Trevesia palmata is my favorite plant...this week.

Trevesia palmata is another gorgeous member of the Araliaceae family.  I'm fortunate to have two of them.  One is Trevesia palmata and the other Trevesia palmata 'Micholitzii.'

There are two differences  I've noticed in the two plants; one  is the color of the tomentum on immature leaves, the other is that the leaves of 'Micholitzii' are more deeply incised  so they have a lacier look.  I am in no way an expert on this or any plant, these are just my observations of my two plants grown is similar conditions.

 In the straight species, the tomentum on immature leaves is this brownish tan color.

Looks like this as the leaf gets a bit larger.

 Mature leaves look like this. 

'Micholitzii' has a paler, almost white covering of fur.

Which becomes more pronounced as the leaves grow. 

Mature leaves look like this.  Can you see how it got the common name Snowflake Aralia?  San Marcos Growers website says that these are "15 - 20 foot trees with few to no side branches and topped with a crown of long stalked 1-2 foot wide leaves that are deeply lobed with each lobe deeply cut, giving the leaf a lacy snowflake look."  Like most members of this family, you can cut them to the ground, they'll come back, and you can root the top, doubling your collection.  It's such a beautiful plant, it's a pity we don't see them offered for sale very often. 

It makes a great houseplant and is tolerant of fairly low light conditions inside which is a good thing as it's only hardy to USDA Zone 9b: to -3.8 °C (25 °F)  Mine come inside during the coldest months of the year. I got tiny plants a couple of times but failed with them.  these larger plants which have been with me for 2 and 4 years have been tough as nails.  It must have something to do with the "drought tolerant once established" thing and my forgetfulness about watering houseplants in the winter when it's sopping wet outside.  

Here's more interesting information from the San Marcos website:

"This species is indigenous to northern India, southern China, Vietnam and Thailand. In its native habitat this plant can be found growing to 30 feet tall but likely no more than 20 feet in cultivation and more often it is grown as a large shrub. It is sparsely branched with white pubescent stems and a loose broad canopy of oddly shaped leaves with small yellow flowers that are followed by 1/2 inch fruit in tight ball-like clusters. The most attractive aspect of this plant is its 2 to 2 1/2 foot wide, rounded in outline, leaves of a type called pseudocompound, meaning that they look compound but actually are not. The lobes (false leaflets) are attached to a rounded plate-like area at the base of the leaf that attaches to the 2 to 3 foot long prickly petioles. These lobes themselves are so intricately and deeply lobed that they individually look like pinnately compound leaves. The genus name Trevesia was described by the Italian botanist Roberto de Visiani (1800-1878) in 1840 to honor the family Treves of the Bonfili of Padua, who were great supporters of botanical research. The specific epithet was actually from a name described earlier by the Scottish botanist William Roxburgh (1751-1815) who had described this plant as Gastonia palmata and its specific name transferred with it to Trevesia in 1842 when Visiani segregated Gastonia. This specific epithet is in reference to the leaves being palmately lobed."

I'm Joining with Loree at Danger Garden in posting my weekly favorite.  Click on over to her blog to see other weekly favorites.  What plant is grabbing your attention this week?

My Favorite Plant in the Garden This Week; Indecisive Gardener Edition

I originally was going to say that clerodendrum trichotomum was my favorite plant in the garden this week because they're covered with magic right now.

Then I realized that I'd already done a post about this cool plant here last October. 

So instead here a couple of other cool plants that are also favorites this week.  First up is Ficus afghanistanica grown by Xera Plants.  I found it at Jungle Fever Exotics Nursery, one of Tacoma's best places to find unusual plants.  According to the tag, It's hardy to zone 7, drought tolerant, and deciduous.   

 Probably not the best fig leaf for making dolmas or covering biblical characters' naughty bits  but it sure is lovely.   Besides I have huge fig leaves growing in another part of the place should Greek cuisine or nudity become an issue.

