Got the Blues?

Feeling a little droopy?

Like vibrant life is zooming past you

while you seem stuck in place?

Do the short days and long nights have you climbing the wall?

Is the rain and cold getting under your skin?

It may just be a case of the blues.

When you're blue it's a good time to take the plastic bag off of your head.  Normal color should return within minutes.

But seriously, who could be blue when his Dichroa febrifuga is doing this?  And yes, I went out in the dark to enjoy them.

Here's a puzzler for you.  I've got four Dichroas in my garden.  One of them, the smallest, is bearing those heavenly blue berries  above and had dark blue blooms whilst the other three look like the the picture below and had lighter blooms.  I thought that these were all clones of the same plant.  Why would this happen?  Are some male and others female?  Really wouldn't matter in a clone situation, right?   

Clerodendrum Trichotomum

I read on a plant tag at Cistus Nursery that in Portland, Oregon, Clerodendrum trichotomum is liberally used as a street tree in a certain part of town.  Lucky Portlanders!  The leaves of this shrub which will form a thicket or can be trained as a tree smell like peanut butter when bruised and it's late summer flowers smell like jasmine and are a humming bird magnet.

 

I planted this C. trichotomum, also known as Harlequin Glorybower, many years ago thinking that it would be a small shrub.  It decided to be a couple of small trees but then, toward the end of one summer, they decided to suddenly wilt, loose their leaves, and die.  From their roots grew many more stems and soon there was a large group of them.  Every now and then, some branches go through the sudden death thing for which I've still not ascertained a cause.  The roots must like my garden as I find suckers of this coming up in several nearby beds - they pull pretty easily but are quickly replaced.  Do be careful of where you plant this beauty.

This variegated form called 'Carnival' came from Cistus and is planted in the very poor soil of my hell strip where it gets very little water.  It has grown beautifully but hasn't put out a single sucker.

 The blooms are followed by cool metallic turquoise to blue seeds surrounded by the red calyxes. 

 There is a great picture of a C.tricotomum grown as a tree so covered with these that the tree appears to be nearly red here.

 If you're looking for a fun tree with three season interest, or a thicket to cover the back 40, Clerodendrum trichotomum might just fit the bill!