties, for independent garden centers, florists, and other specialty retailers.  If you shopped any big box store this past weekend (bless your heart), you saw rolling racks of “doorbuster” deals such a 4.5″ points priced $1.25 or even less.  Interestingly, wholesale prices for even the small, high volume product range from $2.05 to $2.88.

Poinsettias from transplant to finish take from 12 to 15 weeks on a greenhouse bench; often require special lighting (or blackout technology), plant growth regulators, and often extra labor to pinch once to encourage branching. Much more expense/inputs than your average 6-pack of petunias, hence the very slim margin for growers of mass market plants.  That’s why many growers have taken route “2” – the dee-luxe, gift-type point that appeals to pickier consumers.  Big, beefy  plants in 8″ to 12″ pots, unusual colors such as pink, plum, and “marbled”, well-pinched to produce lots of showy bracts, wrapped in tastefully decorative pot covers all can command a much higher price point, both by the grower and the retailer.  (I don’t have it in me to speak of the bizarre painting/glitter trend at the moment.  Maybe I’ll save it for next week.)

Poinsettia breeders are always looking for color breaks, and one of the most “interesting” is this new introduction by Ecke called ‘Polar Bear’:


Pic taken at OFA, the big floriculture trade show, this past July. 

There are a couple unusual things about this introduction. One, it comes with a “cause” – Polar Bears International. Ecke’s donating 5% of the sales price (that would be the sale of their rooted liners to finishing growers) to the non-profit conservation society. There’s a whole slew of point-of-purchase tags, pot covers, bows, and signage that goes with, not to mention an informational web site. The other unusual thing is that they insist on calling it “white”.  Or at least “creamy”.  It’s…not. A lovely lemon-curd yellow, or perhaps off-off-off-off cream.  But most polar bears (except for the exceedingly pristine one in their tag photo) aren’t exactly white either.  Anyhoo, it’s certainly a good cause, and if “lemon curd” goes with your holiday decor, consider picking up a ‘Polar Bear’!

Mysterious glowing object identified!

Ed, Wes and Paul all correctly identified Friday’s flower as a morning glory, probably an Ipomoea spp.  (They also made me feel rather soiled for pedaling flower porn.  Sheesh.)

What I find fascinating about these flowers is the unearthly glow at the center.  They’re pollinated by bumblebees among other species, and bees see best in the blue-violet-ultraviolet range.  If we were able to see this flower under UV light, you’d see those white areas become completely dark, creating a bullseye for bee approach.

Here’s why the white areas turn dark.  The pigments in a white flower are flavonoids, which absorb UV radiation and reflect visible light.  We don’t see into the UV range, so to us they look white (all that visible light bouncing back).  But bees and some other insects do see UV light, and these flavonoid pigments create patterns to help them find nectar and pollen.