Second is Trevesia palmata which looks very similar to Trevesia palmata 'Micholitzii' (from Dragonfly Farms two or three years ago) the former has  golden brown indumentum on  the emerging leaves while T.p. 'Micholitzii' has silvery gray making the emerging and young leaves more closely resemble snowflakes. Leaves on this puppy are about a foot and a half wide.   This one is a newbie this year, found at Valley Nursery in Poulsbo.  The leaves should become much more deeply incised as the plant gets even larger.

Anyway, one can never have too many Trevesias palmata in his/her collection because carrying tropical plants in huge pots up and down several flights of  stairs a couple of times a year allows for the use of much colorful vocabulary reserved just for such special occasions as tripping mid flight of stairs and falling on an agave or watching an accidentally dropped pot of something precious hurl down the staircase spewing potting soil all over the rug.  Not that I know anything about this sort of thing mind you.

 

If you'd like to see this week's favorite plants of people who can make up their minds, click on over to Danger Garden whose author and really wonderful person, Loree, hosts the Favorite Plant meme.



So Then the Car Said...

"You know, Valley Nursery is only thirty minutes away, let's go there."  Leaving this delicious pot  ad Elandan, the car left the parking lot and sped off toward Poulsbo. (Previous posts here.)

It's always fun to visit the Cryptomeria japonica 'Christatas'  This is one of those curiosity plants that I'd definitely have in my garden if only I had a lot more space. It's easy to see where the common name  Cock's Comb Cryptomeria came from.

This one was talking to me but it's language was too cryptic for my understanding.

Wonder what this guy thinks about the whole thing?

Nothing says summer like beautiful and fragrant oriental lilies.  There's something about the simple elegance of their shape that makes me love them.  What do you think of the new doubles?  They don't float my boat but some people think they're the bees knees. 

Schefflera taiwaniana 'Yuan Shan'  

Schefflera brevipedunculata

Is the gnome stuck on that cactus?  Do you suppose that he'll be covered in glochids when he approaches that cute-looking opuntia?  I'm convinced that they can actually throw these!

Looking for answers to life's perplexing questions?  Valley's got you covered!

Valley is a large garden center type of place a plant store rather than a nursery.  (A nursery grows its own stock.)  This place always carries a great selection of lots of plants and have had, from time to time, some pretty unusual offerings.  Their house plant section is always a treat.  I wasn't prepared for the big surprise of seeing many tables full of plants from San Marcos Growers! 

Are those Leucadendrons lurking there?  And Agonis flexuosa on the far left?  (dark purple leaves with a minty smell!)

Why yes, yes they are and here's  a table full of Grevilleas.

 Leucadendron 'Jester' captured my heart in several of the gardens we visited on the Garden Bloggers' Fling in June.  Here was one just waiting to jump into my car.  It's as if all those seductive plants, hardy in California, followed me home to Washington.  (Yes, it's one more thing that will have to come inside for the winter.  Try not to think about it and whatever you do, don't remind me when I'm in the middle of the seasonal move that I could have simply left the plant there.)

 

 

 Holy Mary, it's a Kalanchoe forest! 

And, and, and, could that be a whole bunch of Calothamnus villosus  or  Silky Net Bush that tugged at my heart when I saw one in bloom at WeHop in the spring?



Oh yeah, baby!  And it was also available in sweet one gallon pots but the plants themselves were almost as large as the ones in bigger pots. 

 

 Cute little button buds of  Globularia x indubia.  Delightful but only hardy to twenty degrees F.  Not fascinating enough to haul around.

Those Agaves 'Mr. Ripple' in two gallon pots were pretty reasonably priced but I have (forgive me Loree) too many Agaves already.  And we'll be visiting here again soon.

Lastly,  one of my favorite (they're all pretty fab.) members of the Araliacea, Trevesia palmate.  The emerging  leaves resemble little silver snowflakes, it's relatively easy and can take fairly low light conditions when it comes inside for the winter to be a houseplant.

What a spectacular surprise to find so many plants, unusual to see in our climate, in one visit.   I'm so glad that Valley decided to take a chance with these exciting plants and I hope it's profitable for them so that they'll  keep offering  fun stuff like this!  

Thanks, car,  for taking us on this surprise visit!

My wish for you is that your every nursery visit will be filled with as many happy surprises as I experienced on this visit!