A Podophyllum's Progress - My Favorite Plant...This Week.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have a major crush on Podophyllum, especially Podophyllum delavayi.  Previous posts here.

Late last winter, I took a deep breath and sawed in half the roots of an especially crowded pot  of  P. delavayi.  Here it was a couple of summers ago.

It could have been sawed in quarters and still been fine but  I was being cautious.  To my surprise, both halves fairly quickly filled out their pots, bloomed and set fruit as usual.  I smeared the ripe fruit around on the soil in the fall and today there are seedlings in both pots.  They'll be left to do what they will but this fall, the fruits will be spread on flats of soil and late next winter, I'll be dividing these pots again. Maybe I'll be brave and throw one in the ground. 

Here's the other pot also with seedlings. 

Years ago, I had a large beautiful pot of P. 'Kaleidoscope' which I thought should be set free in the ground.  After it was planted, it slowly died and never returned so I'm wary about planting these in the open garden.  

This P. delavayi was planted in the ground at the same time as the previous ones in pots.  It was lovely for a year but the next year was nowhere to be seen.  The third year, it came back and here it is emerging from the ground again this year.  How can a plant simply not grow for a whole year and then come back like this?

For several years there was a large pot of P. 'Spotty Dotty' in my shade garden.  Last year it decided not to grow but look what I discovered today.  Is this a seedling from the original plant or was there a viable bit of root in there?

This one soldiers on even though it's leaves have become a bit deformed.  Thinking that it might be some sort of fungus, I treated the soil with a copper fungicide before the foliage emerged.  We'll see how things unfurl.

 In the pot ghetto, there is another that grew beautifully for two years but  there's no sign of it this spring.  I've learned to simply wait and see what happens.  Crazy plants these but I love them!   Loree at Danger Garden hosts the favorite plant meme and rounds up all of the favorites at the end of the month.

Far Reaches Farm Part One: Podophyllum Paradise

 

Far Reaches Farm, the last nursery stop on this Bonney Lassie and  Outlaw  Kitsap Peninsula spring Saturday, is plant geek paradise!  In addition to all the wonderful plants that live there,  proprietors Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken, are equally wonderful, knowledgeable, helpful and in Kelly's case, quite colorful.  One never knows what Kelly's attire will include.  Crazy hats are a favorite as are kilts and other alternatives to dull colored pants.  I love visiting this place and just realized that this is the first time since I've been blogging that I've visited.  We saw Kelly and Sue at the Heronswood sale earlier in the day and confirmed that the nursery would be open.   

 

In looking at my pictures after we got back, I realized that there were far too many  of  Far Reaches for one post and since I'm crazy about Podophyllums  and sorely missed seeing them in the Heronswood garden, I decided to post about the fabulous specimens at Far Reaches.  These are all  Chinese cousins of our Eastern U.S. native Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum about which you can read more here.

 

Podophyllum versipelle?  Podophyllum pleianthum?  (Mine has more rounded leaves) Confused?  This post from Botanically Inclined may help add to your confusion.  Probably Podophyllum mairiei, a plant listed in Far Reaches' catalog. 

 

 The bold and strikingly patterned leaves of Podophyllum delavayi always make me squeal like a young child unwrapping a particularly special gift.  It's not pretty and since I have these in several parts of my garden, the neighbors sometimes think that I'm keeping livestock when they hear me going from one plant to the next.

I can't stop taking pictures of this magnificent foliage.

The leaves are really quite large.  Here's a hand for comparison.  Well, the hand is not as close to the leaf as it should be for comparison because the other hand is holding a camera.

Fortunately there are places to sit down  in the garden.  After such excitement, one needs a break.

Podophyllum 'Red Panda' is a hybrid of P. delavayi and P. pleianthum which was introduced by Northwest Gardens.

 

 

 P. delavayi hybrid somewhat  resembling 'Spotty Dotty' or maybe 'Kaleidoscope'

And here growing happily outside is a bevy of potted beauties that look like they should be for sale.   Sometimes one needs to inquire about really special plants. Maybe these are part of a hybridization program or the result of a new seed collection. 

Sinopodophyllum (Podophyllum) hexandrum var. chinense.  Here's a description from the Far Reaches Site: "Second generation plants from our collection from a grassy bank above a stream in Tibetan Yunnan where it was growing in moist rich topsoil at around 10000'. This is a choice herbaceous member of the Barberry Family with rich darkly mottled new growth and broad sharply lobed palmate leaves up to a foot across with a crystalline pink chalice of a flower giving way to large red fruits in fall. Gorgeous moist shade plant to 3' tall although we've seen this same collection at a friend's garden pushing 4' tall. We didn't recognize our own plant and they do that to everything - we kinda hate them. Hardy to Zone 5 and best of all - it's easy."

Kelly's plant descriptions on tags and on the website are a great source of entertainment.  Folks have been known to laugh aloud at the nursery reading them.   O.K. It's just me,  everyone else is more refined.   This one with the pink and white markings on the leaf (don't know if that lasts or not but ain't it purty?) was spotted by Alison at the Far Reaches Table at the Heronswood sale.   Fortunately there were two of them so Alison didn't have to mysteriously disappear on the peninsula.

Because one can never see enough of this fabulous group of plants, here is a photograph taken by Ian  Young, published on the wonderful Scottish Rock Garden Club site, and used with the photographer's permission.  These are labeled Podophyllum difformis. 

Dan Heims has written an interesting article in Pacific Horticulture about these fascinating plants which can be viewed here  If you are interested in finding nurseries that carry these plants, be sure to click on the Podophyllum resource guide link at the end of the article. If you are trying to find a source for Podophyllum difformis (difforme,)  I'll keep you in my prayers.  P.d.'Starfish' and 'Kaleidoscope' used to be more readily available but I think that they were fairly demanding and fell out of favor in the industry. 

November Garden Magic

November certainly isn't among the favoirte  months for gardeners in this part of the world.  Many abandon venturing out into the sogginess until spring and warmer temperatures return and admire their gardens from inside instead.  With the days growing ever shorter, being home when it's light outside is a rare treat.  Over the weekend while exploring the garden I found some little happenings that made me smile.


Knowing nothing about mushroom identification, I have no idea what kind these are.  Many people dislike mushrooms growing in their gardens; I find them interesting and beautiful.

                     

The top of these reminds me of the caramelized sugar atop creme brulee. 

The cyclemen seem to be finished blooming for the year but now they put out this gorgeous foliage to entertain us all winter long.

Slightly frozen water droplets adorning Sedum palmeri which will also look beautiful all winter long.

And what's happening on this opuntia?  It looks like it's starting to grow.  Should I be worried?  Does the plant need to be inside?  Will the winter hurt this new growth?  There are several of these all over the plant.  What should I do?  I'm a cacti newbie.
 

Podophyllum delavayi, one of my favorite foliage plants will get a much bigger pot this spring.  As it is going to sleep for the winter, look at what it's leaving behind.

Lots of seed laden fruit which I'll throw on top of some soil-filled pots to see if they'll grow.

Waiting in the wings are next year's beautiful leaves.  Even in autumn, spring's promise is evident.  Hooray.

The passion flowers aren't in my garden but were flowering outside at Watson's  on the same day as I took the other pictues.  These made it through our first frost and will probably bloom off and on until we get a big freeze.  There was one on my back fence for years but it eventually gave up the ghost in a very cold winter a few years ago.


                          

My wish for you is that, even in this dark and cold time of the year, you can find some magic in your own garden (a nearby conservatory or nursery works too!)  to keep you going until spring!