Monday, April 26, 2010

Looks like I dodged the bullet

As you may know I’ve been pining hard for the orange Euphorbia, whether it’s Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fern Cottage,’ 'Dixter,’ or ‘Fireglow,’ it didn’t matter, I wanted it! I saw it at Kennedy School, I saw it at Joy Creek but I couldn’t find it for sale. That is until I saw this… Followed by these…
Take another look at that first picture, from a different angle.
Does that look just a little but out of control? These were Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ and I was able to walk away from this beautiful but potentially out of control plant because I saw what it might become. The words of the McMenamin’s gardener, when I inquired as to the name of the plant they were growing, came back to me….”it is Euphorbia g. ‘Fern Cottage’, which is essentially like Fireglow, but a little better behaved”…I want the better behaved one!

I am a proponent for Euphorbia but this just looked a little too serious, even for me. I feel like I dodged a bullet, have you ever been searching and searching for a “must have” only to walk away once you found it? Why?


18 comments:

  1. I think you see my eu-phobia now. I sure hope my new "Bonfire" isn't like "Fireglow", but it does sound suspiciously similar.

    And, no, I never have the intelligence to walk away from a must-have, but it's usually because I don't know enough to be scared off.

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  2. Yes, my first three boyfriends...

    I went groundcover crazy years ago and planted blue star creeper around my new flagstone path. It looked well-behaved in the other gardens I saw it in and it looked great along the path for a few years. Now it hardly blooms due to foot traffic and heavy clay soil and I have to constantly weed it out of the veggie beds. I should've know better with a name like creeper...

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  3. I'm constantly researching and hesitating when it comes to plant purchases. If its says "may be invasive", I'm usually running for the hills. But this year I've thrown caution to the wind and planted several that had warnings - I'm hoping all my shade will hold 'em back (though a little aggressiveness would be nice)!

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  4. Yes, many euphorbias are too vigorous for watered parts of the garden. I tore Fireglow out after it quadrupled in size the second season! But since I love euphorbias, I now grow them in my completely un-watered parking strip garden. Surrounded by concrete and never watered, they make me happy every spring, then kind of disappear into the sere brown landscape of summer.

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  5. I wish I had walked away before I planted those river oats. Now they're all over the place and I'll never get rid of them.

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  6. Well, if you have any gophers euphorbia is a great plant to grow... its poisonous to them.

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  7. MulchMaid, I really think you're safe with 'Bonfire' - it looks a lot like my E. Polychroma which is not at all a spreader. Now seeds blowing around, no underground runners.

    Portland Garden Geek, hi! Thanks for commenting so I could find your blog...funny about the boyfriends...and the creepers.

    RBell, there is a fine line isn't there? I picked up a plant yesterday that I new was invasive, just to see if the tag identified it as such, all they said was "can naturalize" ha! Taking over a bed in 1 season is a little more than naturalizing.

    kate, QUADRUPLED! Yikes. I'm thinking if I go there with this one (eventually) it will be in a pot. Nice and contained.

    How It Grows, really!? From the clump growing or the seeds sprouting? My clump did slowly grow to the point I had to divide it but I've never had any sprout from seeds.

    Dirty Girl, knocking on wood, crossing my fingers and all the rest I have never had a gopher problem. And praying that I never will.

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  8. Uh oh.... how did I miss this? Why didn't I read it BEFORE I bought one? Hm... well, if it resows a lot, I will have to rip it out, I guess. I am planning to put it in an area where I don't really care what it does (hillside where other things don't grow easily). You are probably right to say no no no! Well, in a container, could be nice. Hm, maybe that's where I should put mine, after all!

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  9. Mine has been the problem of happening upon a plant at an open garden during its one day of glory. I must have it. I search long and hard. I find it. I plant it. I suffer through all of its thuggish ways. I blink. I miss its moment of glory.
    Research! Research!

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  10. Yeah, I'm always a little leary of any euphorbias now.

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  11. Whew! [wiping the sweat off my brow] Still, methinks you, being the savvy gal you are would have discovered its propensity for domination way before it came to this. Grow it in a container--the best of both worlds.

    I've always been intimidated by E. wulfanii' [misspelled, I know].

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  12. Now it seems especially relevant that I figure out what variety it is I found growing in my back yard. I assume you'll want to wait on that offer to share seeds until we know how it behaves.
    My garden's going to be a nightmare to whoever comes after me. Just like the yard was for me, after the previous owner planted all their own version of invasives. The cycle continues.

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  13. I think the picture looks glorious. I purchased one wimpy plant from the NYBG this spring. Can't wait for it to take off.

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  14. Just saw Fireglow today at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and thought it a must have till i read these comments. I have Bonfire, which is especially beautiful right now and very manageable and Chameleon which i find growing here and there but love as well. The one small plant of Fireglow today was quite beautiful and i had never seen it before

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  15. I grow the euphorbia amigdaloides purple plant and the variegated one and i have the fire glow as well i have a big bush of wulfenii and none of them got invasive i love each one of them but i think in the gardens where this got crazy is the gardener's foult becouse they do not cared enough for their plants if you know that the plant spreads by seed cut of the flower stem until the seed reaches maturity if it gets too big cut of branches if it spreads by underground runners dig arownd a distance from the plant and cut them and you will neber have this isues again its a lot of work but is worth it becouse euphorbias are a great adition to each garden i lobe them a lot and they are great (sorry for my english im not good at it but hope you understand my comment ) happy gardening everyone

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    1. Your English is great, and I agree! A little maintenance goes along way with plants like Euphorbia.

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  16. I wonder,where were these pictures taken (state, climate, hardiness zones and soil type). E. griffithii is spreader, but I saw it only once or twice on heavy soil, along the stream and it was forming wide clumps, but no off shoots like on the picture. I googled, and the only info says about fast spreading in light soils (so sandy, drained or loose soils). Can someone confirm, comment, share experiences. I planted mine last year, so I can't tell. Bloomington, IN, zone 6a,hot and humid in summer, heavier soils or clay. Rad, czechgardener(at)gmail.com

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    1. Just south of Portland, Oregon. Zone 8, not sure about the soil there (it's not my garden) but it is right next to a made-made pond.

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